Where Your Child Sleeps: Junk Sleep vs Healthy Sleep

Does where you child sleeps, matter?

Yes. The answer is yes! It does matter. You may be thinking "my child takes amazing car naps" or " they love stroller naps!" Maybe the only way your child will nap is if they're in the car or stroller. Or maybe they NEVER sleep in the car or stroller.

Here's the low down; we want to aim for crib/bassinet/pack n play naps 80% of time starting around 4 months of age. You can of course start practicing this sooner, but at 4 months, this should be a priority. The truth is, naps in motion are only about HALF as restorative as naps that occur in a proper sleep space. When was the last time you felt rested after falling asleep on a plane or in a car? Probably never.

Sleep is not created equal. There is junk sleep, and there is restorative sleep. Life happens, school pick ups and big kid activities can make naps a task to juggle with littles, but all we can do is our best to try and aim for as close to 100% as possible.

As I said above, aim for 80% of naps to occur in a proper sleep space!

Aside from sleep that occurs in motion, junk sleep also included sleep that occurs outside of your child's natural sleep rhythms; sleep is not equal 24 hours around the clock. We are diurnal by natural no matter how you slice it. Children's bodies are most ready for sleep around 6-8pm. They're also wired to want to wake between 6-8am. If your child sleeps outside of these ranges and there are no sleep struggles, then by all means, do not change a thing! However, if sleep is a struggle, moving within those windows is typically one of the first things you should do.

If you’d like to know exactly WHEN you should be putting your child down for a nap, grab your FREE sleep schedule cheat sheet HERE. Take the guesswork and frustration out of sleep schedules!!