naps

Snuggle up! Most children require some daytime ZZZs at least through preschool — even if they fight it with all of their lil might. Here are some tips to help lil ones settle down for a snooze — or at least some quiet time — even in the classroom.

• Maintain a consistent nap time. If your tot's classroom has scheduled nap time for 1 p.m., stick to the same schedule at home — and that includes weekends.
• Send your lil one to school with her lovey — but with clear directions for the teachers that it's only to be taken out at nap time.
• Preschoolers love to feel like they are making their own decisions. Let them feel like they're part of the process by choosing a special nap mat for the new school year.
• It's important for a toddler to fall asleep on his own at night. If they can't figure out how to self soothe in their own environment, there's no chance they'll just drift off in a classroom, on the floor, surrounded by other kids and distractions.
• Nap time can be anxiety producing for restless tots. Talk to your tots about what will be expected, and reassure them that it's OK if they can't sleep; but, they will have to find a quiet activity to do, like reading or coloring, so as not to disturb the other students.

It takes a village! Psychobabble asks our readers for some nap time help in The Mommy Club group.

I am the mother of a 2.5 month old son who is having some issues with napping. When my son hit three weeks, he experienced a nasty case of colic. The only remedy to comfort him was to wear him in a Moby wrap all day. Now at 2.5 months he will only nap during the day while carried in the Moby wrap. I've tried putting him down in a deep sleep, putting him down when he's drowsy, and putting one of my shirts in the crib. He wakes up as soon as he hits the sheet and cries/flails around until I pick him up and put him back in the wrap. Once in the wrap he usually falls asleep in minutes. 

How can I help him adjust to the crib for naps? I'm going back to work very soon and he will be at daycare, where I'm sure they won't be able to carry him around all day!

In terms of his nighttime habits, we had swaddled him and put him to bed once asleep with a great track record of sleeping through the night. He just started moving around in the crib at night (we found him rotated 90 degrees in the morning, but not rolling over yet) so we tried using a sleep sack only, now he's waking up during the night again. I would greatly appreciate any advice you could provide about these issues. I'm afraid I created a monster while trying to remedy his colic.

Got a mommy issue you just can't figure out? Start asking questions and sharing your advice and tips in The Mommy Club!

I hated it when my preschool and kindergarten teacher cued us to take out our nap mats — why nap when there was coloring to be done? Before I blame them for ruining my chance at becoming the next Picasso, it looks like they might have been on to something: a new study suggests that an afternoon nap might make you smarter.

Pitting nappers against non-nappers, researchers gave a group of 39 healthy, young adults a memory test before and after a 90-minute nap. When taking the memory test the second time, the non-nappers' scores dropped an average of 10 percent. Meanwhile, the nappers did even better the second time around. The University of California, Berkeley researchers also found that how much sleep the nappers got was much less important than the type of sleep they received. The more "stage 2 non-REM" sleep the participants had — a lighter form of non-dreaming sleep — the better they did.

Apparently, our brains get clogged during the day with information overload and taking a nap helps it recharge. After a brief resting period, it's able to consolidate the information it's picked up through the day, while also clear itself to be more adept at learning new information. While many of us don't have 90 minutes to snooze during our lunch break, even a 15 to 20 minute nap can help too.

• A new survey says that one in three adults say they nap on a typical day. — NY Times
• According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, old white men are the first to get laid off. — USA Today
• A baby taken from her murdered mother's womb has been found alive. — Boston Globe
• Four US senators have proposed a bill that would nationally ban texting while driving. — CNN
• During a meeting among fashion industry insiders this week, Vogue editor Anna Wintour apparently suggested price fixing as a way to help boost retail sails.
  — New York Post