Naps out & about

[CaramelPrincess]

Just out of interest, what do people tend to do when out at friends or family's for nap time? My 3 month DS will only ever sleep in his cot which sometimes causes issues if we go round to the MIL for dinner or anything like that
Any suggestions?

Take a travel cot

My buggy is very flat and I use it for daytime naps so I just use that. At 3 months your baby shouldn't be terribly set in its ways so just bring a buggy or travel cot etc. Don't be afraid to try stuff! Babies are very flexible.

I struggle with this and my DS is 10 months. I think because at the start I tried so hard to get him to sleep in his cot that it was so successful he won't sleep anywhere else. Make sure they are flexible so can sleep In a pram,etc....make life easy. When going to friends houses etc I have to take a travel cot and replicate nap time like at home. A lot of effort argh

Yeah I know exactly what you mean! To be fair to him he sleeps really well at home so I suppose that's a good thing! Looks like I'm off out to buy a travel cot then haha

Mine would sleep anywhere on a baby sheepskin. I just rolled it up and took it wherever we were going and also used it in the buggy/pram and cot and if out and about I could just pop it in a corner or something and they'd happily nap on it. When they could crawl they'd just make their way to it when they were tired :)

We popped a muslin or cot sheet over it to keep it clean.

"Babies are very flexible."

This made me chuckle.

Babies are all different. Those blessed with 'sleep anywhere' babies will be blithely assuming its their wonderful, relaxed parenting that's made that happen.... until they have a second who only sleeps in their cot in a dark room and wakes at the slightest noise.

Do what works for you and your baby. Try naps in a pushchair instead of the cot (ideal if you don't have to be pushing it at the time).
If it isn't working and you end up stressed, holding a screaming, overtired baby then work your day around naps in the cot for a while instead. Lets face it, it will probably be you holding the screaming baby, not friends or family, so you decide.

Yes it was a bit of a pain and yes I looked on enviously as other babies napped in prams in the corner of cafes but by 12 months it was one nap and by 20 months it was no nap.

I now have a wonderful sleeping 4 yr old while many other parents face hours of trying to get their child into bed and are regularly having to return their child to bed in the night. I consider myself the lucky one.

Agree with above, do what works. DS1 was a sleep anywhere baby. He would drop off when he needed to sleep wherever we were and whatever we were doing.
DS2 fights every nap and unless we're at home and he's on my lap he will not have longer than about 30 minutes before waking. I try to work round his naps or at least make sure I'm at home for one of them so he doesn't end up too over tired by bedtime.

Well we totally lucked out, they both slept anywhere as babies and we didn't have any sleep issues they got older either. We did have the odd occasion when they weren't well and they were always early risers but given they were sleeping around 11 hours a night we didn't think it was too bad.

Ah, and then you have the lovely plan of getting them used to the travel cot. At first I used to put DS in it at home for a few days before we tried it out anywhere else. Now, he seems to adapt between cot and travel cot but at first he was a bit funny about it. You may also need to get a separate mattress as the ones they come with are generally rubbish.

Fifi that's where the sheepskin comes in twofold - A, it doubles as extra mattress for comfort and B, once they are used to the sheepskin then that becomes the familiar thing and changing the rest of environment didn't seem to have much of an impact - I might have just been lucky though :)

I'm lucky in the day, mine has always napped wherever. She's 21 months and currently napping in a coffee shop. She's not so good at night....

He tends to nap in his pram if we're out somewhere, but to be honest I think that's the fresh air and motion!
Can anyone recommend a decent fairly inexpensive travel cot?

If he will nap in the pram with the motion then I'd encourage that even indoors when visiting just sit and push the pram back and forward until he drops off :)

I'm sure IKEA do cheap wooden cots (35 quid ish). May be worth it in the long run at mils as she may want to do sleepovers or daytime babysitting some times.

I do agree that babies are all different and have different levels of what they will tolerate. I still maintain that they are not given enough opportunity to show how flexible they actually are because understandably parents feel nervous to change routines or cause a meltdown etc. I've had 3 babies and they are all very different but the have all shown me up by being more flexible than I allowed them to be many many times. A little example being me doing a big bedtime routine, adamant that they would roar if I just put them in the cot, kissed them and walked away. DH insisted on putting in cot and walking away. 1hr of silence later I had to reluctantly eat my words but as a mum I had had incidences of great distress doing similar so had taken the stance that it would NEVER work. It is so easy to get caught up thinking my baby won't do this or that because they responded badly the last time I tried when actually they are quite flexible (and are different with each week that passes) but I'm not brave enough to keep trying different things for fear of another roaring incident. So overall, despite how different all babies are, I do believe parents are often too anxious to ask new things of them.