Routine naps on days out

[mamawinter]

We have a rough routine with our 5 month old DD where we will try and put her down for a nap after approx 2 hrs of awake time but when we're out it's a little harder as she's so nosey and loves looking around.
DP is taking her out for the day on Saturday with some friends to give me a day of peace and quiet. He will be out from about 11am - 8pm. She will sleep in the car and in the pushchair when they're walking around but generally when we've been out before I'd say she is awake for longer than usual because she loves looking around and there's so much going on so it does keep her awake and she can end up getting a bit irritable until we manage to get her to sleep.
We have been for days out the 3 of us before lots of times but not for this length of time. I am a little worried about her getting overtired especially with the heat but don't know if i'm just overthinking things as I know he will take good care of her.
Surely one day won't hurt!

You can’t restrict your life for naps.

Very true...

Instead of relying on them to just drop off, I remember doing a feed, change, dummy in, pram hood down and then push them about briskly in the quiet back streets. One of you can do this while the others carry on and then you all meet up for a drink when baby is sound asleep.

This works in theory...

1st child: planned everything around wake windows
2nd child: did whatever I was doing, especially as I had a toddler who was mobile and needed entertainment. Couldn’t tell you what her wake windows were

Yes, exactly this.

As well as echoing the PP about feed, change and dummy, we’ve got a snooze shade to make it as boring as possible when it is nap time. Ours is an own brand one from Tesco, there’s lots available out there!

This is no help to you of course,sorry! But this is why I deliberately didn't have a routine for mine-they just slept when they wanted to wherever we were. I wanted to be able as much as possible to get on with my life with them tagging along.

Thanks all.
My mindset has always been "she will sleep when she's tired" but I am an over thinker and do worry I'm doing the wrong thing sometimes.
Having to base my life around her naps doesn't work for me as I like to be out and about with her as much as possible!

I was exactly the same! Used to literally plan my life around DS naps.
It was stressful and just not fun.

Hes 15 months now and from about 10 months I just thought fuck this shit. He just ended up napping whererver we were. Sometimes needed a shhh or a quiet area to push the buggy back and forth for a few minutes but it never took long. We went to the beach for his birthday and he happily napped in the buggy while me and DP had cocktails.

I only have 1 regret. I wish I had done that sooner.

Also you are never doing the wrong thing. There is no book to teach us how to be mums. And all babies are different.

You're doing great x

I had a book about looking after babies that had on the first page in big letters "Whatever you do will probably be wrong. It probably won't matter."

Just want to offer an opposing view:

Planned my life around naps for DC1, now plan my life around DT who are 17 months. Which doesn’t translate to “make sure I’m home at exactly 11am so they can sleep in the cots”. But rather, make sure I have a plan for their naps. I find life too bloody hard if I don’t. Tired toddlers aren’t my idea of fun, so it negates any fun I had planned anyway.

So here’s my take on what you said: no, one day won’t hurt; you’ve got to test her resilience out and about; your partner will deal with whatever happens.

It's also quite important that you give your partner some agency and try to resist the temptation to tell him how to deal with DC when you're not there. I know it's not nice to not have that control but he won't thank you for it in the long run