Settling Guy for a Nap

I love to share parenting strategies (and grand-parenting strategies) from stories that readers share. The theme of today’s strategy has appeared in the column at least once each year after Jamie Werner became a grandmother and shared her story for settling Lauren down for a nap.

Today, the story comes from my cousin in Mount Prospect, IL. My cousin, Harriet, recently retired in order to care for her newest grandchild when her daughter-in-law returned to work. When I visited Harriet, she showed me the bedroom and crib for little Guy and told me about ‘settling him down for a nap’.

“When I sense it is time for him to have a nap, I carry him upstairs to the bedroom and change his diaper. We peek into the crib and see his three pacifiers. I give him one of the pacifiers that he promptly puts in his mouth. We walk over to the dresser where I turn on some soft ‘white noise’ music for him. I take him to the window and pull the shades down. I walk slowly back to the crib and give him a kiss, put him in the crib, and tell him to have a good rest. He quickly grabs the other two pacifiers and almost always will lay right down. I walk out of the room and close the door. I am careful to always do the steps of the routine in the same order and I keep my voice quiet.”

“The few times that he would stand up and cry seemed to be only when something really bothered him, like new teeth, or a bowel movement. It is amazing how this brief five minute routine settles him so easily.”

Two wonderful grandmothers–two different but similar strategies for settling a child down for a nap.

Song

Little earthworm in the ground

Quietly working, not a sound.

Little earthworm

What do you do?

I help the soil and plants for you.

Use index finger to move like an earthworm. 

Bring finger to lips to indicate quietly.  Sign “help”

Original song and words by Eileen Ziesler