Syncing Sibling Nap Schedules
Let’s be honest for a moment - parenting is hard work!! And, it would be super lovely to have a little kid-free break in the middle of the day. If you’re a parent of multiple little ones, syncing nap schedules is a great way to help you get that break - whether you use that time to eat lunch, make a phone call, workout, sit in silence, scroll through social media, fold laundry, anything! There's no right or wrong way to sync your kids' nap schedules. But, I do have some tips to help you figure out what works best for your family!!
Siblings and Naps
I’m going to guess that you’re reading this because you have two (or more) little ones on different nap schedules.
If you have a newborn/infant on 3+ naps and a toddler on 1 nap - It’s pretty likely that at least part of your baby’s middle of the day nap is going to overlap with your toddler’s nap without much thought put into it.
If you have a baby on 2 naps and a toddler on 1 nap - You might have to get a little creative to sync up those naps, but it’s totally possible!
When you have two tinies on 1 nap - Nap syncing is, of course, the most straight-forward. Part of the naps may not overlap if your younger toddler takes a longer nap than your older toddler, but some is better than none!
The Nap Circus
I like to joke that at my house, we have a nap circus. There’s always someone napping around here. (By someone I mean two littles – I wish it were me! ). One thing that you want to consider for your nap circus is:
Do you prefer your babies to have a nap at the same time or different times?
This may seem like a no-brainer since we are clearly talking about syncing nap schedules, but some people may actually like when naps are staggered rather than overlapping. It may be easier to manage one child at a time. If that works for your family - go for it!!! Some people are going to want naps to overlap as much as possible. If that’s your preference, also great! (My family likes a balance between the two where at least part of my toddler’s nap overlaps with part of my infant's 2nd nap, but they’re also awake at times while the other is sleeping.)
How to Sync Sibling Naps
I wish I could tell you there is a formula for figuring this out, but it really comes down to looking at your children and your family’s needs to come up with a schedule that works well! Here are some tips to help you sync up those naps:
Figure out each child’s sleep needs and a schedule that works best for them individually. Not sure where to start, check out our blog on determining your child’s sleep needs. Our Wake Times vs By the Clock blog post can also help you decide what type of schedule you want to use with each of your children.
Decide what time of day and what part of naps would be ideal for an overlap.
Since your toddler is only on 1 nap in the afternoon, most likely the nap overlap will happen during the afternoon.
Consider any activities that affect sleep schedules so you can work around those like school drop off/pick ups, driving to appointments, helping older children with school/homework, etc.
Example: Let’s say you have an older child that comes home with homework. You may want to sync afternoon naps on the later end to give you quiet time to help with homework.
Once you’ve decided when you prefer for naps to overlap, some ways to get your younger babe to have a nap around the same time or at some point during your toddler’s nap include:
Adjust morning out of crib/bed times. This may mean you wake one child up before the other so naps are more likely to line up as hoped.
Cap a morning nap. Save daytime sleep for the afternoon nap for more overlap!
Move your toddler’s nap later to align with your younger babe’s nap. Just make sure you are looking at total wake time. So if your total wake time is 11 hour with a 5/6 split, but you adjust to a later nap, your adjustment could look something like a 6/5 split which still gives you 11 hour total wake time.
Two important general sleep reminders:
Children are not robots. So, as much as we plan and have schedules, it’s not always going to work out as we hope! That’s okay. Do the best you can, and worse-case scenario - reset and try again the next day!
As always, adjust schedules as needed! If you tried something and it didn’t seem to be working after giving it an honest effort, go back to the drawing board. Your childrens’ sleep needs will change over time, so prepare yourself to make those changes when the time comes. And, if you need help, I offer Easy Access Sleep Support which is a great option for troubleshooting sleep schedules and figuring out a plan for syncing sibling naps.
What Does Sibling Nap Syncing Look Like
Here is a personal example to give you an idea of how syncing naps can go: My littles are currently almost 3 years old (1 nap) and a 9 month old (2 naps). In our nap circus, we like to shoot for at least an hour of overlap between naps in the afternoon. I currently wake my 9 month old up a little earlier than my toddler. (They used to wake up at the same time but I recently moved his morning out of crib time to a little earlier because his wake window needed to be bumped up and I wanted his morning nap to start around the same time. So, I moved his morning OOC earlier rather than moving his morning nap to a later start time.) I also cap his morning nap so that his afternoon nap is the longer one. Recently, we bumped my toddler’s nap up a little later, too, so that the baby’s nap would overlap more with her nap. Her morning wake window is now a little longer than it was previously, and evening wake window is a little shorter, but her total wake time stayed the same. And, we'll cap her naps, too, if needed to preserve bedtime and night sleep!
We could probably work to make their naps overlap a bit longer, but with our busy schedules juggling a baby, toddler, and two teenagers, this works well for us and it’s helpful to have that 1:1 time with each little one at separate times.
Sibling Nap Syncing Examples
Check out some more examples to get an idea of what synchronized sleep schedules look like. Keep in mind, these are just examples, and this will vary for every family based on what works best for you!!
REMEMBER, there is no by-the-book way to sync up sibling nap schedules. You just have to figure out what will work best for your schedules and activities, your family, your babies!! If you want to sync sibling naps and would like some more guidance to make that happen, check out my Easy Access Sleep Support packages so I can help you through the process and give you that much needed and deserved mid-day break!!
