Naps - 11 month old baby

[Mochiface]

Hi all,

Just wanted to see if anyone is in the same position or have been and that I am not crazy. Probably am crazy but hey ho, here goes.

My 11 month old baby is fairly sleep sensitive, I feel like I've finally figured out how to manage her naps and bed time sleep to get her to sleep through the night. It's not the mythical 12 but around 10 ISH and sometimes 11 ISH hours. At least I know that she sleeps good enough to the point I know she's not going to wake up in the middle of the night. But when either of these naps goes pants or if I miss her sleep window, I know I'll pay for it later.

If I told my friends who don't have kids which is a few of them, they'd think I'm mental. I went out for lunch today and tried to make sure I came back at a good time to get baby to nap, but it was around the time and she needed a poo so we missed it and then she stayed up for almost five hours before she was willing to nap. It just makes me feel why the hell did I go out in the first place and I get so upset with myself.

If I said this out loud to anyone, they'd think that I'm mental.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks like this. I feel like people would just tell me that I should just do whatever but I value my predictable evenings!!

I would prioritise my baby's sleep routine over anything else, so I know where you're coming from. It would have to be a very special event for me not to ensure my arriving / leaving times work with DCs routines.

Thanks @FATEdestiny

I just want to ensure my baby rests well - when she's tired, I know she's just soldering on!! How do people ever fit baby classes in, I've no idea as everything seems to happen during her naps or going somewhere makes me feel nervous as I might end up missing her naps as my DH is very laid back so I feel like I'm trying to get to places is really fighting a losing battle already.

Also , I used to see your name on lots of sleep forums and you don't even know how many times I've been tempted ask you for advice!! Of course, I value other people's opinions too hence why I am on here but I saw a thread that was specifically calling for you and I was thinking to myself, maybe I should do that too 🤣

How do people ever fit baby classes in...

I think it's about seeing the bigger picture. There are many, many years of parenting ahead of you and plenty of time for activities and groups when they better suit.

In the blink of an eye youll be down to one lunchtime nap per day, then look to fill your mornings with daily playgroups and your early evenings with park trips and swimming and whatnot.

To crudely section off your child's life, you might have:

● First 6 months - just sitting on the sofa and chilling
● Next 12 months - fitting everything you need to get out of the house for into a couple of 2h blocks of time per day. So choose wisely if you're going out
● Next 3 years - the glory years of baby yoga, swimming, toddler groups, farm visits and all that stuff to fit in.
● Next 13 years - school runs and spending your entire evenings ferrying kids round to swimming lessons, football club, dance, Girlguiding, mares houses, sleepovers and may be even boyfriend/girlfriend dates
● Next 5 years - taking to pubs, picking up from nightclubs, dealing with associated vomit, taking on girly weekends away or night fishing trips. And all the rest of the demands children make on our lives.

So... baby classes hard to get to with an 11mo who wants to nap? Don't worry. Plenty of time for more of the same in the coming years.

Oh, and thank you for your final paragraph. I'm happy to help whoever I can