Promoting Good Nap Habits
Though you want your baby to sleep well during his nap-time, don't hush all noise in the house during his naptime, either. To begin with, it probably isn't even feasible. If you live in an area where there's daytime traffic or other street noises, there may be passing cars, truck horns, kids playing in the street, garbage trucks, and other sounds coming in through the windows. In the second place, there will be noise within the house as well. The phone is likely to ring and perhaps the doorbell, too. If you have an older child, perhaps a toddler or three- or four-year-old, he's likely to play noisily, call “Mom!” from one room to the next, turn on the TV to watch his favorite program, run loudly toward the bathroom, or otherwise keep the house from being silent. You, too, may make some noise of your own. You're likely to have music or the TV on, make phone calls while you have some peace and quiet, clatter around in the kitchen, perhaps even run the vacuum, the sewing machine, or some other equipment that raises the decibel level in the house.
All this is good. To begin with, it will differentiate day-time naps from nighttime sleep, when the house and the outdoors are quieter. Second and just as important, it will get your baby accustomed to sleeping through noise.
So go ahead — run the blender or the food processor, the vacuum or the sewing machine, the television or the stereo. Let your older child turn on the television, and if she wants to sing along with Barney or Oscar the Grouch at the top of her lungs, let her, as long as she's not in or right outside the baby's room. Let the noise proceed as usual! Let the phone ring as always, and don't hush your voice when you're on a phone call. You can stop your older child from going into the baby's room and yelling. This is particularly relevant if the baby is sharing a room with his older sibling, who, at 2½ years of age, is intent on running into the room to retrieve a toy while calling out to you and is mindless of the fact that the baby is sleeping in there. But while you wouldn't want to vacuum in the baby's room while he sleeps, don't plunge the house into total silence, either.
Fact
If you want your baby to be the lightest sleeper on the block, hush everyone up when he's napping, turn off the stereo, and mute the phone. Put a note on the front door: DON'T RING BELL. BABY SLEEPING. You'll soon have a baby who's used to sleeping in total quiet … and wakes up at the slightest noise!
Safety
A too-common practice is that of parents who lie down on the sofa with their babies in the hope that both can nap. It's understandable. But it's not safe. You've had a rough night. The baby kept you up. You're falling asleep. You've put him in his crib, but he won't nap — in fact, all he'll do is scream. You feel like you can't keep your eyes open another minute; yet you can't get the baby to close his eyes. In desperation you lie on the sofa, wedge the baby between you and the back cushion, give him a bottle, and gratefully close your eyes.
Wake up! You've just placed your baby in an unsafe position. What are the hazards?
If the baby is old enough to crawl, he can crawl across you while you sleep and can then fall onto the floor. If he doesn't get hurt in the fall, he can still get into something dangerous while you sleep unaware.
The baby can get wedged between you and the back of the sofa, get his face pushed into the cushions, be unable to cry out, and be smothered.
You can roll over in your sleep and wedge him badly with his face in the cushions or roll on top of him and smother him yourself.
The hazard factor is even greater if the adult sleeping with the baby is overtired, drunk, obese, drowsy from medications, or any combination of these things.
It's best not to put the baby down for a nap on your bed either — at least, not unless you're used to cosleeping and have set the bedroom up for cosleeping safety. But if you leave the baby on your bed, there are three potential hazards:
He might roll over and roll off the bed. You say he's never yet rolled over? There's always the first time.
He might work his way up to your pillow and get smothered by it.
He might work his way to where he can get wedged between the mattress and the headboard or footboard.
His crib is his napping place. If he's fallen asleep in his car seat or swing and you're sure he'll wake up if you take him out to put him in his crib, you can consider leaving him where he is, though it's not recommended. But don't let him sleep on the couch, with or without you, or on your bed unless it's set up for cosleeping.
