moms of 2+ - Q re: nap schedule w/ infant and a toddler
marybeth1699
member
So I only have one baby right now. But we're thinking about having another relatively soon. My baby is almost 3 months old and has been a total crank lately b/c I think I was sleep depriving him. We've always run errands, gone shopping, gone to lunches etc and he's always just slept when he needed to wherever we were. Recently, I noticed he wasn't really sleeping anymore while we were out and about. The only place he'd sleep was in his crib at home. Then he turned into a crank. Well, I put 2 and 2 together and realized it was because he was too interested in everything going on around him when were out to nap and as a result was getting overtired and cranky. So I've been a bit of a nap nazi with him and made an effort to start staying home and he's doing much better.
I'm curious how you do it with two kids? It's not like you can put your toddler on hold and stop taking them out during the day once you have your second kid just so the second kid can nap. Or is that what you have to do? Just try to entertain the toddler at home? How do you make sure your second kid is getting the sleep they need but that your first born is entertained? Especially when your second child is not yet on a consistent schedule?
Re: moms of 2+ - Q re: nap schedule w/ infant and a toddler
plan things around nap times. Go out right after the nap is over, or if you have a kid who is used to noise and sleeps in the car, plan naps for that time.
I bought an Ergo and wore DS2 a lot more than I wore DS1. That helped too.
while at home, I put DS down for naps in his room with a rain noise machine on. If DS1 wants to go outside I bring th emonitor with me.
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Did you wear DS2 to help him sleep/nap? Or because it was just easier to have your hands free to play with DS1?
I promised myself that next time they napped at the same time for more than 30 minutes, that I would buy myself a lottery ticket, because CLEARLY that was my lucky day.
Since my son is down to 1 nap a day, I just make sure to go where ever we need to go as soon as my daughter wakes up, and avoid going anywhere mid day, when it's my son's nap time. It's actually not nearly as hard as it sounds. You just figure out what works and run with it. Some days go better than others.
Yes.
We treasure sleep in this house. I have a 3 yo, 2 yo, and almost 5 mo. Everyone naps. Period. When my oldest son decides he wants to give it up (should be soon as he turns 4 next month), he will have quiet time in his room.
My older two both nap from 12:30 - 3:30 every day, so we plan our activities around that.
But I'm not really one of those moms who enjoys leaving the house with my kids. I don't feel like a toddler needs to be out of the house to be entertained. We have a fenced in back yard and a swing set, so if they want to run around and play outside I throw them out there. We do craft time, story time, homeschool preschool, and other structured play, but for the most part I find that toddlers have fun without the structure. My boys enjoy dressing up in costumes and running around the house playing superheroes. I don't really see the point in stressing myself out by running my kids to a bunch of activities outside of the home. If they need interaction with other kids we have playdates.
By centering our lives around our home, I feel like it makes my kids healthier (they aren't consistently exposed to other germy kids and therefore never get sick), happier (because they have a consistent routine that doesn't change very often), and much more obedient (because they know what to expect and get good rest by taking naps everyday). The babies just learn to fall into place and get onto the schedule eventually.
ETA - I get a nap every single day because of our consistent napping. While both boys are down I can lie down with my baby and get some rest too. I don't know many mothers of 3 3 and under who can do that.
Braydon 1.23.09
It sucks. This has been the hardest part of the transition from 1-2 for me.
When C was little, we'd just bring her wherever and she'd sleep. Once she hit 2 months, she only wanted to nap at home. So we stayed home. A lot. We'd run out when she woke up for an hour or two, but it made it hard to make plans b/c her naps were unpredictable. If she got two good naps in, we'd do something in the afternoon and I'd have her nap in a carrier...I didn't mind a crappy nap if she had already had some good ones.
Now that she's 6 months, she's more predictable. She's usually up from a nap at 10-10:30, so we leave the house every day then. They nap at the same time in the afternoon, then we try to have friends here in the afternoon so she can nap. Not ideal, but my friends understand (and have more flexible nappers!) so that's worked for us. Hoping that she'll soon drop her third nap so at least our afternoons and evenings are free to do something.
It's hard. It'll be better next summer when they're 1.5 and 3.5 and only on one nap each