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 ?

Currently he can't do more than 3 hours awake. Christmas is 6 weeks away.

OP you can't go on lying next to him forever. The obvious solution is gentle sleep training for 6 weeks so he can go in a cot.

@CakeNinja so what are you suggesting then at 10 months he should be on 1 one hour nap? Also I don't have to lie next to him asleep , I settle him off to sleep then just chill while he is asleep next to him read a book whatever. Also I could put him in cot at home and use baby monitor. So what I am saying is at in laws house there is no cot there so if he went to sleep on a bed I can't safely leave him can I .

Some people are so ignorant and don't understand all babies are different much as grown ups!
My baby naps for 1 hour every 3.5 hours and he's 10 months. My friends baby only naps for 20 minutes randomly through the day. They are all different.
Do what you & your baby needs and don't worry about what anyone thinks.
My baby will only nap on me and I'm making the most of it as I know there will come a time when he doesn't want it need me to nap with.

I came on here to ask whether it is better to eat lunch while baby naps end of. Yeah I put my baby at the centre of my universe, yes he is the most important thing to me honestly I don't give a shit if you like I'm nuts or a martyr .

*Doesn't want OR need

Get a travel cot. Borrow a travel cot. Ask PIL if they can borrow one from somewhere. You’ll need a travel cot and baby monitor - I agree with pp, although not necessarily rude it is extremely odd to go and disappear for 2 hours on Xmas to go and nap with your 10 month old. Many babies struggle with naps, but by this age - for your own sake - I think you need to start cracking this somehow. I don’t think it’s healthy to let a nearly one year old child’s naps dictate how you plan Christmas

Take a travel cot then? Why are you making such a meal out of this!! If he sleeps in the cot fine at home then he'll sleep in a travel cot.

Or are you looking for an excuse to avoid a large chunk of the Christmas get together? You don’t sound keen on the whole thing tbh. Which is fine - maybe the answer is spend Christmas at home, I think for most parents with baby’s first Christmas that’s quite normal and accepted and a lot more convenient (it’s what we did).

My son was 1 last Christmas and I think we ate at around 2 as hed usually had his nap by then. We tried to limit the stimulation (which isn't easy at Christmas) by asking family not to chuck all their gifts to him at o nce and moving the gifts he had received out of his sight. A bit before nap time we took him away from everyone to let him settle so is there a different room you could go in or maybe take hin out for a walk in the pram?
Really though, try not to worry, you're with family who love him and if he throws a fit and screams the place down I'm sure they wont hold it against him

Why not but or borrow a travel cot and practise putting him in it for naps between now and Christmas. Because yes, I would think it rather odd and a bit rude if you disappeared upstairs to nap with your baby!

@bubs80 honestly you wont be able to do right for doing wrong. I'm dreading xmas with my 14 month old for similar reasons!

I understand lying with your baby until he falls asleep (although I don’t necessarily argued it’s a great idea long term) but why not just get back up once he’s asleep? Why lie there for the duration of his naps?

@TiptopJ that's a good idea regarding stimulation . Well I said we would get there for around 11 but then I'm thinking maybe we should get there earlier so he has 1st nap in car ... gives him a few hours awake time before second nap

Agree!

@Nicknacky because he may fall out the bed

I'm a big fan of gentle sleep training - it was one of the best parenting decisions we've made to date - but I think it's both bonkers and bound to fail to do it reluctantly and grudgingly to make one day of the year easier for other people. I can't believe so many people are suggesting it.

I'm not suggesting it just for Christmas, if OP is going back to work sleep training will mean that Los transition to nursery is easier.

Poor you op

The issue is that yes, some people will find you rude for doing what you clearly would quite like to which is snooze upstairs with the baby. Others won’t have an issue and will watch, slightly jealous as you head off with a book and a glass of Pinot Grigio for a two hour kip.

You know your baby right now. At this age 6 weeks is a huge amount of time and the routine is likely to be different.

You also know your inlaws best. Maybe be honest and say that you currently snooze with baby so if they are comfortably waiting until 3 then that would fit around his current schedule. But make it clear that this may not work out so you would be happy to do whatever works for them.

I had two very rigid nappers who needed to be in cots to sleep. I can’t say I was sorry when it ended so I had a bit more flexibility

@MyOtherProfile I'm with you. Kids aren't in charge in my house either. They've gone to bed on their own upstairs without us from day 1 and self settled from day 1. If they were asleep during lunch they would be asleep, if they were awake they were awake. No way was everything organised around them.

@ohtheholidays your comment made me smile 😊

I don't want to spend the last couple months of my maternity sleep training . I enjoy naps with baby I want to soothe him off to sleep . I will only be working 2 days anyway per week may not even use a nursery yet.

Honestly whatever you plan Id expect it to go wrong!

I’d stick to your schedule, nap with baby from 1-3pm ensures he has a good nap
and is in a good mood after. Could you the. have dinner around 4pm
when he’s up?

@bubs80 I checked back to my posts because I wasn’t sure I had suggested your child ‘should’ be having a one hour sleep. I’m pleased to see that I didn’t!
I’d suggest just settling him for his nap whenever he’s ready and leaving him there. If there’s no travel cot, you will probably know how long you roughly expect him to sleep for so once he’s asleep on the bed, do what lots of other people would have done which is stick the pillows on the floor just in case he wakes and rolls before you hear or go up to check. If you have monitors you should hear this anyway.
If you’ve eaten you’ll probably be finished before he’s woken up and so you can excuse yourself and go up before he’s awake anyway.
I just think you’re making an extraordinarily large faff out of a very commonplace and entirely unpredictable event.
He’s the centre of your universe, he’s not the centre of anyone else’s. That’s just how it is!

@CakeNinja sorry I misunderstood you , you said you wasn't sure why I needed 2 hour naps lol I don't I just get some rest in I used to work 14 hour days and it's nice to enjoy baby . I just watch something on my laptop and if he stirs /wakes I can just pop his dummy in. He sleeps better on the night when he has had his naps.

@bubs80 a nap in the car sounds a great idea, at least then you know hes had some sleep so if he cant nap through dinner he might be okay to last