Learn some surefire ways to keep your little one awake when in the car so you can preserve naptime. If your baby takes a short nap in the car, it will disrupt your naps for the rest of the day. These work for toddlers, too!
Any parent out there who has had a baby fall asleep in the car close to naptime knows the dread. The doom. The stress.
Naptime was ruined.
The good news is that naptime was only ruined for that one nap that one day, but when you are in the trenches with a baby or toddler at home, every nap counts. Every nap matters. Every nap helps.
No one wants nap ruined because of a little catnap powernap in the car. That can lead to your whole schedule being off. The next nap will be messed up by a little nap in the car that only lasted 15-20 minutes. If you are a mom with a baby and older children, you probably find yourself in the car quite often and really need baby to stay awake until you get home.
With these things in mind, here are ten proven strategies to help you keep your little one awake in the car.
Avoid the Car at Nap Time
If you don’t want your little one to sleep in the car, it is best to avoid the car at naptime or bedtime. I know it isn’t always possible to plan your car trips around your baby’s nap schedule. School drop off, soccer games, and bad traffic don’t always cooperate, but do your best to respect this first tip.
>>>Read: Managing Baby Plus Older Kids’ Activities
Give Your Baby Novel Toys and Books
We always kept books in the car that never left the car. We had a little tote of toys that never left the car. These helped entertain our little ones and also kept them engaged and more awake. These books and toys were different from what they saw playing at home, so they were very interested in them.
A really great “toy” for the car that seems to engage toddlers and older babies is a wallet with some old cards in it for your little one to pull out.
Your goal here is to keep your baby engaged so they are less likely to drift off into a power nap.
Find some fun driving activities to do in the car here.
Sing Like Crazy
If your little one is falling asleep, sing, sing, sing. Turn on some toddler tunes or the radio and sing. Sing without the help of prerecorded materials. Sing to your baby. Babies do not care how good of a singer you are or are not, so let loose.
Tip–a baby car mirror (affiliate link) is super helpful for you to be able to make eye contact with your rear-facing little one at times to help engage them and keep them awake. This si super helpful for avoiding car naps because you can see if your baby is getting drowsy eyes or not.
Avoid Sleep Props
If you do not want your baby to settle into a little nap in the car, you want to avoid letting your little one have sleep props. No pacifier, no special blanket, no lovey…help keep baby awake by keeping special sleep props away from baby.
Let Baby Eat
A great way to keep a baby or toddler awake is with food. If your little one can eat finger foods and eat safely in the car seat, have your little one eat some snacks or drink some breastmilk/formula/etc. to stay awake.
Distract, Distract, Distract
Keep your baby distracted. Talk to your baby like crazy. This is why I talk about the novel toys and the singing. You want to do what you can to keep your baby engaged and not slipping off into slumber. Babies love to learn, so if you can introduce things that are out of the ordinary in their daily lives, they will focus on that and be less likely to fall asleep.
Listen to Audio Books
Audio books are another great form of distraction. Keep some audio books on hand to listen to when your little one is getting sleepy. You can keep the copy of the book in the vehicle so you can give the book to your little one as you listen.
Get Siblings or Parent to Help
Keeping a baby awake is much easier if you have a sibling or a parent to help keep the baby awake. This is a very easy way to sing with the baby, play with the baby, help feed the baby, and just distract the baby in any way. If you are in the car a lot because you are driving older kids around, have them help keep the baby engaged and awake.
Talk About Everything
Talk about everything you see. Talk about anything and everything. Point out the things you are passing, the temperature, the colors, what you have done that day, what you will do that day…just talk. Ask questions to get your child thinking and engaged.
Pull Over and Get Out
This is listed last because it is the last resort. If you really feel like you are losing this battle, pull over, get your little one out of the car seat, and get moving. Do a quick little walk to get the blood flowing. I know I get drowsy sitting for an extended period. Moving around gets my bloodflow going and I perk up.
Conclusion
When your kiddo falls asleep in the car, it messes prevents your baby from getting a full wake window, which then affects the next nap and the rest of your day. This is always disruptive, but especially disruptive when sleep training. Do what you can to avoid letting your baby fall asleep in the car while you are running errands or driving other kids places.
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This post first appeared on this blog in May of 2019