When many of us think of naps for our child or children, we think of a nice long 2 hour rest in the middle of the day. Of course, not all children comply with a parent’s fantasy of what nap time ought to look like. Some children are great nappers and they lover their 2-3 hour respite as much as mom or dad does. Other children, however, are content with a little cat nap or even give up their naps all together. For those parents who have cat nappers, I wanted to dig into the question: “Are short naps better than no naps or do they just mess up the day?”
Coping with infants and napping can be easy—the baby may just sleep wherever and whenever and whether you have her in the stroller or in her own bed at home, she’ll just drift off to sleep when she needs it. For toddlers and older children, however, nap time can take some organization and accommodation. For a child who sleeps a good 1 ½ or 2 hours, it can be worth it to make sure you are home (or at day care), settled and making time to allow for an uninterrupted nap. For a child who sleeps 20 minutes to a half-hour, however, it can be a pain to organize the day around making sure that nap time is uninterrupted.
Still a child who takes a short cat nap still needs that rest period. It can make a big difference in his temperament and ability to handle the remaining challenges of the day. For a parent, while a half hour may not be as relaxing or as big of a break as a couple hours can be, it is still a chance to catch one’s breath. This can be a problem for a child in day care, however, as the schedule may set aside a certain period for nap time and not be so willing to accommodate at child who only rests a fraction of that time.
For those of you parents who have dealt with cat nappers, what do you think? Do you think a short nap is better than no nap at all?