Baby's First Christmas: Visitors, Gifts and Bedtime

The easiest way to enjoy your baby’s first Christmas is to plan the day around their naps, not the other way round. Keep at least one good nap in a crib or play yard, let visitors and the big moments land in the awake stretches, open presents a few at a time, and hold bedtime close to its usual time. If the evening runs late anyway, put them down earlier the next night and keep the morning wake-up the same. Your baby won’t remember the day. You will, so let’s make it a calm one, friend.

Build Christmas Day around the naps

A first Christmas usually has a lot packed into it: stockings, a big meal, grandparents, maybe a drive to a second house. Write down your baby’s normal day first, then drop the plans into the gaps.

• Morning awake stretch: stockings, the first-Christmas photos and a few presents. A rested baby after a night’s sleep is often at their sunniest, so this is your golden hour for pictures.
• First nap: at home, in their own crib, at the usual time. Protect this one most of all. It’s the one that sets up the afternoon.
• Midday awake stretch: visitors arrive, more presents, the meal.
• Afternoon nap: this is the flexible one. If you’re travelling, it can happen at Grandma’s.
• Evening: dinner, a little more cuddling, then the normal bedtime routine.

If two houses are on the list, try to host the morning at yours and travel in the afternoon. A car nap is fine as a top-up, but the American Academy of Pediatrics says that if your baby falls asleep in a car seat, stroller, swing or carrier, you should move them “to a firm sleep surface on their back as soon as possible.”

Napping at Grandma’s house

The simplest way to protect an away-from-home nap is to bring the bed with you. The AAP’s safe sleep guide lists a “crib, bassinet, portable crib or play yard” that meets CPSC safety standards, with a fitted sheet only: “nothing else should be in the crib with your baby.” A travel play yard like the Graco On the Go Pack ‘n Play sets up in a spare bedroom in minutes.

Make that room feel like naptime:

• Pick the quietest room, away from the kitchen and the TV.
• Bring the sleep cues from home: the same sleep sack, the same song, the same sound machine if you use one.
• Ask someone to keep the door closed and the dog out.

If your baby naps through the party noise at home but stirs in Grandma’s hushed spare room, our post on why a baby sleeps through a party but wakes in a quiet house explains it, and what to do.

When everyone wants a cuddle

Being handed from aunt to cousin to great-grandpa is part of the magic. It’s also a lot for a little one. A few gentle rules keep it happy:

• One holder at a time, then a break. Every so often, take your baby to a quiet room for ten minutes of nothing.
• Watch your baby, not the clock. Turning away, fussing or rubbing their eyes usually means they’ve had enough. Take them back with a smile and a “they need a little reset!”
• Ask people to wash their hands first. In its RSV guide, HealthyChildren.org advises parents to “limit your baby’s exposure to crowds, other children, and anyone with colds,” and to wash hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. A cousin with a runny nose can wave hello from across the room.

Then there’s the classic: the baby falls asleep on Grandpa, and Grandpa settles into the sofa. A nap in a wide-awake grown-up’s arms is lovely. The worry is the grown-up nodding off too. The AAP warns against falling asleep with a baby on a couch, soft armchair or cushion, and Betteroo’s guide to naps on a grown-up’s chest puts it simply: the safety question “is whether you might fall asleep too.” After a big lunch and a warm room, that’s a real chance. Ask them to hand the baby back once they feel sleepy, and move the nap to the play yard.

Presents, a few at a time

Here’s the secret no one tells you: on their first Christmas, your baby will love the wrapping paper and the box more than anything inside. So don’t make them sit through twenty gifts at once.

• Open two or three in the morning, a few after the first nap, and save the rest for the next day or the weekend.
• Let them play with one new thing before you move on. Watching them discover a crinkly book is the best part.
• Clear the wrapping as you go. Ribbons, bows and tape end up in little mouths fast.

New toys need a quick safety check, too. HealthyChildren.org’s guide to buying safe toys says to watch for “button batteries or lithium coin batteries, high-powered magnets or other small objects that children might be tempted to put in their mouths, noses or ears.” For stuffed animals, it says to “take off any loose ribbons or strings to avoid strangulation.” And every new plush friend lives on the shelf, not in the crib.

Brief the helpers before the big day

If a grandparent or aunt is doing a nap or bedtime while you’re busy, a short written plan is so much easier than explaining it with a fussy baby in your arms. Betteroo’s caregiver handoff sheet recommends putting the routine on one page and doing one practice handoff, and keeping safe sleep “non-negotiable: back, alone, firm flat surface, nothing in the crib.”

If family is staying for the whole holiday week, our plan for keeping bedtime steady with houseguests covers the sleeping map, the guest brief and the tricky third night.

Bedtime on Christmas night

The house is still full and the dishes are still out. Bedtime can still happen.

1. Start the routine at the normal time, even if the party carries on downstairs.
2. Same steps, same order: bath or wash, pajamas, a cozy sleep sack, a feed, a song, into bed awake if that’s what you usually do.
3. Keep it quiet and dim. The tree lights can wait until they’re asleep.
4. Let one person do it, ideally whoever usually does, while the other parent keeps the party going.

If you’re hosting the evening crowd yourself, our guide to hosting a holiday party with a sleeping baby has the noise and guest tricks.

And if the day ran long and bedtime slipped? That’s okay! Betteroo’s overtired-baby guide notes that “babies do not sleep in to compensate,” so keep the next morning’s wake-up the same and put them down a little earlier on the 26th. One late night won’t undo anything.

A first Christmas with naps that hold. Betteroo builds an age-right nap and bedtime plan from a quick quiz, so you know where the visits fit and when bedtime should land on the big day. Take the free sleep quiz →

FAQ

Should I keep my baby’s nap schedule on Christmas Day?

Keep it as close as you can, especially the first nap. Plan the visits, presents and meal around the naps, and let the afternoon nap be the flexible one if you’re travelling.

Can my baby nap at Grandma’s house?

Yes. Bring a portable crib or play yard, use a fitted sheet only, and put your baby down on their back in a quiet room. If they fall asleep in the car seat on the way, move them to the play yard once you arrive.

Is it okay for everyone to hold the baby?

Yes, with clean hands and with breaks. Ask anyone with a cold to wave instead of hold, and take your baby somewhere quiet whenever they start to fuss or turn away.

What if my baby falls asleep on someone at the party?

That’s fine while the grown-up is wide awake. If they start to feel sleepy, especially on a sofa or armchair, they should hand the baby back so the nap can move to a crib or play yard.

What if bedtime runs late on Christmas night?

Keep the next morning’s wake-up the same and do an earlier bedtime on the 26th. One late night is part of the celebration, not a setback.

Merry first Christmas to your little one. Plan around the naps and you’ll get to enjoy the moments too, you guys!