Naps and bedtime when seeing friends

[TeamOwen2020]

Hello there! Apologies for the long post! We have a 10.5 month old who has only really experienced life in lockdown apart from a few months when he was very young and napping schedules were far more flexible as he slept much more. However now he is older and needs not to nap after 4:30 otherwise we have a very under tired little boy who will scream for hours at bed time even if we try to shift bed time.

The issue we have is that we would like to start seeing our friends and family as he hasn’t met many of them yet however we find ourselves saying we have to leave early so he can nap in the car on the way home then be home by 4:30 so he isn’t asleep too late. We pushed it this evening and left my family’s place (after being out in their garden of course!) at 5. He hadn’t had much sleep previously (1 hour maybe which is standard as he only takes 30 minute naps) and he fell asleep immediately for the 30 minute journey home and woke as soon as we pulled up outside the house. We gave him dinner and then he was super grumpy, rubbing eyes ears etc so started bedtime routine. He then screamed in the bath and for 20 minutes after his milk.

I don’t want this to be a regular occurrence. Does anyone have any tips to prevent this happening on a regular basis.

TIA

[Cheekymonkey85]

Mine have always slept in prams when out and about or depending on who’s house we are at, we took a travel cot x

[Lydialego123]

I have similar worries for my little one who’s almost 11 months and I try to stick to his routine wherever I can as he is happy and sleeps better then, I just try to arrange meet ups at times that would work around his napping routine so he’ll either nap at home as normal or in the car on way/way back. a lot of people I know also have little ones so they understand this. If it really can’t be avoided I’d take my travel cot and put him down at the persons house, I’ve recently done this at my mums a couple of times so he is used to sleeping elsewhere xx

[TeamOwen2020 in reply to Lydialego123]

Thanks. That’s what I have tried to do up til now but now we are getting afternoon and early evening invites which fill me with dread 😂

Will try the travel cot and pram options

[Crk281]

He shouldn't really need a late afternoon nap at that age, just maybe a short morning one and a longer lunch time nap. Is there any way one of you could sit in the back of the car with him with toys, songs etc to distract him so he doesn't fall asleep on the way home. Then you can do bedtime as usual

[TeamOwen2020 in reply to Crk281]

Thanks Crk. I would love him to have a long lunchtime nap but his naps are never longer than 30mins in his cot. Only had an hour and 10 mins 3 times last week by adjusting wake windows then went back to 30 mins so if he wakes any time before 3 he can’t last as he is exhausted. Any tips?

[Crk281 in reply to TeamOwen2020]

I used the little ones sleep guide, which had advice about nap times. He is probably either under tired or over tired if only sleeping for 30 mins. He should be able to last from 3 till 6.30 though I would have thought, my daughter would be having a nap till no later than 2.30 at that age, then bed probably 6.45

[TeamOwen2020 in reply to Crk281]

Ok thank you. I will take a look. I would prefer him staying awake longer as well as longer naps!

[Franco81 in reply to Crk281]

I think every child is different, my 15 month old twins still have two naps at roughly 9.30am and then 2/3pm until 4, then bed at 7 sleeping through the night. It depends what we’re doing for the day if the morning or afternoon nap is longer. I’m sure at 10 months an afternoon nap is quite normal though.

Singing and playing is a good idea though to keep them awake when needed x

[Abs1403]

It might not always be convenient but we ask people to come to us if it’s going to spread into the evening - and then we do daytimes where we travel. My family all live an hour away. That said, our LO is 9 months and will still go to bed at 7 even if he naps up to 5pm... although I’m sure that won’t last!

Good luck finding your new normal x

[TeamOwen2020 in reply to Abs1403]

Thank you. Well he was so tired he slept from 7 until 4 without his 30 min wake up. Hope we are losing that!

[Franco81]

I know exactly what you mean, I have 15 month old twins and I don’t want them sleeping past 4ish as it then doesn’t work for their 7pm bedtime.

If we go out, I tend to try and time the car journeys with naptime roughly (if the journey is anywhere over 30mins) which works for us and we aim to be home for 4.

A couple of times I’ve also stayed out later, got the twins into pyjamas and ready for bed then left to come home in the car at bedtime (7ish). That worked really well once and I was able to transfer them both into bed when we got home but the second time one woke and couldn’t get back to sleep for a while. We then tweaked it and saved bed time milk for once we got home which worked well for us.

I know every child is different but thought it could be a different idea and give you a little more time with family or friends x

[MissEd]

My little boy had the same nap schedule at your LOs age, I think that's fine.

Unfortunately this is something every parent has to deal with, we just had to meet people earlier or deal with the aftermath! I'm still doing the same really at 2.4, he naps. 12ish till 2pm and I try and meet friends in the morning so we are in the car on the way home for naptime, or we have to meet after 2.30pm. I could just go with the flow but I'd rather not deal with a grumpy toddler! 😂