baby bunching Q/A: sync up those naps

Q: How do you schedule naps when your youngest is on a two-nap schedule and your older ones are on a one-nap schedule. If I didn't push my older daughter's nap until later, our day would look like this: 11 month old wakes up, 2 year old wakes up an hour later. An hour after that, 11 month... old goes down for nap (and will only nap at home, in his crib), two hours later, 11 month old wakes up, everyone has lunch and then 2 year old goes down for nap for 3 hours. Two hours into her nap, 11 month old goes down. Essentially someone is napping in my house from 10 AM until 4 PM!! How to get out and get things done?

I've been pushing my 2 year old's nap to later in the day (she now isn't going down until 3:30) so that we can get out and go to playground, the gym or run errands for a few hours. The problem with this is she then won't go to bed until almost 10 PM.

A: Getting stuck in the "nap trap" can be difficult, but once your kids are all on a schedule that you can play with a bit, you've got a little wiggle room to help ensure most days you'll get a mini break and a few things done.

This might seem a bit Type A, but one Baby Buncher recommended mapping out both kids' schedules on paper and comparing them. By doing this we were able to adjust meals and some nap times to get things to overlap. Usually once your youngest is on to two naps a day this plan works.

Let’s look at a sample kids’ nap schedule.
Older Son (2 years old):
Napped from 12-2 p.m.
Younger Son (8 months):
Napped from: 9-11 a.m. and 1:30-3:30 p.m. (or hopefully more)

With this current schedule, you’d never leave the house or get a few minutes to yourself.

There are a few suggestions here and much of it depends on 1) what time your children wake up and go to bed 2) their temperament when tired. The easiest way to start adjusting this schedule is with the toddler.

While many toddlers may actually be ready for a nap at 11 a.m., it’s often possible to get them down a bit later with some training. Slowly push back the nap time by 15 minutes every few days with, for example, 12:30 for nap time being your ultimate goal. If your baby naps until 11 a.m. everyday, you get everyone out of the house for a walk or one quick outing for some stimulation. See if you can work over a couple of weeks to get your older one going down later. Then work to get your younger one going down for that afternoon nap a bit earlier. It might be a short morning nap (yes, we’re talking about waking them up) or it could be a few days a week of stroller/car seat naps. If you can shoot to have your baby go down for his nap at 1 p.m. that gives you a chance at an hour and a half of quiet time for yourself. 

If you follow Dr. Marc Weissbluth’s Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child regime of putting a baby down every two hours you can make the schedule work to fit your younger child. For example: youngest wakes at 6:30 a.m. every morning, get her down for a nap at 8:30 a.m. and let her sleep until 10:30. Ready and waiting at the door with full diaper bag and car running, hop in the car and go somewhere…anywhere! Have lunch out or race home for a quick bite and then nap (going down somewhere between 12:30 and 1:15).

Nap time order may depend on who is the most tired. Some babies require 20-minutes of nursing before nap so put her toddler down first and then deal with baby. Or let toddler play happily in his room, while putting baby to bed. You'll have to play with it a bit to get it right.

And right when you do....little baby will drop that second nap and you'll rearranging all over again. Such is the life for a Baby Buncher. You can do it!

Comments

[Nicole]

I have a question. I have a 13 month old and an almost 3 year old. Our youngest cut out her 2nd nap rather quickly (several months ago). Is this normal? Has it happened to anyone else?

[marla]

nicole...my little one stopped taking a second nap at about 9 months. maybe it is because there is so much more going on that they do not want to miss, or maybe becasue there is too much noise :) either way i was glad to be out of the nap trap sooner than later. i just ended up putting her to bed earlier.

as for the nap trap i found it easier to adjust the baby nap than the toddler. i would get her up for the day earlier then she took an earlier nap, and the second nap fell closer to the timing of the toddlers. it goes by so fast that it was like they said by the time you rearrange it, the situation will change. this way you do not have to readjust the toddler nap when the baby starts taking only one nap a day :)

[Michelle]

Sometimes you just have to stay in the house from 10-4!!! It's a great time to get things done around the house. I often prepare dinner so that I just have to throw it together around 5 (like cutting up veggies, making sauces, etc). Also, I moved my toddler's (2 1/2)nap back to 1. She sleeps from 1-3:30 and Baby (12 mo) goes down for her second nap around 2....so I usually get an hour or so to myself! Just fiddle with the schedules a little. Maybe waking Baby up from her nap a little earlier in the morning or having Toddler stay up a little later before the afternoon nap--and soon you'll be getting out of the house more often. Good luck!

[Michelle]

I have a 17 month gap between my first two and a 21 month gap between my second and third. My first two were easy to coordinate, but my second and third were off a bit. I found that I had to be more flexible with my middle son's nap and I was more of a stickler witht he afternoon naps. That worked out pretty well and it gave me a constant daily break between 12 and 3 p.m.

[WilkinsBillie27]

Some time before, I needed to buy a good car for my business but I did not have enough money and could not order something. Thank heaven my brother suggested to take the home loans from banks. Therefore, I acted so and was satisfied with my short term loan.