Will contact napping ruin sleep training?
Moms tend to guilt themselves for every little thing these days. Social media DOES NOT help this! There’s so much comparison, shame, etc online that it can feel impossible to just feel like you’re a good parent.
Let me be the one to set the record straight: you likely found this blog because you’re a good parent who wants the best for their little one.
Repeat that to yourself and know that there are very few ways you can “mess up” when you’re a loving parent who has good intentions!
Now— this is a question I get frequently because parents want to hold and snuggle their sleeping child without feeling like it’s the ONLY way they’ll sleep or that it’ll ruin any of the steps they’ve made toward independent sleep. I get it. I’ve been in that place where sleep finally feels like it’s going well and I’ll do ANYTHING to make sure it stays that way. Sleep deprivation isn’t fun!
However, my advice is to live your life by the 80/20 rule. That means, 80% of the time, sleep happens in the ideal way (which is up to each parent to decide what that is). If you’re here, I assume that means independent, in their own sleep environment. The other 20% of the time, sleep can happen however/whenever.
It’s important to know your child’s temperament and personality. Some babies don’t do well with contact napping. Others don’t do well when you change things up and you see a domino effect into their other naps or bedtime/overnight sleep. It’s okay to experiment and figure that out— that’s sometimes the only way you’ll know!
If your baby will let you and you WANT to do some contact napping, do it!
There are lots of benefits with contact naps:
⏰ if you’ve got a short napper, even one longer contact nap a day can help keep them rested/prevent overtiredness which positively benefits their night time sleep.
⏱️ it could also benefit your baby if they have trouble being transferred and staying in their sleep space
⏳ and listen, if we stop viewing nap time as time that HAS to be productive, then you might even enjoy getting to slow down and reset/rest with baby too 🥰
Preparation is key. Before it’s naptime, make sure your immediate needs are met. Get a snack, a drink of water, and use the bathroom. Make sure you have a charger for your phone.
Take this as a time to relax and snuggle your little one. Set up for the nap somewhere comfortable for you. Make sure you have something to read, listen to, or watch.
(And yeah, it can seem like a privilege of only first time parents but you can include your toddler in this OR overlap naps so everyone is getting downtime!)
Contact naps are healthy and normal. If they work and you enjoy them, they are a great tool. You can do all naps as contact naps or just some of them. You can work on changing where your child naps, but keep in mind your child’s age and temperament for realistic expectations of the process.
If your baby ONLY sleeps when held, click that link and read that blog to start making some changes (if you want) and if you’re ready for 1:1 support to get you where you want to be with sleep, let’s chat!
