Children's Health

Nap Know-How

Expert Tips to Help Children Get Important Daytime Sleep

Parents love them. Kids – not so much, especially as they get older. Naps, however, are important to a young child’s health and well-being. But what if your child simply won’t fall asleep during the day?

“Children need naps as they grow and develop,” said Jason Coles, MD, a sleep specialist with Spectrum Health Medical Group and Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital. “Parents and caregivers need to make time in a child’s day for a nap because most children will just keep going until they drop. Without stopping for some rest during the day, kids get way too tired which quickly spirals into crankiness and that’s trouble for the whole family.”

Coles says that there are general sleep guidelines for children:

  • Infants require about 16 to 20 total hours of sleep per day, including frequent naps.
  • Babies from six to 12-months-old sleep about 11 hours at night, plus two daytime naps.
  • Toddlers require 10 to 13 hours of sleep, including an afternoon nap. Young toddlers might still take two naps a day.

Most children stop napping when they turn five-years-old or begin full-time schooling.

“If a school-age child still requires naps or frequently falls asleep in car rides despite getting the recommended sleep at night, parents should let their family doctor know,” he cautions. “This can be a sign of sleep apnea or another disorder.”

How does a parent or caregiver get a child to sleep at naptime?

Coles offers the following tips:

Routine, Routine, Routine
Kids need routine in most aspects of their lives in order that they – and their bodies – know how to respond. The daily naptime needs to be consistent, says Coles, which will trigger the child’s natural body clock to help him or her fall asleep.

Cool & Dark(er)
Napping in a room that is too bright or too warm is a challenge at all ages. “Even if the room can’t be completely without light, try to darken it as much as possible as a signal to the child that it is time to rest,” advises the physician. And there is no need to pile on the blankets. “Cooler body temperature encourages sleep.”

Nap Buddy
Children like something to cuddle when they sleep. Identify a beloved stuffed animal, doll or blanket as a “nap buddy” that the child can hold each naptime when falling asleep. Coles also advises parents to have a back-up in place in case the “buddy” gets misplaced.

Sleepy Songs
The right kind of music can help children sleep, says Coles. “Try to have classical or other gentle music playing softly in the room while children nap.”

Back Scratch
“It’s almost magical what a gentle back scratch or back rub can do to calm children down and get them ready to sleep,” says Coles. Daycare providers use this trick when trying to get their many charges to sleep in the same room. Parents, however, should end the back rub quickly and leave the room so that children are able to fall asleep alone.

Healthy Diet
It’s never a good idea to let children eat a poor diet of too much sugar or other carbohydrates. Loading up children with such foods right before naptime will certainly sabotage the effort to get them to sleep.

No Mini Naps
Finally, if you want your child to take a “real” nap, try to avoid letting them fall asleep during that car ride home. “Even a couple of minutes of sleep triggers the brain that rest time is over for the day and getting children back to sleep is usually futile,” says Coles. “Most parents learn this the hard way.”

If all efforts fail and a child just won’t fall sleep, Coles says that some quiet or “rest time” has value because this still gives the body and brain a chance to recharge.

More information about children and the importance of naps is available online at Spectrum Health’s Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital.

Spectrum Health is a not-for-profit health system in West Michigan offering a full continuum of care through the Spectrum Health Hospital Group, which is comprised of nine hospitals including Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, a state of the art children’s hospital that opened in January 2011, and 140 service sites; the Spectrum Health Medical Group and West Michigan Heart, physician groups totaling more than 700 providers; and Priority Health, a health plan with 600,000 members. Spectrum Health is West Michigan’s largest employer with 19,000 employees. The organization provided $204 million in community benefit during its 2012 fiscal year.