Where do your babies/toddlers take their naps?

[Mumsiemummy1]

Out of curiosity, where do your babies and toddlers take their daily naps.

DD is 9 months and had been napping in her cot for her morning and afternoon nap. It was making me totally miserable having to be home most of the day and verging on the edge of depression. She now always has her morning nap in her cot but the afternoon 9/10 is in the car whilst it and about.

Very interested to here how others work naps, particularly for older children also :)

Thanks!

My 11 month old naps in his cot. One morning and one afternoon. (Although I think this is merging into one long midday nap!)
He will also nap in the car if we are on a longish journey. He used to nap in his swing/bouncer until 9 months.

Naps in the cot.

It is restrictive in the phase of having 2 naps a day, but this is only a phase. It's much more easy to do stuff once down to a single afternoon nap.

In the mean-time, if you are organised you can still get out the house.

● morning dog walk after breakfast before morning nap. For me this is the school run
● get yourself organised, pushchair in car, change bag packed, shoes and coat on, babys coat ready - for as soon as baby wake from morning nap. Should give you at least an hour to 90m before you need to be back for dinner and afternoon nap. I can do a full grocery shop in that long.
● Park or walk in the late afternoon, in the last of the sunshine. For me that is the school run.
● Early evening trips out. Soft play, swimming, coffee shop and whatnot can all be done in the 4pm-8pm time if you wanted to.

DD only ever napped on me. We went out loads, she slept well in the sling. Stopped napping by 18 months.

DS mainly naps in the pram. He's 8 months now, he was napping in the carrycot attachment from newborn then into the stroller part. It's fantastic. He gets good long naps, I get flexibility. It would drive me nuts to be stuck indoors to a schedule.

In the pram in the back garden. She's 21 months.

In the day mine slept in the Moses basket or pram carrycot, as long as they were flat I was happy. They still slept in the car if we were out and about. My 4yr old still naps in his high back booster!

1 year old in her cot, 2 year old in his bed.

When my ds moved to 1 very long nap when he was 12 months old, I started to ensure we were always home for it. He's not easily transfered so I couldn't move him from car to pushchair etc, and it meant if he had 30 mins in the car that would be it for the day and it was a nightmare.
So we always go out in the morning, home by 11.30 for lunch. He goes to bed at 12 and sleeps for 2-3 hours. We go back out at 3 ish to the park or the shops or for a walk.
He's almost 2 so this has been our routine for a year now and we're used to it and it's nice for me to have that time to clean up then kick back and have lunch and me time in piece.
A word of warning though is a lot of our friends and family didn't do this and can be quite rude about our routine, saying we let him dictate our lives. They're not the ones that have to live with a nightmare toddler come 4.30 pm if he's not slept enough to though :-D

At that age DD would nap in the cot but she won't now. She's 2yo and will sleep in the car, in the pushchair or just lie down on the sofa and close her eyes if she's tired enough. She gets very cross if you dare suggest that she might need a nap though

My 9 month old sleeps on the bed next to me or in the slong.

Is love my 8mo to nap in the cot but unfortunately I have to either go for a walk with the pushchair, or just let her sleep on me - it’s so frustrating!!

My 17m sleeps in a cot in nursery and wherever at home. Usually on the sitting room floor, he sleeps in his carrier too. He never napped anywhere but on us for the first 9 months. He’s easy going now.

It's nice to hear I'm not the only 1 who doesn't do 100% cot naps.

@fatedestiny I could get her to do this in theory, although her afternoon nap is rarely longer than 45 mins so I don't get much of a break, however only being about to walk around our village, or pop to the shop between naps was enough to start driving me insane. It was quite literally making me depressed. I'm a much happier mum with her napping on the go in the afternoon.

Cot, buggy, sling, sofa - wherever they happen to be at nap time!

Pram or car. Even at home still pram

Dc1, always a cot
Dc2, always a cot
Dc3, on the school run
Dc4, on the school run
Alwsys leave 40 mins early for collection so that 3 and 4 get a good power snooze, any longer and they wont go down at bedtime!

When doing 2 naps I tried to make sure 1 was at home in the cot - she would sometimes sleep in the pram and often sleep in the car. Also the sling (only dh carries her for long enough to fall asleep now though). She always slept better in the cot though

3.5 month old, sling.
He had reflux and screamed if he went in the pram, so he’s just sort of stayed in the sling. Good thing - I can time when I go out with his naps, or we can sit at home while he naps there. Other side effect: I think it’s helping me lose weight; he’s not a small baby.

DS is 14 months old next month and sleeps either in the car or the cot. He's always been reasonably reliable with the cot but has started to protest more so - but I think that's more to do with him not needing 2 naps but 1 (but not ready to let it go quite yet). If we're out and and about I arrange stuff so that he's sleeping in the car there and back. He's not napped in the pram since he was around 8/9 months old - he just woke up the moment I stopped and I was forever having to pace about shops to ensure he stayed asleep.

He'll easily fall asleep in the car - tbh I am sure that's his preferred method However he's at nursery x 3 a week so cot sleeps it is

Never managed to get either of mine to nap in the cot! Buggy or car seat only, possibly on sofa or being cuddled once in a blue moon! My youngest is 19 months now and I just go for a short drive lately or she falls asleep on the way back from somewhere then transfer to buggy. Neither of them ever had long naps anyway and it won’t be long before there are no more naps (my eldest grew out of them totally at 20 months). As long as you have a proper bedtime routine ime the way they nap makes absolutely no difference - both of them have always been fairly easy to get to sleep at night time just not in the day!

On me if I'm at home, comfy and ready to watch a programme I've missed 🤣, in the car, pushchair or on his toddlepod (which if I'm out all day I take with me in its carry case) x

Mine napped on the floor when she was very tiny, then in the pram most of the time but would occasionally nap in her cot or in her toddler bed. Having her nap in the pram was the best as then she could nap anywhere.

Our 7 month old sleeps in his cot for naps. He doesn't like the buggy or (gasp) the car so will only nap in these if he's screamed until exhausted. But we live in the city centre so lots to do within 15-20min walk; I've never found it that restrictive, at least since he went onto 2 naps a day. At the weekend we go out for lunch and he has a pouch/ tastes of ours in his high chair.