Después de comer, la bebé se duerme en la cuna y hace una siesta corta.

Because after a preposition like después de, Spanish normally uses the infinitive form of the verb.

So:

• después de comer = after eating
• literally: after to eat

This is very common in Spanish:

• antes de salir = before leaving
• después de estudiar = after studying

English often uses -ing after after, but Spanish usually uses the infinitive instead.

Yes. In Spain especially, comer can refer not just to eating in general, but also to having lunch, since lunch is often the main midday meal.

So depending on context, Después de comer can mean:

• After eating
• After lunch

Both are possible. In a sentence about a baby’s daily routine, the idea is often after eating / after her meal.

Because Después de comer is an introductory time phrase. In English, we often do the same thing:

• After eating, the baby falls asleep...

In Spanish, that comma is also natural and helps separate the opening phrase from the main clause. It is especially common in writing. You may sometimes see it omitted in short sentences, but here the comma is perfectly normal.

Bebé can be used for a baby of either sex, but the article can change to show whether the baby is male or female.

• el bebé = the baby boy, or sometimes just the baby
• la bebé = the baby girl

So la bebé tells you the baby is female.

A useful thing to remember is that the noun itself does not change form here; the article does the work:

• el bebé
• la bebé

The accent mark shows where the stress goes: be-BÉ.

Without the accent, Spanish stress rules would suggest a different pronunciation. The written accent tells you clearly that the final syllable is stressed.

The same is true for después: the accent shows the stressed syllable there too.

This is a very common question.

• duerme = sleeps / is sleeping
• se duerme = falls asleep / goes to sleep

So in this sentence, la bebé se duerme en la cuna means the baby falls asleep in the crib, not just that she is already sleeping there.

Compare:

• La bebé duerme en la cuna. = The baby sleeps / is sleeping in the crib.
• La bebé se duerme en la cuna. = The baby falls asleep in the crib.

Here, se is part of the pronominal verb dormirse.

• dormir = to sleep
• dormirse = to fall asleep

In English, we do not usually say this with a reflexive pronoun, so it can feel strange. But in Spanish, se is simply part of the verb pattern here.

It does not literally mean herself in a natural English translation. You should think of dormirse as its own unit meaning to fall asleep.

The present tense here can describe a habitual routine.

So the sentence can mean something like:

• After eating, the baby falls asleep in the crib and takes a short nap.

That sounds like something she regularly does.

Spanish uses the present tense very often for routines, habits, and general truths, just like English does:

• Después de cenar, leo un poco. = After dinner, I read a little.
• Los domingos vamos al parque. = On Sundays we go to the park.

Because en shows location: the baby falls asleep in the crib.

• en la cuna = in the crib

By contrast, a often suggests movement to/toward a place.

So:

• se duerme en la cuna = she falls asleep in the crib
• va a la cuna = she goes to the crib

Here the sentence is describing where the baby falls asleep, so en is the natural choice.

Because this is probably a specific, known crib: the crib, presumably the baby’s crib.

Spanish uses the definite article very naturally when the speaker and listener can identify the thing being talked about.

So:

• en la cuna = in the crib
• en una cuna = in a crib

If you said una cuna, it would sound less specific, as if it were just any crib.

Spanish often expresses this idea with a noun phrase rather than a single verb.

• hacer una siesta
• hacer la siesta
• echarse una siesta

These all relate to taking a nap.

So hace una siesta corta means she takes a short nap.

For a learner, it is best to treat hacer una siesta / hacer la siesta as a useful expression rather than trying to translate word by word.

Yes, it is understandable and natural. In Spain, hacer la siesta is very common, and echarse una siesta is also extremely common.

So you may hear:

• hacer la siesta = to have a nap / take a siesta
• echarse una siesta = to take a nap

In this sentence, hace una siesta corta works well and clearly means takes a short nap.

In Spanish, descriptive adjectives usually come after the noun.

So:

• una siesta corta = a short nap

That is the most neutral, standard order.

You can sometimes put the adjective before the noun, as in una corta siesta, but that often sounds more literary, emphatic, or stylistically marked. For everyday neutral Spanish, una siesta corta is the normal order.

It could, but the meaning would be a bit different.

• La bebé duerme en la cuna. = The baby sleeps / is sleeping in the crib.
• La bebé se duerme en la cuna y hace una siesta corta. = The baby falls asleep in the crib and takes a short nap.

The version with se duerme focuses on the moment she drifts off or goes to sleep, while the second part adds the result: she then has a short nap.

So the original sentence gives a fuller little sequence:

1. she falls asleep
2. she takes a short nap