I’m always a big fan of being follow a predictable yet flexible routine!

A mum cannot be stuck at home all the time for baby’s sleep, it’s just not practical, it is not a real mum’s life especially if you have an older toddler to entertain!

I encourage my clients to get out. I don’t encourage you to be out all day every day, but I do encourage you to do a pram nap out of the house regularly. We can only take being isolated at home with a baby for so long before we start to go a little crazy. I will be one of the first people to tell you that YOU MUST GET OUT AND ABOUT and encourage your baby to have a nap out of the house to. Cot naps are more restorative but it’s about finding a healthy balance.

I get asked a lot by mums that baby is very hard to doze off to sleep in a pram and if they do, they will wake as soon as the pram is stop moving.

Buggy naps are far more easier to achieve when the baby’s internal body clock has a predictable time for nap once the routine has established.

8 Survival Top Buggy Nap Tips

Tips 1: Mimic the room of baby’s sleep by creating the dark

• Sleep is controlled by a hormone called melatonin. Melatonin is responsible for helping babies fall asleep and stay asleep through more than just one sleep cycle.
• A baby’s body will only release melatonin when in the dark, so darkening the sleep environment is an excellent way to trigger a good nap. A breathable thin cloth over the snooze shade to allow the sleep hormone, then melatonin to kick in to make the baby feel sleepy.
• We are creating for awareness of going to sleep in the buggy. Awareness let baby to know eventually that this is a safe place to sleep- remember, babies are very instinctive, if they drop off to sleep and subconsciously don’t remember the circumstances in which they fell to sleep, they can wake startled.

Tips 2: Stick to your routine

• Be true to your usual routine, and put baby into the car or buggy with 20-30 minutes before naptime.
• Make sure your little one is fed and has a clean nappy. This way there is sufficient time to relax and fall asleep without becoming overwrought.

Tips 3: White Noise

• White Noise is a very simple and effective sleep association that you can take with you – not only does the sound remind baby it is sleep time, it creates a relaxing environment and effectively blocks out the distracting noises that can make settling more difficult.
• You can use a portable white noise machine which has a rechargeable battery or download a white noise apps on your phone (please turn on the airplane mode if you are using your phone to play the white noise).

Tips 4: Comforters

• Positive sleep associations that show your baby when it’s sleep time are a really helpful tool for sleeping while out and about. One of our favourites is a comforter, so your baby can cuddle this and settle down to sleep anywhere.
• If you are taking a favourite comforter out, I recommend you always have a spare at home…you may lose it when you’re out, and bedtime might be pretty awful that night if you don’t have a spare.
• If your baby is prone to throwing his favourite comforter out of the buggy or dropping it from your carrier, you could invest in a little dummy clip to attach it.

Tips 5: Plenty of time to explore

• Baby will have the feeling of fear of missing out when outing.
• Make sure baby has had their fill of fresh air and play! If the baby hasn’t had a chance to play, it will be hard for them to feel sleepy at the time of nap and fall sleep easily in the pram.
• The more active your baby is during the day, the easier it will be for her to fall asleep at night. If you’re on vacation, make sure you have trips to the park baked in, and if you’re headed to Grandma and Grandpa’s, play in the backyard for a good part of the day.

Tips 6: Process wise

• Take baby out of their buggy first and set the buggy to the lowest lying setting.
• Just like how you would place them into their cot, we don’t want a baby falling asleep sitting up or pulling the pram back down once they are asleep unless if they are good as they are, it’s fine!

Tips 7: Repeat the routine

• Place them in and tell baby their sleep phrase as usual, put the breathable cloth over the snooze shade.
• Be mindful do not overheat the baby by considering the layers of clothes baby is wearing.

Tips 8: Relax and Enjoy

Try to stop the buggy walk once the baby is asleep and not walk for the entire nap.

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A baby on a routine does not need to have every single nap at home in their cot, I actually encourage the opposite. As mentioned above, I don’t recommend that a baby sleeps out of the house for every nap either, cot sleeps are important and for most naps this is what I recommend. But remember, 80/20 rules, life balance. 80% of sleep is at home and 20% of sleep on the go.

Everything needs balance. Napping out and about isn’t so much about your baby, it’s about YOU and YOU are important as well.

If you have any questions or need support, send me a message.

Phoebie