What is an Emergency Nap?

When you hear the word “Emergency Nap” do you know what I’m referring to?

As a parent, you likely know that your child has a certain amount of hours that they need to sleep in a 24 hour period. This number is a range, so some days your child might not meet their ‘quota’ but on other days, they will! Do you ever have those days where you child simply will NOT nap? You’ve set up their crib just how they like it, their awake time was perfect, you did their routine, and things are not going well? Because, same (surprise surprise, my kids are not sleeping angels lol).

On those days, we can use something called an emergency nap. This nap is useful just to get 1 sleep cycle in (30-45 minutes). I recommend using an emergency nap as a last ditch effort to get your child to sleep. This means that you’ve tried all of your normal tricks, their awake time is creeping up since they haven’t slept, and we just need to get this baby to sleep any way possible!

That’s when you put your baby in their carseat and go for a drive. Or maybe you put them in the stroller or even the baby carrier and then you go for a walk. You just get them to sleep any way possible - that ideally isn’t an old sleep prop. The reason why we offer emergency naps is that we know that sleep begets sleep. So, the better your child sleeps during the day, will indicate how well they’ll sleep that night. If they’ve had the worst sleep-day ever, then the chances of them being restless and irritable all night are really high.

I know I’ve had to use these emergency naps for my babies before and they’ve felt like a lifesaver. If naps are really not going well for your family and you need some solid support, I recommend checking out my Baby Sleep Course or 1-on-1 coaching. I’d love to help your family get better sleep!