Help with my 8 month old nap schedule

[FizzingWhizzbee123]

DS2 is almost 8 months old. We followed a routine with DS1 which was roughly

7am wake
9.30-10am nap
12.30-2.30pm nap
4.30 power nap/dropped
6.30/7pm bed

This worked well for DS1. He fought the 3rd nap and dropped it early but was consistently doing 2/2.5hrs lunch nap so made it through to bed time.

DS2 is almost 8 months old and we’re trying to drop the third nap and move to a two nap schedule. However I don’t feel this schedule is working for him.

He doesn’t cope well with being woken up after only 30 mins in the morning and is too tired to eat his lunch properly. His lunch nap is then inconsistent, anything from 1hr20 (not enough to get through to bedtime) to 2.5/3hrs (not reliably). I can’t predict what days he’ll do the longer naps and which he won’t.

I feel like he would do better on a split nap schedule of two 1.5hr naps, like 9.30-11 and 1.30-3.

However, selfishly, this really doesn’t work for the rest of the family. There is very little in the way of baby groups and classes open due to Covid, and those which are open all happen between 9.30-11.30am, and he’ll miss all of those if he’s napping, and honestly I’m going stir crazy and home and need them.

I have DS1 most afternoons and we already feel a bit stuck waiting for DS2 to wake at 2/2.30pm. If we’re stuck in until 3/3.30pm, that makes taking DS1 out anywhere in the afternoon really hard, as he needs to be home for dinner and bedtime routine from 5ish.

I really can’t face feeling stuck at home both morning and afternoon for two longish naps, DS2 missing social activities and DS1 missing out too.

DS2 isn’t good at napping on the go. He will happily go to sleep in the pram or sling but wakes like clockwork after the first sleep cycle and will not resettle, so long naps on the go just don’t work for him.

Is there any sort of compromise schedule that I’ve missed which might work better for DS2 but not leave me feeling totally housebound too?

I would prioritise sleep and go with 9.30-11 and 1.30-3.

You won't be on a two-nap schedule for long, relatively speaking in the grand scheme if things. Plenty of time for morning toddler groups when baby is more of a toddler age and has dropped the morning nap.

He’ll be on a 2 nap schedule until I go back to work. By the time he drops to one nap, he’ll be in nursery and my maternity leave will have finished. My mental health has taken a significant hammering during this pandemic (was bed bound for 9 months with a HG pregnancy, plus lockdowns). I literally can’t spend the last few months of my maternity leave feel like I’m held hostage to the house. I know it’s selfish, but I honestly could weep at the prospect. And it’s not fair on my older son, when I’ve got him as home.

Surely there’s some sort of compromise that works for everyone? Any way I can get him doing that afternoon nap better on the go? I’ve tried a snoozeshade and white noise but he still wakes up.

Surely there’s some sort of compromise that works for everyone?

Absolutely. Morning nap in the pushchair. Tgis let's you get out and about.

Walk to the baby group and that then means you can chat with the other Mums and mingle much more easily, while shuffling a pushchair back and forth. When he wakes up, he's already there to play.

Best of both worlds

• He gets to play at baby group without being tired and grumpy
• You get out of the house and get to meet other people with a very good reason for being at the group (baby) but without having to entertain baby. So you can chat and drink tea.

This isn’t working either 😩 We’ve been trying but when he has a long nap in the morning, he’s waking up after 30/40 mins for his second nap. All we’ve done is reversed his schedule. I’m wondering if he’s just not ready to move to 2 naps yet.

I'd give a third nap on days when first or second are shorter. With about 2h awake windows.

8 months is a reasonable age to still have 3 naps.