Nap Schedules

Karen1024

Hello!

How do you guys manage nap schedules?

We have an 18 month old napping from 1230ish to 300ish. We also just fell into a last minute foster to adopt situation and have a 4 month old who is trying to fall into the twice a day nap schedule. If this happens we will never be able to go out without at least one tired child! The new baby is fussy and if he doesn't sleep well I fear none of us will! Anyone successfully get their youngest on a three nap a day schedule?  Any other ideas? 

Thanks!

RedDDD

 I also have a toddler that takes his mid day nap from 1230 - 3ish.  No real suggestions other then it sucks and we just deal with it.  We just started getting out more with the kids but when they are napping thats it.  Our weekends tend to revolve around the toddlers naps and our infant sometimes gets a nap in in the car.  But until they are a little older it is what it is.  The only time we get out is early in the mornings when everyone is fresh.....our afternoons are not our own anymore.

What times is the infant sleeping?  Typically mine takes a mid morning nap 830 or 9am - 10ish then again middle of the day and again late afternoon.  I feel like at 4 months my youngest was still not very consistent with her naps and they just got more and more regular until about 6 months when she really started showing more of a consistent pattern.

mervsbaby

I agree...my afternoons are not mine. My toddler-18mths- naps around the same time and my newborn-7weeks-whenever. Mornings are definitely when we go out and get things done. Pretty much someone is always tired when we're out in the afternoons/evenings. 

A suggestion to get your youngest on a "3 times a day nap schedule" or just to rest, could be just putting them down the crib or wherever, and let them relax even if they don't actually sleep. I feel like babies don't really get on a consistent schedule until later. Just a suggestion, it may not work. Good luck!

mervsbaby

And I clearly need to update my signature lol

bookworm982

Our DD is 21 months, and she naps from 1:00 to 3:00 every afternoon. DS is 8 months, and he naps for an hour in the morning, and for the same afternoon block. The morning nap is usually 9:00-10:00, but I adjust it liberally as needed. For example, on Sundays he goes down at 8:30 so that we can leave for church at 9:30. If we have a bit of a drive for an outing, I time the drive for nap time since he sleeps great in the car. Thankfully he's a flexible baby.

I have to admit the morning nap is hard to deal with sometimes, but I tend to use that hour as my chore time for the day. DD loves to "help," so she gets fun one on one interaction while we do dishes, sweep, and do laundry. (I save deeper cleaning for the second nap or after bedtime.) I like to pack a simple picnic lunch so that we can get a decent length of outing between the naps. It makes park time or a children's museum visit much more fun.

All that said, I'm counting down to autumn when I plan on pushing DS to one nap a day. It will be so nice to not have my entire day revolving around naps.

lana22

my youngest was on three naps a day until about 7 months. i put him down just under 2 hours after he woke up.

sometimesalwayschaotic

At that age my girls have all taken more than 3 naps.  They still tend to just sleep all day.  Perhaps your baby wants more than 3 naps and is getting super overtired so hard to get down?  Baby sleep is so hard!  I agree its so hard to get out of the house.

ashiscute

When DS was born I worked to time his afternoon nap to line up with his sisters.  And I built the rest of the day around that.  He napped in the morning 9-10 ish.  Then the afternoon would be 1230 or 1.  And then another nap around 430 or so that was short.  Which usually gave me a chance to get dinner ready and sometimes even eat.

I agree that it was very difficult to get out of the house at that age.  I'd sometimes wake DS up around 10 and just head somewhere (library) for 30 mins and then get back to the house.  I just made their afternoon naps coinciding my priority.  Good luck.  you will get there eventually!

Karen1024

Thanks everyone!!!! its good to know I am not alone!

Karen1024

PS the last few days DS has slept11-3 so maybe we will get lucky?