If you're strict about naps
spunkyprincessmande
member
For the most part, I'd say I'm pretty strict about my older son's naps. I try to plan things so that we're home at naptime. Sometimes I know we're going to be out and I just plan for him to sleep in the car. That happens probably once a week or so (we live in a small town and just about everything is 30-40 minutes away so it can be hard to make sure we're home in time for nap without him falling asleep the last 10 minutes of the ride and ruining naptime). Micah is rarely ever crabby and I attribute a lot of it to him being well-rested.
My question is if you're kind of strict about your child's naps how do you handle it with the second? I know not for a while yet, but eventually the baby will be on a two-nap schedule and if I make sure to be home for both of his naps we will rarely ever get out of the house (and that's assuming I get an afternoon nap at the same time, which I know is unlikely at least in the beginning). Do you sacrifice one nap to get out of the house? Suck it up and try to be home for the most part? I just want to do what I can to not have a crabby child, but I also want us to be able to do things!
Re: If you're strict about naps
Do what works for you. For me, I took advantage of the fact that when DS was born, all he did was sleep (as newborns do). I went out often, like 3-4 times per working week.
When he grew older (6+ months) and was on 2 naps a day, we stayed in a lot more, but I did know he'd nap in the stroller or carseat if necessary (went out 1-2 days per week). I always made sure to be home in the afternoon for DD's daily nap, and so he still got a good nap in.
Now, at 1.5 and 2.5 years old (when they WONT sleep in the car/stroller and need their beds), and being pregnant again, I have less energy, so we stay in more often (almost every day) and they get their one afternoon nap daily.
I'm pretty darn strict about naps. During the newborn phase, my DD was still taking 2 naps and only in her crib. We just followed her nap schedule since DS would sleep anywhere/anytime/all the time.
When DS got into a two nap schedule, DD dropped her morning nap. Luckily DS would still sleep anywhere, so a lot of times he would take his first nap in the carseat/ergo/stroller while we were out running errands, at the park, etc.
Now they are both down to 1 nap. It's a HEAVENLY 3 hour break in the afternoon.
As PP said, when they were newborns they slept all the time, and slept anywhere, the infant seat was my best friend. We went out all the time. As they got older I worked around the nap schedule. We would let DS2 nap in the morning, go out right before lunch (maybe take lunch with us depending on where we went) and then was home for afternoon nap.
During the summer when it was super hot we would go out right after breakfast (much cooler in the early AM) and be back in time for DS2's morning nap (around 10am). I balanced between things around the house, like taking walks, the park down the street, and playing in our yard with other things that required us to get in the car and go somewhere (lake, library etc.) For us going "out" for the first outing, and then staying near the house for the second was best. If we stayed around the house in the mornings, chances are I didn't feel like throwing everyone in the car later.