How to Prevent Toddlers from Napping in the Car
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Sleeping children are a beauty to behold, especially at home in their beds. I’ve never been a stickler for kids napping at home. I’m okay, in fact, more than okay with car naps on a long drive. Ever sit in bumper-to-bumper LA traffic with a screaming baby?
Yeah, you know what I’m talking about….
However, if it’s a quick trip from the park to home, I’d rather they waited before they snoozed. A 15-minute catnap is enough to blow a 3-hour naptime out of the water.
I’ve had toddlers for the last 12 years now and nothing’s changed. If I don’t engage my little one for the entire ride, she will fall asleep, even if we are one block from home. So, we try to keep FishBaby awake until her crib is in sight.
Here are some ways we attempt this miraculous feat:
- Sing songs, NOT lullabies. Try rousing, piraty, laughing, clapping songs.
- Talk about the day. Beginning babblers often love this.
- Ask questions that require an active response, like “Where’s your nose?” “Point to your eyes.”
- Look for vehicles of a certain color or look for tractors, fire engines, etc.
- Hunt for the monkey in the trees. Yes, I lie to my kiddo. But, it works. We talk about monkeys and look for them in the trees we pass.
It is so hard when my kids fall asleep in the car but what’s funny is my mother-in-law doesn’t seem to try to keep them awake she just makes the car ride longer. So if they fell asleep on a ten minute ride home she will make my father-in-law drive slowly (well below the speed limit, so the other drivers love them) way past their house then finally turn around and go back. If I happen to be in the car too, it drives me nuts!
I usually turn up the music and get her to dance and sing. If that doesn’t work…lot’s of pokeing!!
The best way I’ve found is to give my sons an i-Pod with a video of a show they like. (A DVD player would have the same effect.) I realize it’s not the best solution for everyone, but it allows me to focus on driving, and because I know it almost always works, I don’t have the panicky feeling that they’ll fall asleep if I don’t do something. I’ve been there, done that, and it’s awful.
So funny! We look for Pooh and friends in the *ahem* “hundred acre woods” as we drive by. LOL This started on a VERY long drive to Disney in FL (from PA) a few years back and now we look for them in all groupings of trees. 😉
It’s so funny you would write about this today, because I just enlisted my own “powers” on a drive home just a few minutes ago. 🙂 Definitely the songs are a big help. I also like to roll the window down or tickle what toes I can safely reach.
HA! I just had that today, coming back from a swim at a friend’s pool who lives 35 minutes away. I reminded him we’d get to see the trains again, alongside the road. Worked until we passed the trains, then he passed out. I then just postponed naptime a bit. It does stink though, in that sometimes then they never want to sleep!
I couldn’t agree with this post more! Those 5 minute naps will throw off the whole day! When my kids were babies, if have another adult passenger we often played tickle games or peek-a-boo. My son would even help with this the peek-a-boo for his little sister and make her giggle! You can’t do those safely alone so I kept some toys that make noise in the car for this purpose. As they have gotten older I find the best trick is to engage them our favorite is silly songs, but we also love to talk about the favorite part of what ever we just did.
And I also agree with Eleanor, they do have a tendency to do the opposite of what you want them to do! Last Christmas we drove across the country (an 18 hour drive over 2 days w/ most of the driving at night) and our daughter would only sleep 30 minutes at a time!
Oh, this JUST happened to me yesterday. My toddler slept for ten minutes in the car and then did not nap at all. He really was a bear later on too! Thanks for the tips 🙂
I agree – those short “power” naps just blow the regular naps out of the water! Whenever we are in the car & she is fading – I will give her a coloring book & a few crayons. She LOVES to color & this is usually enough to keep her awake until we get home!
What is funny is that our little one will usually always try to nap when we are so close to home. However, when we take a trip & plan departure at her nap time so she will sleep in the car – she, almost always, won’t fall asleep! lol!
They always keep ya guessing, huh?!
I enlist the help of my other kids to keep the sleepy one(s) awake. I ask them to poke, prod, or talk to the babies. 🙂 Sometimes it works. Sometimes my 3 year old will tell me no when I ask her to keep her sister awake. “She’s so tired mom. Let’s let her sleep.”