How do you get your baby to nap when you have a toddler too?

[Bubbinsmakesthree]

Just that really - how on earth to do you fit baby naps around life with a toddler? With DC1 I had all the time in the world to invest in rocking him to sleep and setting a schedule around him. DC2 not so much. Baby currently does all naps in sling whether we are at home or out and about - not sure how sustainable that is, but don't know how else to do it!

My ds never did nap really, 18 months between them. I gave up, he would sometimes fall asleep in his pram if we were out but never managed to get a proper napping routine. Upside was he slept through the night pretty early.

I only ever managed it if we were in the car. 19mth age gap. Spent a lot of time with all three of us parked up snoozing in the car

Sorry I misread and thought you meant how to get them to nap at the same time

I used to time walks to toddler groups so the baby would nap in the buggy for the morning nap. Often then went on another walk or drive somewhere for the later nap. Or just rocked in the basket whilst the other watched tv

I found DS2 instinctively knew he had to nap when he could!!

For a while he would just fall asleep at playgroups. Literally in the middle of a playmat. Then we started to leave playgroups/playdates a bit early so we'd be back home for 11.30 and he would nap then. That then edged to post lunch. He also slept longer in the morning. So where DS1 would wake up religiously at 7am, DS2 has been known to sleep until 9.30am.

Just be flexible and go with the flow!

I did a mix, so sat with baby on me asleep and played/watched telly with toddler (got something like a sticker book/little figures ready beforehand), drinks/snack ready too sometimes!
Baby would sometimes be able to be put down asleep on couch or bouncy chair.

Went out in pram and baby slept then, tried to time it so was on way back home so could leave asleep in pram.

If baby fell asleep in car on way home would carry in and leave asleep.

When DH was home, I would take baby upstairs for a nap with me as they did tend to nap for longer.

The sling sounds great though. I wouldn't worry about how sustainable it is, just do what works for you now. If/when it stops working, you'll figure out something different that works.

I'm always amazed by people whose babies don't really nap - as both of mine quickly turn into screaming monsters if I miss that window of opportunity to get them to sleep!

I'm struggling with this too. Poor baby has a series of interrupted naps. He's such a good baby and Im despairing a bit as I feel sure he'd nap brilliantly, if it weren't for his brother.

I found sling or on me easy enough for the first few months but it's taken a bit more effort from about 4 months. So now 6 mo DS has one nap in bed with me whilst DD has half an hour of CBeebies on the iPad, then I time a group so he can sleep in the sling there or on the way home, I get them both down at lunchtime at home which is bliss and then he has one last cat nap on the way home from whatever we do in the afternoon.

It's not been too bad but I suppose I make sure our day is structured to allow for DS's naps. Mine are definitely children that need to nap as well!

My little ones are 20 months apart so I found this tricky to begin with. We found that the best thing to do was put DS2 to sleep in the buggy downstairs, behind the baby gate so that DS1 wouldn't be able to interfere and wake baby up. The noise side of things never bothered the baby and it was a good opportunity for our eldest to see that baby was sleeping so he couldn't go near him. On occasions we would go out to the shops for baby to nap or even a walk to the park to spend time with DS1 whilst DS2 recharged in the process. We eventually moved to napping him in his cot with the baby monitor. Thankfully DS1 still naps in the afternoon so that takes away some stress for afternoon naps!