The 10 Best Nap Mats
This wiki has been updated 43 times since it was first published in March of 2015. Find the perfect portable place for your little one to crash out with our selection of nap mats. They come in all forms, from basic to elaborate, depending on whether you need it for daycare, preschool, home use, or sleepovers. We're sure your child will enjoy sweet dreams on any one of our top picks, most of which are also easy to clean as they are safe for machine washing. When users buy our independently chosen editorial picks, we may earn commissions to help fund the Wiki.
1. Milliard Toddler
2. Butterfly Craze Floor
3. Wildkin Original
Editor's Notes
May 06, 2020:
While they're a little less involved than fully-fledged portable toddler beds, nap mats are still cuddly and comfortable enough to lull your child to sleep. If you're looking simply for bedding to cover a cot, we suggest the Urban Infant Tot Cot, a cleverly-designed, durable option that's easy to care for and travel with. It has no padding, though, so it will most definitely require support underneath.
The newly-added Butterfly Craze Floor is another cover-only selection that offers a great way for parents to give a second life to old pillows. Thankfully, since they serve as filling and won't be directly touched, you can get away with buying budget pillows if you don't have the five required for it. After it's filled, this selection is extremely comfortable, and functions as a lounger and chair as well. You can choose between king and queen sizes, and they're spacious enough for big kids to use, too.
In addition to padded options like the Olive Kids by Wildkin, Stephen Joseph All-Over, and Wildkin Original, we wanted to add a few memory foam units. They are the super-thick Milliard Toddler and slimmer My First Nap Mat, both of which use CertiPUR-US certified foam for your child's safety. Finally, we have ideal daycare options with the ECR4Kids Rainbow and Angeles Infection Control, which sport PU leather and vinyl exteriors, respectively, so they're extremely easy to sanitize, are durable, and won't get ruined from a spilled cup of juice or mid-nap accident.
We decided during today's update to remove the Uber Mom Whale and Wildkin Easy Clean, both of which we felt weren't quite up to quality standard when compared to the more innovative designs that are coming to market. To make up for the loss, we added the previously mentioned Butterfly Craze brand and the Hi Sprout Cactus, a charming and very plush mat that eschews Velcro to the relief of many parents.
Our priorities for this list included sourcing items that use safe, non-toxic materials that are durable and easy to clean, with comfortable designs and fair price points. We also want to stress that none of these should ever be used in or out of a crib with an infant and young children should always be supervised, even when they are napping. Please ensure your little one is the appropriate age for whichever selection you choose.
Special Honors
Organic Designs Founded by a mother of two, Organic Designs offers all-organic nap mats made in the USA using the highest quality materials. You can choose from a wide variety of charming prints and patterns, and every mat is made with 100% certified organic cotton fabric and filled with 100% certified organic cotton batting. They come with an attached blanket and a removable cotton pillow and are never treated with any chemicals, toxic dyes, or flame retardants. organicdesignsco.com
Etsy Personalized Parents looking to make their little one's possessions extra special should peruse the nap mats on offer from the vendors at Etsy. There is a diverse range of options available, including original artwork and patterns, and many come personalized with names or sweet sayings in your font and thread color of choice. etsy.com
4. Hi Sprout Cactus
5. Olive Kids by Wildkin
6. Urban Infant Tot Cot
7. ECR4Kids Rainbow
8. My First Nap Mat
9. Angeles Infection Control
10. Stephen Joseph All-Over
On Proper Rest During Childhood
As a child grows, it becomes more important to establish the proper conditions to facilitate their relaxation and slumber.
The average toddler has spent more of his or her life asleep than they have awake. In fact, sleep will consume as much as forty percent of the average childhood, and those hours (or years, taken as a whole) are critical for proper mental and physical development. People of all ages enjoy better cognitive function, a happier disposition, and overall better health when they are well rested. And this healthy relationship with sleep begins from the earliest days of life.
