To eat Christmas dinner while baby naps?

[bubs80]

Baby normally naps 1-3 should we eat downstairs ( leaving baby upstairs in a travel cot and with baby monitor on) or just eat after with everyone ( and maybe baby will sit nicely in high chair and have a snack)

Baby will be10 months old. We are having dinner at in-laws arriving around 11 and baby will eat lunch around 12 before nap.

Baby currently has all naps in bed with me. It's lovely but will I be anti social if I do that Christmas Day lol

We don't yet have a travel cot

What's everyone else done Christmas day in terms of eating lunch around nap times ?

even if he eats at different times.let him have an extra nibbly meal in between if he is up.he might really like to saok the atmosphere up ithyou all ad pick and choose bits

God I hadn’t even considered DS napping this year! Last year we just threw him in his baby box (not literally) and he snoozed whilst we had dinner but he was only 3 months old then! This year it might take a bit more planning but he’s a pretty chilled little guy so we’ll just pop him in the pushchair or let him nap in the car on the way over to SIL’s. He’ll eat dinner whenever we eat as I don’t really think half an hour/an hour each way will matter a great deal.

Much more relaxing when baby is asleep. No shovelling food down.

What about trying a travel cot now up until Christmas for naps? You can get nice materess to go in and make it extra comfy.

One of mine napped in those swing chairs, he was laid right back and there was a timer on it so that it would stay swinging. Lots of choices out there now.

I'd actually tell mil to have the dinner at nap time, sure if they wake you could bring them down and put in their pram ? At that age they won't mind missing dinner, they'd prefer their nap and lots of fun when rested.

I really don't mind just being upstairs with him and eating after( my partner has said he can do this instead) just worried we will look rude to people for disappearing for 2 hours ( I care far too much what others think sadly )

I would think this was very rude. If you’re going to someone’s home for Christmas you need to sit at the table and eat Christmas lunch! Especially as they are offering to move timings around you.

If you don’t want baby to nap alone why not have lunch post-nap and scrap the 5pm curfew. Get baby ready for bed there and pop in the car in PJs ready to lift into bed when home. Or stay over.

My 2 slept within seconds of starting the car - I don't think you have any chance of keeping an over-excited baby awake at 5pm in the car for an hour!!

Give him his tea, put in pjs then set off around his usual bedtime. Madness otherwise.

I wouldn't find it rude myself as I am one of these people that understand whatever you need to/ want to do for your baby / child then do. However I know some people have the attitude of " well baby just has to fit in with my life " so they would find it rude most likely that I was putting him first 🤦‍♀️

@StrongerThanIThought76 good idea !

It’s so rude to just disappear for 2 hours! You have 6 weeks to teach him to self-settle, or will he not sleep in the pushchair if you walk him round beforehand? Re him eating at 12 and 5 and napping 1-3, I think one day of deviating from the schedule should surely be ok?

Why should I have to teach him to self settle ( tears) just to guarantee I can eat with people I can eat with anytime. No I will not be doing that .

Maybe I should have put this in AIBU so you can all berate me for wanting to rock my baby to sleep and I should let him cry it out was posting to see what others have done that's all

I’d start putting baby down without you for a nap now and by Christmas he’ll be used to the new routine and so will you. Then either pop him in the high chair and he can eat with you lot or he can nap while you eat. No big deal really is it!?

Mine will be 11 months at Christmas and I haven’t even thought about it! I imagine we’ll eat about 3ish (he normally naps around 1-2.30). He won’t eat a full meal then but he can just sit with us and have some bits of food.
He’ll have to nap in his pushchair which means he’ll have a shorter nap than usual, but it doesn’t matter for one day.

All three of mine were little for their first Christmas. The PFB slept in the pram by the table and we all ate very quietly. DS2 was asleep in the pram in the hall. DS3 was asleep in the pram in the utility room.

The good thing about Christmas Day is it’s all so out of the ordinary that it doesn’t matter what time people eat. Hope you have a great day.

As someone who works in a baby room and sees first hand babies struggle to sleep when not rocked to sleep by Mum, please consider your baby in the future and teach him how to sleep a different way maybe this could be just what you need before returning to work.

Give him a snack at 12, then settle him upstairs. Leave him, if he wakes bring him down and give him Christmas Dinner. If he doesn't wake then enjoy your dinner in peace! I wouldn't bother with travel cot. I would set a mattress on the floor and lay down with him then sneak away when he's fully dropped off. Just make sure there's no immediate danger for when he wakes.

If none of this goes to plan. Try not to stress. I know what it's like to feel like things need to go a certain way to work but your baby might surprise you!

Another option is snack at home, make car journey there slightly longer so he has a good enough nap on the way then eat together when you get there.

Mine still won’t just be put down for a nap and she is 15 months, some babies definitely do it more easily than others . I would also not be prepared to put my baby through stress just to please people for one day ( it wouldn’t matter because my family wouldn’t mind at all anyway). Just don’t over think it, things might change in the next six weeks in regards sleep anyway and it’s amazing how well they cope, especially when there are lots of people to give them attention!

I wrote my comment without reading the full thread. I've given the advice I have because like you my baby needed rocking for naps. There's no way I would be doing sleep training at that age. So I just accepted it. He's now 2 and goes to sleep independently with no intervention from me!

I wouldn't find it rude myself as I am one of these people that understand whatever you need to/ want to do for your baby / child then do

I'd find it bewildering as I'm one of those people that understand that babies don't rule the roost and basically need to learn to fit in with general life. My ds was about that age at his first Christmas. We ate about 2 while he slept and he joined us at the table when he woke up.

It’s just one day. If he doesn’t nap very long then falls asleep in the car on the way home and it messes up bedtime... it’s just one day.
I was the same as you with my first. Planned every nap to the nth degree. Stressed myself out. Second had to go with the flow more as I had a 19 month old too. Now I’m on my third I’ve realised that it doesn’t matter. He might have the perfect naps and still not settle for bed due to over excitement. He might have rubbish naps and be a dream. It’s just one day.

Would your baby nap if you wore him/her in a sling? I did this on holiday, my five month old slept in a sling and we had a lovely family meal every evening in peace.

@WheresTheEvidence I know I do see your point but I struggle so much with the cry it out .. I return in a few months and baby will be in nursery 2 days any tips other than cry it out please

It's one day.

A lot of people are back at work by 10 months so there isn't exactly a normal expectation that a baby needs it's mum next to it to nap at that age. You do need to teach baby to self soothe and you have plenty of time to do this. You might even find you have a better day not lay next to a baby for 2 hours. mummy martyr galore

@Italiandreams yes I don't know want to put baby through stress just to please others ( who will still have a good 6 hours with him awake anyway ). I don't think it's me letting baby rule the roost at all like someone else has put. Baby is happy contented when he has napped not fair on him being grumpy and overtired just to have longer seeing family he can see any day anyway

I wouldn't find it rude myself as I am one of these people that understand whatever you need to/ want to do for your baby / child then do. However I know some people have the attitude of " well baby just has to fit in with my life " so they would find it rude most likely that I was putting him first

The thing is though that your MIL has offered to plan around your baby which is great! Given she has done so, you can’t then disappear at Christmas mealtime for 2 hours. That’s the rude part. If she said ‘Christmas lunch will be at 1pm whether you like it or not’ it would be quite different but she hasn’t, she has been very accommodating.

@Teachermaths actually I like the rest 🤣 rather than its me being a martyr . I will be returning to work in a few months doing 14 hour shifts so il enjoy the naps while I can