Taking 8mo out for the day, what about naps??

[mistressploppy]

I have a touch of anxiety about 8mo DSs sleep/naps - he naps at home in his cot twice a day, and I ALWAYS make sure we're home for naps.

I feel I need to face the fear and take him out over a nap time, but I'm worried he won't sleep in his pushchair and then I'll have 'broken' him, he won't sleep at night due to overtiredness, I'll have spoilt the routine, doom doom doom.

Normal people take their DC out for longer than an hour or two at a time, how do you do it?!

Sorry if this is a bit pathetic, I think I need to grow a pair really....

hehehe yes you do just need to "grow a pair" as you say!!

Just go out for the day and your DS will either sleep in his pushchair or in the car, babies are very adaptable and it shouldn't make any difference to his routine.

Don't worry about it honestly! I am very surprised tho that you have managed to get back home for EVERY nap time and he's eight months old!!! Blimey.

it is bit scarry at first, but once you get used to it, it becomes much easier.. plus you will enjoy actually being out an about without having to worry about the naps!
I was like that in the begining..just go with the flow.. no need to worry it will work out just fine.

I was gonna comment on this but then thought 'I'm in no position to give advice'.

My DD will be 8 months tomorrow and we are out most days. She either sleeps in the car or in the buggy or doesn't sleep depending on what we're doing/how she feels. If I try to put her down in her cot during the day she goes MAD!

She has a fixed night time routine and usually goes down fine but during the night its anyone's guess what she'll do from sleeping all night to being up every hour or so, so that's why I'm in no position to advise.

I think he will be fine though if he is settled in his night time routine he will just follow it. I guess you need to try it sometime.

If it helps I am having similar trauma about breaking rountine when we go away for a few days in a couple of weeks time.

Thanks for replying, Laura! The number of times I've started typing a reply and then thought 'what do I know?' but actually it's helpful to see what other people are doing.

He's pretty settled in his night time routine so it's got to be worth a go...

MistressP, not pathetic at all. I did the same with mine. FWIW, the occasional day without a structured nap did no harm to their (good) sleep pattern. I do remember winding the car windows down on cold days to make sure they wouldn't fall asleep at 5 o'clock, though.

If we go out in the car for the day it works out perfect as our dd has her morning nap on the way there and her afternoon nap on the way back. Otherwise if I'm at home until say, lunchtime, she'll have a really good morning nap in her cot, and if we're out and about she may fall asleep in her pushchair or if she doesn't, she might end up a bit harder work from tea time and just go to bed a bit earlier. Give it a go, they're more adaptable than we give them credit for I think x

you're going to have to give it a go!

try planning your day out so you set off when he'd be napping. so his morning nap will be in the car. have your day out. set off home when he's have his afternoon nap. there you go!

OR.. if it's a short distance set off before nap time. then as you walk round the shops/shopping centre/park he'll sleep in the pushchair. and if he doesn't, well you set off home and he sleeps in the car.

does that help? probably not

I was exactly like you with DS1! 5 years later with DS2 (having had DD1 in the meantime), we are often out during DS2's naptimes and he eventually falls asleep in the car/buggy. Invariably he sleeps less then if we are at home - and therefore more at nighttime, not less. Don't worry, go with the flow! I wish someone had told me this with my first, life would have been much easier!!

he will probably sleep fine in the buggy? if its too much stimulating environment for him you could try covering with a blanket over the buggy hood to make it dark for him to sleep, i see loads of people doing that
my 7 month ds sleeps anywhere because i am out a lot, he may just fall asleep in your arms if he gets tired enough? depending whether he is the type to get upset if he is tired or if he will just quietly start getting sleepy and nod off. i think the more you take them out and expect them to sleep wherever then the more they actually get used to it. mine just starts swaying a bit and looking dozy then eyes just close, he is really good outside sleeper like that but ds1 who i made more effort about nap times could be a bit difficult, infact he still has to sleep only in his buggy for naps so the more adaptable from a young age the better.
just try it, even if he doesnt nap for one day he wont be ruined im sure he will be fine, i think you may be over thinking it.
just take him and go and have a nice day out!

Just go out!

My (now nearly 10m DS) also has 2 naps a day. If we are out then he naps in the car/pram, but for far less (maybe 30 minutes each). It doesn't break him though, days at home still have the same routine.

I couldn't cope without the occasional day out!

So glad someone else feels like this about naps!
My DS was a really bad nighttime sleeper until quite recently. He's now fallen into a routine of sleeping from 1-3 hours in the morning. Since this started his sleep has got much better sleeping through most nights...

Sooooooooooo I no longer do stuff in the mornings. We get up, play for a bit, have brekkie, then play a bit more till his gets tired, then he sleeps for as long as he wants to.

I don't mind too much, we go out most afternoons and meet other mums and babies. He has an afternoon nap too but this is often in his pram or he goes in his cot when we get home. But, most of the organised activities are in the morning so we don;t do too much of those anymore.

I can't help myself though! I am so convinced that if he misses his morning nap his now lovely nightime sleep will be ruined. Forever! Stupid I know but I can't help myself!

How about trying to get him asleep in his buggy at home first so he gets used to it. My son always sleeps in a buggy in the house because I have a noisy 3 year old. It means I can wheel him somewhere quiet once he has dropped off. Also get him used to a blanket, which you can take out with you, this may act as a wotsit......erm....oh bugger what they called? A....prompt is it? A sleep prompt? Aid? Anyway, one of them. Trigger? Is that it?