Scientists believe that the increased synaptic activity a young and developing brain experiences greatly heightens the glial fatigue, which is also commonly known as "sleep pressure." As sleep pressure builds, the need for rest becomes ever more pressing for the youngster; while an adult can usually force themselves to stay awake all day long and then rest for longer to compensate, younger children require more frequent sleep for proper, stress-free brain activity. This helps to explain the sudden irritability and irrationality a child can display when deprived of sleep. And while young babies will simply nod off anywhere and at any time, as a child leaves the newborn stage and transitions from infancy into their toddler years, it becomes the responsibility of the parent or caregiver to ensure that a child gets sufficient time to sleep.
Most children will begin to resist sleeping as they get older, but both naps and proper sleep at bedtime remains crucial even for children into their preschool years. As a child grows, it becomes more important to establish the proper conditions to facilitate their relaxation and slumber. This means creating a routine around nap times and bedtime; this may include books, stories, songs, and various hygiene ablutions. An easy, effective nap and bedtime routine also means always having a suitable place in which a child can rest.
Some parents decide to have a dedicated spot for napping that is different than a child's nighttime sleep spot; in other cases, such as with a child who goes to daycare or for creating a suitable nap spot during travel, it's important to have a nap time routine that can be mobile. Both for naps at home and for naps out of the house, various nap mats are popular products among today's parents.
The Perfect Nap Mat For Home
When choosing a nap mat that will be used primarily in your home, the portability of the mat is no issue, thus the parent is liberated to choose whichever mat their child will most like to use. This can make nap time much less of a negotiation and chore for the parent as your youngster snuggles up with his or favorite superhero, animal, or princess. It also means you can choose a mat of any size and one that is made of any material: your home likely has plenty of space for a child to spread out, and being home means easy clean up in the event of any spills or other accidents.
This can make nap time much less of a negotiation and chore for the parent as your youngster snuggles up with his or favorite superhero, animal, or princess.
Many parents choose traditional quilted nap mats that are warm and cozy, but others turn to decidedly more modern options, like mats made with the same viscoelastic memory foam popular in adult mattresses and mattress topper pads.
Just make sure never to tuck a child into a nap mat with a blanket unless he or she is old enough to avoid becoming tangled in the fabric, and make sure a nap mat is either placed flat on the floor or else is secured to the couch or bed atop which it rests. Used properly, a nap mat is a safe, inviting spot for a child to get that precious sleep needed for long-term development and everyday happiness.
The Best Nap Mat For Travel
Choosing the best nap mat for use out of the home is a bit more complicated than selecting one for relaxing around the house. First off, you must choose a mat that can be easily rolled or folded for transport and/or storage. That may preclude the use of some options, such as those with larger foam pads or mats made of thicker quilted material. A nap mat must be easy to roll or fold for placement in a bag or in the car's trunk, or to be stored away on a shelf or in a closet at a daycare facility.
In fact, finding the right nap mat for use away from home is even more important than the home mat, as it will be one of the few comfort items the child has ready access to.
A nap mat used away from the home should also be very easy to clean, as cleaning the mat may not be all that convenient. Consider options that can be laundered without special care or that can even wiped clean.
While choosing a "travel" nap mat may present its challenges, nap time is equally important out of the house as it is at home, so finding a good nap mat is no frivolous matter. In fact, finding the right nap mat for use away from home is even more important than the home mat, as it will be one of the few comfort items the child has ready access to. For this reason, you might consider getting two of the same type of mat, and designating one for home use, and one as the nap mat for day care, camp, or use in the hotel or at a relative's house.
Born in Arizona, Gia is a writer and autodidact who fled the heat of the desert for California, where she enjoys drinking beer, overanalyzing the minutiae of life, and channeling Rick Steves. After arriving in Los Angeles a decade ago, she quickly nabbed a copywriting job at a major clothing company and derived years of editing and proofreading experience from her tenure there, all while sharpening her skills further with myriad freelance projects. In her spare time, she teaches herself French and Italian, has earned an ESL teaching certificate, traveled extensively throughout Europe and the United States, and unashamedly devours television shows and books. The result of these pursuits is expertise in fashion, travel, beauty, literature, textbooks, and pop culture, in addition to whatever obsession consumes her next.