Even though parents often concentrate on the fact that their children sleep well at night, an afternoon nap is equally important.
However, even on this topic – as for many others – there are some false beliefs. In this article I will explain why an afternoon nap is useful for children, up to what age it is important for them to take one, and how you can ensure that they take one when they have no intention to do so.
Sommario
Why do we talk about children’s afternoon nap?
Why do we feel sleepy after having been awake for a while? This depends on the so-called “sleep pressure”, a sort of internal timer which prevents children from staying awake for 12 hours in a row (which instead we can do as adults). Starting from about 12 months up to 3 years of age, due to sleep pressure, the body needs to take a little nap halfway through the day, around one o’clock: the afternoon nap. The lack of an afternoon nap increases the production of cortisol (the stress hormone) and might create difficulties at night-time.
An afternoon nap helps children sleep at night
Thus, we can debunk one of the most popular myths: “If children sleep in the afternoon, they won’t sleep at night”. Things aren’t quite like that. In fact, it is exactly the opposite: allowing children to rest during the day encourages their night-time sleep. In the evening, a rested child will tend to fall asleep more easily than a tired one, who will instead be more nervous.
When children refuse to rest in the afternoon
Even though it is a need of their body, children don’t always react enthusiastically to the idea of an afternoon nap. This can happen particularly from 13 months to 3 years of age, a phase in which our children are trying to understand limits and their importance, and during which they could often feel the need to test us. In this phase, children are trying to understand how important their rest is for us and how they can change the rule with their protests.
In order to manage children’s opposition to a nap, it might be useful to:
Calmly maintain the rule and suggest a nap without allowing protests and provocations to change how crucial it is to nap for their wellbeing
Postpone the nap of half an hour from the usual time so that the child might be more aware of being tired
Keep the bedroom as dark as possible as for the night-time sleep
Propose a pre-nap routine, 10/15 minutes long, during which you allow the child to choose between a few options (so, not giving complete freedom to choose how to fall asleep, but a choice between offered possibilities. For example: “Which of these two books would you like to read?”)
Up to what age should an afternoon nap be offered to children?
Starting from 3 years of age a child is ready to stop resting in the afternoon. However, this would mean bringing bedtime forward to around 7 pm (otherwise the child would be too tired, and risk to have an excess of cortisol in the body, as explained earlier).
Yet, considering the daily patterns of almost all contemporary families, this appears almost impossible. Thus, even if children carry on taking an afternoon nap until they are 4 years old, it might not represent a problem. Provided, of course, that this doesn’t affect their night rest. That is, ensuring that bedtime isn’t moved too late nor that the nights become too agitated. In these cases, then, it is better to gradually reduce the length of the afternoon nap of about half an hour, to avoid affecting the night’s sleep quality, which should always be prioritised.