Coo, thanks everyone!

So glad to see I am not the only one who stresses about nap time. All my 'no-children' family & friends think that I am utterly bonkers.

My favourite line is "ah yes, but it's not you who has to live with her afterwards is it? Grrr" when everybody tells me she is fine to be wide awake through naptime and passed from person to person in a family BBQ or some other such interruption to my routine!!

I'm by no means an expert as my first DC is about to turn 9mo but I thought I'd let you know what we've done in the past week as it might give you some confidence and re-assurance. Her default routine is this:

7am wake & bf
8.30am breakfast
10.30 nap (about an hour)
12.00 lunch
2.00 bf
2.30 nap (about an hour)
5.00 tea
6.45 bath
7.00 bf
7.30 bed

but today I knew we'd be going out at 11ish and it would take us an hour to get there so I kept distracting her when she began to get dozy and crotchety for her nap so she slept in the car for 45 mins, then had lunch at 12.30, fell asleep at 2.00 (we were out walking with her in the pram), had her 2.00pm bf at 3.45pm (by which time my boobs were ready to explode!), slept in the car from 4.30 - 5.15, had tea at 5.30 and DP has only just taken her off for her bath (its 7pm)

and on Thursday we had swimming at 11 and as she didn't fall asleep on the way there, went without a morning nap. Immediately post swim she was pretty grumpy but had lunch and then spent an hour happily waving at everyone else in the restaurant we were in before falling asleep at 2.15 and I woke her at 4.30. She then had tea, bath etc at the normal time.

We go out a lot so she's been used to napping in her car seat and pram from birth. If I'm going to go out at, say, 11am and am only going into town (which is a 20 min walk) then I'll put her down for her nap in the pushchair at the normal time so she'll normally get her full nap as she'll keep sleeping when we walk. Oh, and I always have some snacks and a pouch of puree with me in case we get delayed.

Good luck!

Good luck!

Now this is why I have never had a routine for my children - too stifling! I'd have gone out of my mind after 8m of having to be in for scheduled naps! I can't offer you any advice, I'm afraid - all mine just had to cope with cat naps in the car and buggy and we all managed to muddle through.

I'm still like this with my nearly 3 year old

Think it depends on the child. DD1 will not sleep out and about, goes wide eyed and manic, the hysterical at bedtime, then is a mare for the next two days. She really likes (needs) her sleep, and a lot of it.

On the other hand, I'm quite frequently chatting to DD1 in the car, turn around (disclaimer: when the car has stopped, not whilst driving), and DD2 (1 year) has quietly fallen asleep. Same routine for both of them, completely different children. Couldn't believe it to start with for DD2, I didn't think babies just went to sleep like that!

So by all means, go out, enjoy, give it a go. Definitely do. Much more fun. But do it because you want to, don't just do it because you think you have to.

Lunchtime naptime at home is one of my favourite times of day!

Thanks Lovely and Rosie - glad I'm not alone!

And Murtette, your post was really helpful too, nice to see actual examples of what you do.

The routine has made for a really happy, easy DS, so I'm not sorry I've done it - but it's time to reclaim some freedom, I think!

I think it's worth encouraging babies to sleep in different places, Dd1 would sleep anywhere, Dd2 would only sleep in her own bed and even that was a fight. When Dd3 came along I used to put her in different rooms, in different pushchairs, on the settee Loads of places, Now she will sleep anywhere, her favourite place is on an airbed in a tent.LOL She may have done this anyway but I am glad I didn't let her get hung up about her cot like Dd2.
Also speaking as someone who is obsessive about routine, it can drag you down and then it's not good for the kids. Let them live dangerously a missed nap will not be the end of the world and it will do you good to realise that you can break the routine occasionally.

I totally know where you're coming from. With dd1 I protected her sleep/routine so much that I didn't go out at nap time til she was nearly 2! With dd2 (10 weeks) I do go out but make sure I'm travelling/walking at sleep times so she sleeps in car or pram. I do find she sleeps a bit less on days we're out though. Her bedtime routine is something I wouldn't touch for ANYTHING and that seems to reset things if they have gone a bit haywire in the day. Oh, and she has been sleeping through 6.30pm to 7.30am for nearly 3 weeks now. I think if you're going out or going to change routine don't do it 2 days in a row is thye usual advice for routine lovers. HTH

The thing is I didn't set out to have a routine. I bought [a certain book] before I had my DS, read it and thought it was mad! (sorry, naughty thing to say on MN....). But, DS has just slipped into the morning routine on his own and since his nighttime sleep has got improved at the same time, I really don't want to spoil it.

It's so hard getting the balance right particularly with your first one. I really don;t mind not doing stuff in the morning as I think having a happy baby that sleeps well therefore a happy mum that sleeps well is more important than a messy play session (which for us is basically every meal time anyway). But I'm sure that'll change when I have my second as they;ll have to fit around a toddler.

lukewarm Nap time is my favourite time too! I can't do too much as I have a mall flat so moise travels so I have a nice sit down and a cup of tea

Me too, lovely. I was so sure I'd be a go-with-the-flow parent (as I'm usually so disorganised, I'm the opposite of a control freak) but I just found it made DS so happy and contented (I didn't use THAT book though, it was another whispery one)

I'm off to the grandparents in a few weeks so will use that opportunity to shake it all up a bit - things will be different anyway so.....