Prioritise establishing a nap routine over getting out and about?????????

[jellylegs7]

I would appreciate some views on if it would be better to knock going to the various daytime baby groups we go to and getting out and about on the head over staying in and trying to establish a better nap routine.

Our situation is my little girl is almost 4 months old and has been going to baby clubs almost daily since she was about 2 months old. She sleeps fairly well in the night and has a morning nap about 90 minutes after she gets up. The rest of the day anything goes, sometimes she sleeps when we are out and about, or in the car. When I have been at home and tried putting her down for naps on purpose it really doesn't work. She is bright and alert in the clubs we go to but then since she doesn't nap tends to get very over tired and grizzly by early evening. She is in bed for 7.30 and settles. She sleeps through to about 8am with 1-3 short feeds in the night.

I am worried about habits establishing and her not napping enough being detrimental to her well being. Its great that she enjoys the clubs but I wonder if in hindsight I should have prioritised her sleep pattern.

Any views?

TIA!

Sounds like she's sleeping well and happy. I'd do whatever you want. At her age, what's most important is that you do whatever makes you happy. Stay at home eating kit lets, go to baby signing - whatever, as long as it works for you. She seems really flexible.

It sounds like she’s doing great! Keep doing what you’re doing, as long as she and you both enjoy the groups.

I absolutely worked on naps as a priority and fitted groups and outings around them.
Reason being I wanted a happy well rested baby who slept well at night. And that’s not going to happen without good quality naps in the daytime.

You can get a nap routine and her out and about. Especially at this age, it's more difficult when older.

But if I was to choose, then i wouod prioritise baby's sleep over activities, in that I would only do regular activities that fit in with her routine. Although one-off days out of routine isn't a big deal.

Are you planning on being a SAHM or working part time after maternity leave? Baby & Toddler groups are honestly far more useful after about 12 months, with a mobile toddler who needs lots of external stimulation.

At 4 months old you are probably getting far more out of the groups you go to than baby is. Nothing wrong in that, but for you getting out you could go to a coffee shop with friends at a time that suits routine. Or a walk in the park. Or whatever.

All baby needs in her (what should be reasonably brief - 90 mins at most) awake time between naps is a bit of floor space and some interesting things to grab and feel. You can do that at home and baby is no less missing out. Once older and needing to learn social skills as a toddler, thats when groups are more of a priority.

If you have only 1 dc then a routine is fine but when the dc started adding up mine survived on naps whenever the opportunity arose. . And still slept all night. . Personally wouldn't live my days planning naps!!

I was just about to post something similar to what Santa said. Most 2nd and 3rd children are much more flexible with sleep - they have to be. My 2nd only ever slept out and about really and he was a very chilled, rested baby and a fantastic sleeper (much better than my 1st actually, who I had much more of a nap routine for). Whatever works for you!

Sounds like what you are doing is working for you both as she gets loads of sleep at night so I wouldn't change it! If te overtiredness becomes really problematic thrn I'd try to sort naps but otherwise I'd stick with what you are doing. Having said that I do love long baby naps at home... so much time to just relax or read or whatever. Both my dc were fantastic nappers but neither slept through consostently until 16months (they woke for milk until then) so I paid the price for excellent naps.

Only you can decide what works best for you and your baby! You say that your baby seems overtired in the evenings though, so maybe you want to try and improve that? With both my DDs I did a couple of classes a week. Both were 30 min cat nappers who needed regular naps, so I used to set off for classes early so they had time to sleep beforehand. Then after the class they were usually ready for another nap. Obviously that only works if you have a baby that will sleep on the move.

I think if you do go to classes you should be conscious of the baby's needs when you're there. Babies often get tired in the middle of a class and in my view the good mums aren't afraid of packing up and leaving early if it's getting too much.

I think you can still get out and about, but you need to be flexible and plan ahead to make sure your baby's getting the sleep they need.