In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful
Today, we’re talking about babies and naps. Well, sort of… We’re talking about things us Moms can do while our baby naps. I’ve intentionally only listed things that can be done regardless of whether your baby naps for 20 minutes or 3 hours.
I don’t know about you but it’s very rare that my son naps for two hours. I know there are plenty of kiddos who sleep beautifully for like three hours every. single. day. But at least for right now, that’s totally not how things are for us. In fact, he almost never sleeps the same amount of time. After a couple of times getting upset when my “grand plans” didn’t work out – I decided to try something different. I’ve learned to manage my expectations and choose things that are more flexible to do while he naps.
One last note: except on rare occasions, I don’t advocate for doing chores during nap times. I feel very strongly that babies’ nap time equals mommas “me time”. It is crucial for us as moms to make sure that we have time each day to regroup and refill our own cup. It is also important that our children are seeing and being included in taking care of the home.
So what to do during naps?
1. Relax. This will look different for everyone. Maybe you can have a coffee or tea and read a book, maybe you can close your eyes and rest, maybe you can scroll through facebook or whatever social media you prefer or maybe you can sit outside for a bit and enjoy the scenery. It is tough to get time to simply relax when you’re a mom – whether you have one child or ten – so these golden little nuggets called nap time are perfect opportunities.
2. Eat. When you have a few moments where you’re not having to chase after little people and they’re not watching your every move, you can actually sit down and enjoy your meal. I think family meals are awesome and very important! But that doesn’t negate how lovely it is to sit down and enjoy a nice breakfast or lunch while my son has his nap…or maybe a brownie or ice cream!
3. Study. It’s important that we as moms don’t give into that message of not having time to do anything for ourselves. We have to make sure that we’re regularly making time to grow and flourish! During naps is a great time to open up a book on any topic that you’re interested in and read a couple pages. Maybe you need a little more structure or simply want to dive a bit deeper, so you could take an online course! Even if you only finish a couple pages or a single module, that is perfect because it’s progress!
4. Work on a hobby. Having a hobby is another aspect of growing and flourishing. Whatever your hobby might be, while your little one is sleeping is a great time to give a little time to it. Depending on what exactly your hobby is, you might need to really plan ahead so that you have your materials ready and you have a clean up plan for when baby does wake up. Again, you might not be able to finish a project, a game, a picture or whatever it might be but the keys are that you have a joyful experience and you’ve made progress!
5. Dedicate time to building something you love. I was going to say building a business but while that’s pretty cool and that’s what I use a lot of nap times for… I realize that a business isn’t something that everyone is interested in. Maybe you want to build a garden or a budget or a family calendar. I’m not talking about doing chores or to-do list items necessarily though…I’m talking things you actually find joy in. Something that will refill your cup a bit.
Question for the comments: Does your baby/babies nap at the same time & for the same length every day? What do you do during nap time?
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