Naps and missing things

[Blueberrycheesecake1]

My 8mo is always changing his napping pattern! Now looks like he might not make a 2.30pm weekly class we like to attend. He now sleeps 1-3ish so I could wake him early but would then be a long time until bedtime...

Interested to hear if others just work around their babies' naps or vice versa?

I tried a loose routine with both of mine but never let it stop me going anywhere. In your position I would wake early and go. Will he have a catnap on the way home?

Thanks for your reply! He never naps at the end of the day now... the reason he is now on 2 naps is that it was taking me 45 minutes of walking the pram for him to sleep.

It just feels like a choice between missing out (mostly for him tbh!) and potentially having a tired baby / early bedtime which = early morning?!

I took the opposite approach! Sleep won over pretty much anything. Just what worked for us.

Story of my life! My LO is also 8 months and his naps entirely depend on what time he wakes up in the morning (anywhen between 5.30-7!!) it’s a nightmare to arrange things around.
I tend to live by the ‘don’t wake a sleeping baby’ rule, even if it means missing things as I’ve always found a good sleep in day generally means good sleep at night.
I think he’s transitioning to less naps so I’m sure it’ll get easier as he gets older it’s just a bit of a pain isn’t it!

Sleep routine always, always comes first in my house.

That generally will mean that afternoon activities become a no-no most of the way through the toddler years (due to afternoon nap), until daytime naps are dropped.

It also means you have that short (but finite - it will end) period of time when you have to squeeze all your activities in over lunchtime, between the two naps.

It's annoying when you get to that age. But it's not like it's forever. I'm mum to four children so have burning stuff like grocery shopping etc that need to be done several times a week. Having to rush out the house straight after waking baby from morning nap, so that you can zoom round Tesco and be home again in time for lunch and then afternoon nap. Yes, that is somewhat trying. But it passes. Soon baby will drop to one nap consistently and you can plan lovely, long busy mornings full if activities.

I'd suggest finding activities that fit with naps, rather than the other way around. And know that as nap schedules chance, activities may need to too.

We have a very loose seep routine for this reason so we don't miss out on things. My LO will happily sleep in thr car or in the pushchair, and if she naps a bit late then she just goes to bed later

My 7 month old seems to have fallen into a fairly reliable 2 nap routine, and I do feel a bit of a slave to it sometimes. He's not a good sleeper at night so I do tend to prioritise naps, even if it means missing out on things. I do wonder if he would be more flexible about pram naps etc. if we just got on with things, but at the moment it's not worth finding out for me!

In your situation I’d have put him down in his peak for the nap that day and walked him there still asleep. I always had my ds nap when he was tired but often it was in the pram or car.

On days where I have a baby group I move things forward an hour so the baby still naps and we still attend. So in your example I'd start the day earlier and then have his nap from 12-2 so you can still attend. It works really well for us.

Sleep always comes first here. I feel like baby groups are more beneficial for parents then the children. Also who wants to deal with a cranky baby.

Sleep routine comes first for us too. It's annoying but we would stop or change activities as naps and feeding times change.

Thanks all for the very interesting - and varied! - responses.

I'm still a bit undecided and will play by ear. It is interesting to hear everyone's views. I must say it is so nice for all of us to wake up refreshed and happy in the morning now after months of tiredness, so am keen not to change things too much!!