How do you maintain a daytime nap routine and attend baby groups?

[CathyandHeathcliff]

Basically as the title says, how can you do both please?
Most of the baby groups and playgroups are in the morning, starting at 9:30am. Up until now (my baby is 8 months) I leave early in the pushchair or car seat and get him to sleep in there on route. However his night time sleep is awful currently and I’ve heard getting a better daytime nap routine can help. E.g. putting him down in his cot. I don’t see how I’ll be able to do this and attend the groups. Can anyone help?

Lots of our groups start at 09:30 too, but are drop-in stay and play sessions which means you don't have to be there for 09:30! We usually arrive around 10 and do nap after. Sometimes I have only been there for half an hour but that's ok as I still get out the house! You have to balance naps versus some adult contact.

I think getting out with your baby is really important for mental health. But so is having a break during the day while your baby naps.
I am a big fan of routines, however I have always prioritised the lunchtime nap and made sure I was home for that every day.
The morning nap (and when they were tiny, afternoon nap) I did on the go ie car or pram.

Morning nap is always ‘on the go’ here, it has to be really as he always falls asleep on the school run (unavoidable). I then try and get home for a lunchtime nap but it’s hit and miss really, depending on what we’re doing.
To be honest, I’m not sure any of it makes a difference. DD1 always napped in her cot. Same time, and for the same duration every day. I drove myself insane ensuring we were home for her naps. She didn’t sleep through the night until she was 3.5 years old.
DD2 refused to nap in her cot until she was about 6 months, and then naps were a mixture of there and out and about. Truly awful sleeper until 15 months, then slept through the night.
DS is 5 months, generally naps ‘on the go’ as he fits around the 5 and 3 year olds. Has just started sleeping through the night 🤷🏻‍♀️

I think sleeping through is developmental. My daughter (now 18 months) started sleeping well at night At about 14 months without us doing anything different.
She naps in her buggy, car seat, in the sling on my back or occasionally on the sofa and normally has 1-3 naps a day lasting between 30 min and 2.5 hours.
I know for myself my own sleep needs change depending on what I've been doing, day of week, If I'm sick etc so it's not surprising that my daughter's do too.
I think either you're a routine person or you're not. Some people find them really helpful but some of us like me find it interferes too much with what we want to do in the day.

You just have to do what you are comfortable with. I am a slave to my son's nap routine so have missed a lot of classes. But I'm more comfortable with that than being laissez faire. He is getting there with nighttime sleep but I feel at least I can say 'I've done my best'.

It's really hard, no one tells you that you will feel rushed all the time living around naps!

SoyDora I think what you've said there is so true - I have agonised over aleep with DS, it's all I think about, I'm sure I will look back at my 2hr drives and think 'wtf was I thinking' but if you are that way inclined the only way to stop it is by having other children that have their own routines etc.

At some point they tend to have a big fat midday/1pm nap, and these groups are probably timed accordingly. I never believed that DD and her peers would ever get to that point with the amount and variety of crap sleep we all had, but they are now to a (wo)man napping 1-3. It does all settle down. In the meantime, plans things with babies the same age on a similar schedule, or go to the groups even if for a short time.

With DC1 I felt the same as you and everything seemed to be at inconvenient times for naps.

With DC2 it wasn't fair on DC1 (who by then was just napping after lunch for a couple of hours) to miss out on favourite playgroups etc so DC2 could have naps so DC2 just had to go along with it and sometimes they napped through the whole session and sometimes they joined in and had a whale of a time despite being overdue a nap.

Personally I would rather have a nap than attend a baby group or any other type of group. I love my sleep!

We struggled with this and DD is a horrific sleeper and very active. Have come to the conclusion that whatever we do with naps routine or food makes minimal difference so we have a group every weekday and take her to church on Sunday so Saturday is the only free day. She naps in the pram, car or sling fairly easily still at 15 months. Often she naps to and from a group. It really depends more on whether you need routine for your own mental health and wellbeing, or you need to get out the house more. I empathise if you have difficult nights, it's really hard so do whatever keeps you sane!

We do morning nap on the go and have just manage to sort the long afternoon nap out. More often than not now it's in his cot 1-3ish, if we're out he will sleep in the car/pushchair 45mins-1h. I was never strict about where it was, just that he always had a nap 2-3 times a day and would plan my day around that (roughly).

morning nap on the go or very short. did 9.30-10 then at groups by 10.30. or in buggy. made sure home for longer afternoon nap.

I only book classes 10.30 or later. Anything at about 1 is no good either. If he falls asleep in the car I just wake him up or we would never do anything! For meeting friends etc I just lug him in asleep in the car seat.