Trapped by the nap schedule

[Northby]

My six month old has transitioned into his cot bed and we are on a nap schedule. Prior to this he mostly napped in the pram or on me and we were always out and about. Now we only have 105-120 minutes windows between naps (that includes the feeding and changing and putting down to sleep between naps) before he has to be back in his cot bed.

Being trapped in the house on this schedule is making me feel pretty depressed. I’m not someone who naturally likes routine. Being constrained by lengths of time makes me feel like I don’t have time to do anything outdoors so I just mope around cleaning and entertaining the infant - but with less and less enthusiasm as I feel more and more down!

Does anyone have any tips or ideas for this stage of life?

Will he simply not sleep in the pram anymore? If you feel this way, I'd be aiming to get him sleeping in the pram while out and about at least a few times a week.

Having said that, I do feel your pain. DD was an excellent napper.... as long as it was in her cot bed, in her bedroom with th curtains closed. Otherwise, she would stay awake and no car journey, pram, cuddle etc would let her sleep. Mostly it was fine as DH was a SAHD at the time and quite enjoyed the quiet, but she definitely did fewer activities etc than DS did and if it had been me at home with her I think I would have got frustrated.

Not much advice I'm afraid. What are the timings like? I have a 6 month old and she will nap for 2 hrs in the morning 9-11 then about 1-2pm and 4.30-5.30pm.
Once I factor in school runs for my older DC, 11am-1pm is my best chance to get out and do something. If I want to go further afield, I make sure she has had her long morning nap, then go out. I take a book with me and then if she falls asleep in the car on the way home I just leave her and read!

Sometimes I used to take DC out and about anyway and then lower their pram so they could nap in it

But I also just restructured the day - out and about when they were awake and then home in time for nap to give me a quiet hour to have a coffee and read a book then get dinner on or sort some laundry or housework.

The naps will change.

It passes! What’s the schedule? I swear by the Sleep Mums, which gradually gets you to a 30-minute morning nap – which can be pram or sling on way to something interesting – and a mahoosive lunch nap in the cot so you can watch 19 seasons of Grey’s Anatomyget things done. The timings allow for a class but only if you’re somewhere where location allows – we manage to do a 10am sing and sign because it’s 5 mins walk away, and lots of 10.30am classes further away in town, but I’d struggle with 10am further away as DS likes a substantial breastfeed and snack on this routine and a rice cake en route won’t cut it.

For a while, the lunch nap does divide your day in two, even when down to one nap, but you get used to doing mornings or afternoons out. Another Sleep Mums rule is 4/7 days on routine means 3/7 can go to shit, whether that’s accidental (teeth, illness, life) or you just fancy a day out and decide to hell with naps.

Snoozeshade and white noise over a buggy that truly reclines, with a comforter, has bought us some decent naps out and about.

Will he nap in the car? Around this age I used to drive somewhere, let DS fall asleep and then have the whole wake window out somewhere. Then the second nap would also be a car nap on the way home from wherever we were.

Why have you gone down the schedule route? I never did because it did work for me (didn’t want to be trapped in the house, wanted to enjoy walks etc). I never really saw the point! But I know babies are all different.

You could do some days where you're at home for cot naps and other days where you don't worry too much and get out anyway?

Or are you saying they won't sleep in pram/car/sling anymore?

Even if its like a 20min nap somewhere other than the cot it's OK.

I was somewhat like you until a recent trip abroad where DD literally had to just manage her sleep between visiting family and driving all over the place. It was quite freeing actually. The worse thing that could happen is you get a cranky baby. Once you get home they can have a cot nap if needed.

Thanks so much everyone!! These are all such helpful suggestions. I will definitely be rereading all these posts and trying these out.

I had to sleep train as he wasn’t sleeping properly anywhereever and now he generally has good naps and sleeps through the night in his cot - so he must have needed the sleep.

We do wake up usually around 6:30am, then wake windows of 1hr 45 to 2hrs so he has three naps a day. I let him nap for as long as he needs except the last nap of the day cut off is usually 5:30pm so he will go to sleep at around 7:30. I tend to adjust to cater for his sleep cues so he isn’t too cranky.

He doesn’t sleep well in the car but will usually eventually go off to sleep in his pram or a sling when I’m out and about. He is at the age of peering around and finding everything interesting so he is less interested in sleeping and feeding at the minute.

I was worried that taking him off his nap schedule in the cot would put back his progress, but I don’t think I can handle staying at home and being this rigid with it!

When I sleep trained my first we aimed for one cot nap a day - that way you can still get out and about. This time my 5mo just has to get along with what is going on so definitely does nap in the pram. If he’s too alert a snooze shade thing that blacks out the world of their pram can be helpful