To wonder about flexibility with lunchtime nap

[Jadefeather7]

Looking for advice from people who had babies who were on sleep routines. With the long lunch time nap were you ever able to get them to nap whilst out and about? I’ve tried to do some of the shorter naps in the pram but usually only get 20 mins which is ok for the short naps but I’m nervous about screwing up the lunch time nap. Could try either the pram or sling. As a newborn he used to do long stretches in the sling but now he’s more alert at 4 months.

DD was quite routine driven and never really napped properly while out. She was too distractable. I drove myself mad staying at home for her first 6 months so she could nap properly, and reading tonnes of stuff about naps and routines and generally losing my perspective.

DS had to work around DD's day so naps were hit and miss. Sometimes he got overtired, sometimes he didn't. One memorable evening he went to bed at 5:10 for his usual evening nap but instead of waking after half an hour, he slept till 8:30 the next morning. He survived, and so did we.

The most constructive advice I can possibly offer you is DON'T get nervous about it. I know it seems like a huge deal but it really, really isn't worth worrying about. Just go with the flow and it'll be fine, I promise.

My children always napped for less time when out and about. If you plan your life around it, though, you end up missing things and so do they. They nap until they're at least 2/3. I have always taken the view that it's better to just go with the flow and if their nap is cut short to amend bedtime slightly accordingly. Otherwise I would never have gone on days out/holidays etc.

Some people's children sleep really well in the pram. Mine never did.

Ohhhh 4 months!! I remember that time. My LO definitely wouldn't nap in the pushchair at 4 months. Far too much to look at!! I eventually figured out he would nap in the carrier if he was wearing a sun hat with the beak covering most of his view lol! But honestly for quite a few months I made sure I was in for all naps because it was so much work to get him to sleep outside. Many occasions I found myself locked in a toilet bouncing him crazily in the carrier until he fell asleep and then I would go about my day lol! But it gets better. In fact now I have the opposite problem. He doesn't want to nap in his bed so I go for a walk with the pushchair and he drops off straight away (22 months). Some kids just won't nap with things going on. You will get plenty of people telling you you just need to get him used to it. I sure did. But it's down to them deciding to ignore what's going on!

Interesting. Thanks for sharing. The routine is working so well for us and he really does need his naps otherwise he’s a nightmare. I tend to get out in the later afternoon after his long lunchtime nap but I would love to be able to go out for lunch occasionally. I’ve got a snoozeshade for the pram so can cut out distractions but I think it’s just not the same as the cot environment so he probably won’t sleep as well.

Mine is 8 months and will only nap for half an hour in his pushchair, but will have 1.5-2 hours after lunch in his cot.
However, he is DC3 and one thing I’ve learned is that it doesn’t really matter, in the grand scheme of things. No, he won’t have a long nap. Yes, he’ll be a nightmare in the afternoon/run up to bed. But it’s just one day (or occasional days).
Honestly, I stayed at home from 12.30-2.30 every single day with DD1 until she dropped her nap at nearly 2 and in hindsight it was madness. We missed out on a lot of trips/lunches etc and it really wasn’t worth it.

My babes napped wherever we were. They also slept much better out and about in the fresh air in the buggy than if I tried to put them down at home, so for us it worked.

I didn’t have a sling for my twins and my Singleton was too big for a sling at four months; he did nap in it when newborn.

@SoyDora Have you been going out at lunchtime? Going to bed earlier isn’t an issue at all and even if he’s difficult in the run up to I can handle that. What I want to avoid is say he does a nap for half an hour (say 12-12.30) and then is a nightmare straight after. That would mean he hasn’t napped and I have to leave lunch early anyway so I may as well have just stayed home.

Yeah we had that situation yesterday, we were out so he napped 12.30-1 instead of 12.30-2.30. He wasn’t too bad afterwards, as we were out and about he was distracted and not grumpy when he woke up. Obviously he’s a bit older though so it may be more difficult at 4 months.

I guess I should try going out to lunch with DH and see how it goes before attempting a lunch date with friends. My two friends have babies of a similar age but they have no routine and they are the sorts of babies who can nap wherever and whenever without any help. My little one is totally incapable of that! My friends have been flexible about meeting up so far but I feel bad that they have to work around us.

Everybody's baby is different, I worked in some flec but unfortunately you'll just have to see what works for you because they don't all play along. At 4 months you still have 3 naps? At both 3 and 2 naps I used to make sure one of them each day was a long one at home, the others were fine as pushchair naps. Didn't matter which one was the long nap; first / last / middle, just pat back to sleep at home to get the long nap, DS just accepted at home that if he was being told it was long nap then sleep. You have another year you can keep that up if you get it working, so it's worth a try. With the single lunchtime nap now DS is bigger, I just start that earlier or later to fit whatever we're doing that day (keep him in bed longer in the morning / get him up etc), or let him have an hour's pushchair nap at lunchtime (30 min max in the pushchair became 45 min then 1 hour) with an emergency 20 minutes at about 4pm when he gets overtired.