Unexpected car naps can definitely take a negative toll on the rest of the afternoon, but there are things you can do to help manage those tricky situations when baby takes a car nap.

We’ve all been there… You’re on the way home, your baby or toddler is getting sleepy, so you check the rearview mirror and make goofy loud noises in attempt to keep your little one awake.

But then, just when you’re ALMOST home, they fall asleep. 😩

Now what?!

First of all, if your little one falls asleep in the car and stays asleep while your bring them inside, you can try to transition them into their crib without waking them.

⬇️

Bring the car seat with your sleeping baby directly into their room (or whichever sleep space is their typical nap area). Before taking your baby out of the car seat, make sure the room is dark, sound machine is on, and swaddle or sleep-sack is laid out and ready. Then take baby out of the car seat and place gently into the crib.

It’s incredibly helpful to set up the room with the swaddle or sleep-sack ready so that you don’t have to move baby around too much during the transition.

If it works, wonderful! If they startle awake, I’d suggest quietly leaving the room and give them just a bit of space (5 minutes or so) to fall back asleep on their own since they’re already drowsy.

If they don’t seem like they’re going to fall back asleep, go ahead and get them up, feed if you need to, and play for about a half hour before trying to put them down again.

Okay, but what do I do when baby takes a car nap and wakes up when I get home?!

➡️ If the car nap only lasts 5-15 minutes, you’ll want to push back their normal nap time by 20-30 minutes.

➡️ If the car nap lasts 20-30 minutes, you’ll want to push back their normal nap time by about 45 minutes.

➡️ If the car nap lasts 45 minutes or more, this can count as their actual nap. When 20-30 minutes has already passed and my son is still asleep and the car nap is going well, I like to take the scenic way home or swing through the Starbucks drive through to extend the nap just a bit longer.

DISCLAIMER (lol)

If you have a ways to go before getting home and it’s just about time for your little one’s nap, it night be best to just let them take their car nap instead of trying to keep them awake until you get home.

When a baby or toddler becomes overtired, they have a MUCH more difficult time falling asleep and staying asleep.

You may have been in a situation before where you succeed in keeping your child awake until you get home, but when you go to lay them down in their crib, they fight their entire nap.

This can be sooo frustrating. Sometimes you just need to weigh your options depending on the length of the drive and your baby’s schedule and sleepy cues.

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