pre-nap routines

I have a bedtime routine that I use with my girls every night & it works perfectly!! They know when they're going to bed & they usually fall asleep eating their bedtime bottle.

With that said, I don't have a pre-nap routine, I mostly just put them in their cribs when they seem tired or if it's been about an hour & a half-two hours since they woke up. There is a lot of crying that goes on before they fall asleep, so I would like to help soothe them to sleep or at least prepare them for taking a nap.

So what are your pre-nap routines?! I would love suggestions and examples

TIA!

 

I use a very truncated version of our bedtime routine, but I turn on the mobile (which I don't do at night), and I would love to say it works great; but my boys are terrible nappers. However, I will say that they do go down for naps more easily when I put them down than when DH does it because he just puts them in their crib.

So, at bedtime, we do bath, bottle, two stories (short ones), a short cuddle/rocking, then bed. At naptime, we do one short story, short cuddle/rocking, then bed. I've also started letting them hold small stuffed bears while we read stories. They are too small to have them in the crib with them; but it does seem to calm them down a little bit and give them something to focus on during our "quiet" time. My boys are very active and not big cuddlers; so the bears help quiet them a little bit. In all, the nap routine takes about 5 minutes.

HTH

 

i gotta say i don't have one. i tried different thing - read a book quietly in their room, sit them both on my lap and watch a tv program quietly... now i just get their teething rings from the freezer, and as soon as they see them, they know they are going down for a nap. i pick them up hand them a teething ring and take them to their cribs whispering "i love you... sweet dreams...please sleep a long time..."

 

When they were infants it was change diaper, bottle, nap (we followed eat-sleep-play). They didn't fall asleep drinking the bottle, but we always did a bottle before naps.

Now that they are older, the morning nap follows breakfast (right from highchair, to changing table, to crib), and their afternoon nap either follows snack or coming home from the sitter's house (depending on the day). There is some crying some days for the afternoon nap because they are so tired after playing all day. Hope that helps some.

 

I just put them down when one or both of them seem tired.

 

Mine know it's nap time when I get out the blankets. I use the cribs a lot of times to contain them while I do housework or something with the other baby - and for that I place some toys in the crib and take out the blankets. When I get out the sleep sacks and turn on the white noise machine the girls know it's time for sleep.

 

We do a diaper change as a transition, then I carry them both upstairs. I hold them both and sing a little song. Then I kiss them on the head, lay them down, say 'have a nice nap' and out the door. The entire process takes 5 minutes.

 

So with all of the things you do, is there any crying & fussing?? Mine can seriously cry for 15-30 minutes!! I don't think I'm putting them to bed too early, as I watch for tired signs. I just don't want them crying so much.

 

Mine is simple:
Put in sleep sack
Rock while singing Twinkle Twinkle
put down when almost asleep

I only sing twinkle twinkle when they are going to take naps ro going to bed. When I sing it, they know it is time to sleep!

eta: Could they be overtired? If I don't put them down in the right "window" of time they get VERY fussy.

 

QUOTE(BeckiAllen1130 @ Aug 12 2008, 12:34 PM) [snapback]926245[/snapback]
So with all of the things you do, is there any crying & fussing?? Mine can seriously cry for 15-30 minutes!! I don't think I'm putting them to bed too early, as I watch for tired signs. I just don't want them crying so much.


When DD and DS nap together there is no crying, just endless playing, it sometimes takes upwards of 30-45 minutes for them to fall asleep. Recently I seperated them for naps (DS sleeps in the pnp in my room for naps only) and now DD fusses for 1-3 minutes and then plays herself to sleep. DS doesn't fuss at all, just plays and sleeps. However that's after alot of sleep training, there was a time when it was 30 minutes of crying before each and every nap, it was terrible. The only thing that helped was being consistent and giving it time.

 

OK!! Thanks for all of your advice & telling me what your routines are

I guess they could be overtired. I still haven't found that "magical" moment when to put them down. I put them down after an hour & 15/20 minutes and there's crying...I put them down after an hour & a half and there's crying...I put them down at 2 hours & there's crying!!! I wish I could just put them down & they would fall asleep. I don't mind them crying themselves to sleep, I just don't like that it takes so loooong for them to fall asleep while crying.

 

I agree with pp be consistent. For some stupid reason (that right now I can't think of) I went from placing ds in his crib awake for naps, he would fuss, play then fall asleep to feeding him to sleep. Dumb, Dumb, Dumb. Then we went away so I'm sure that, that didn't help either. So now I have gone back to placing him in his crib drowsy etc. and he screams. He is soooo mad. I hope this doesn't last for long it breaks my heart and he wakes his sister everytime so my good sleeper is getting overtired because her naps are being interrupted. I never knew how much I would cherish an hour to myself. I am right there with you..