2nd child nap schedules

[rjamz]

Guys...I seriously was up for at least an hour last night obsessing over this. I can't figure out how to schedule E's naps once she needs a more solid sleep plan.

Right now she just naps every 90 min or so, either at home or on the go and it doesn't matter to her. But I remember with Jamie that it changes soon and naps on the go aren't ideal. Plus I really can't function without at least a semblance of a schedule.

My issue is Jamie's preschool drop off and pick up. I drop him off around 8:45 and I'm usually home by 9. So ideally E would nap when we get home.

Then most days, I pick him up at 12:30 and that's the issue. I would like E to nap at 12, but I just can't make that work. So a 1pm nap would be ideal but that would make her awake time too long and she'll be so tired. Plus, one day a week I pick him up at 2 after Hebrew class and one day I pick him up around 1 after he has OT. On the Hebrew day, I can have Jamies nanny come an hour earlier so maybe I wouldn't have to worry? Ugh!

I think I'm just word vomiting at this point, lol. My poor second child and my poor schedule needing brain. How did you work your 2nd kid's napping with your bigger kid's schedule?

[Deleted]

Following.

Poor H still has to take naps on the go most the time. I try to get one good nap at home a day and then he takes 2-3 more when we are out. I honestly don't know how to change it until he goes down to one nap because I'd be stuck at home all day.

[rileym2010]

For now Evan's schedule is roughly the same. I wake Claire up in the morning so that she will be tired around 9:30-10 (we drop off Evan at 9). I then wake her up if she isn't already awake at 11:40 to go pick him up. She is tired again 3 hrs later so usually takes her second nap from 3-4:30, then goes to bed around 8:30.

On days that she no longer takes a morning nap, I keep her up until we get back from getting Evan and she naps from about 12:30-3:30.

[charmediamsure]

I didn't schedule anything, it's like Juliet adapted to us. She naps at 9am until about 11 while Jack is playing. She wakes up and I make everyone lunch. And then when Jack goes up for his nap at 12:30 she has another nap from 12:45ish-3:30/4.

[imimahoney]

I'm a crazy nap scheduler. When she was younger she would take 3 naps they would be like E's, every 90 minutes or so. If needed I would stretch it to 2 hours and she would adapt.

From 3.5 months on she napped at 9, 12:30/1 and 4. That last nap didn't always happen but I'd try to talk to walk and wear her if possible.



We cut out that 3rd nap around 5 months when it would just stress me out. She had always gone to be by 7 so it's fine.

Now she naps at 9:45 until 11:15 or so and then again at 2:30 until 4ish.

On daycare days she only naps from 12:30 to 3.

[Deleted]

So if you do set nap times how do you ever leave the house? Ada's prime time to do things is 9-12 which seems to be when most babies want to take their first nap. In the winter it's not as bad but come summer we are gone almost every day swimming or the park at that time.

[charmediamsure]

Feb 6, 2016 10:15:19 GMT -5 @lindy said:

So if you do set nap times how do you ever leave the house? Ada's prime time to do things is 9-12 which seems to be when most babies want to take their first nap. In the winter it's not as bad but come summer we are gone almost every day swimming or the park at that time.

I wear her. She's so used to this schedule that she's ready for a nap at that time.

[Deleted]

Feb 6, 2016 10:19:43 GMT -5 charmediamsure said:

Feb 6, 2016 10:15:19 GMT -5 @lindy said:

So if you do set nap times how do you ever leave the house? Ada's prime time to do things is 9-12 which seems to be when most babies want to take their first nap. In the winter it's not as bad but come summer we are gone almost every day swimming or the park at that time.

I wear her. She's so used to this schedule that she's ready for a nap at that time.

Ahh ok. I can do that! I was imagining set crib naps, and I was like I could never leave.

[devonpow]

It sucks.

Sorry, no better way of saying it. I woke up E from naps aaaaaallllllll the time for school pick up. I also rocked him to sleep for naps for WAY longer than i ever should have because he HAD to fall asleep by certain points so he could get a decent nap in before pick ups etc. I ended up using a part time nanny (2 days a week) and had her schedule work so that he could nap those two days, but the other 3 school days I just had to wake him and he had a crappy schedule.

The good news is that I was so excited for him to go to 1 nap, and thrilled when he stopped napping! Lol. I never thought I would be happy to have a non napping child but it is SO much easier with the 2nd kid.

[charmediamsure]

Feb 6, 2016 10:21:13 GMT -5 @lindy said:

Feb 6, 2016 10:19:43 GMT -5 charmediamsure said:

I wear her. She's so used to this schedule that she's ready for a nap at that time.

Ahh ok. I can do that! I was imagining set crib naps, and I was like I could never leave.

OMG no! Mornings are when I take them to an indoor playground/the mall/grocery shopping. I'd never be able to leave the house without the mei tai.

[devonpow]

Oh and my issue is that neither if my kids ever slept in strollers/slings/cars after 5 months or so. So school pick up was at 2:30, I'd have to wake him by 2, and then with after school activities etc he couldn't sleep again until bedtime.

[rjamz]

Feb 6, 2016 10:22:30 GMT -5 devonpow said:

It sucks.

Sorry, no better way of saying it. I woke up E from naps aaaaaallllllll the time for school pick up. I also rocked him to sleep for naps for WAY longer than i ever should have because he HAD to fall asleep by certain points so he could get a decent nap in before pick ups etc. I ended up using a part time nanny (2 days a week) and had her schedule work so that he could nap those two days, but the other 3 school days I just had to wake him and he had a crappy schedule.

The good news is that I was so excited for him to go to 1 nap, and thrilled when he stopped napping! Lol. I never thought I would be happy to have a non napping child but it is SO much easier with the 2nd kid.

I have legit considered hiring a nanny just so I can do school pick up!

I guess I may also just have to get used to the idea of her napping on the go. We have a stroller with a bassinet, so I can always put her down in that and then just stick it on the stroller? Though of course that doesn't work when it's 10 degrees and I don't want to walk a mile to school. I would save on gas, though, lol.

Also, thank you all for not telling me I'm insane.

[imimahoney]

Feb 6, 2016 10:15:19 GMT -5 @lindy said:

So if you do set nap times how do you ever leave the house? Ada's prime time to do things is 9-12 which seems to be when most babies want to take their first nap. In the winter it's not as bad but come summer we are gone almost every day swimming or the park at that time.

I would wear C in the ergo. She would nap on me as Ari played. It was easy since she was 3 to 5 months old.

[Deleted]

She usually took a shorter morning nap on the go school days then they napped together at 1

[Deleted]

Oh and this summer without preschool I'm going to try to get him to take a morning nap on the go and come home in the afternoon and get a long crib nap at 1. So yeah, not are if it will happen but I'm hoping it will!

[Deleted]

We have s great schedule going now but R is much older (18m)

He wakes around 730
I drop D at 930
He naps 10-11ish (sometimes 1130)
I pick up D at 230
He naps 3-4ish


I'm actually also stressing about when he switches to one nap because I think having him up from 215 to bedtime will be hard.. We do one nap sometimes though and he does ok. But if we do one nap too many days in a row he ends up way overtired.

I think I might switch her to afternoon (also shorter hours) preschool next session.


Ok not about me! Haha


Soon E wil be able to stay up until that later Afternoon time. But I know it's sad and stressful now

I've seen a 2-3-4 schedule recommended for 2 naps a day which means the first awake period is 2 hours, then 3 hours between nap, then 4 hours before bed.
It doesn't work exactly for us but close

[Deleted]

Feb 6, 2016 10:25:29 GMT -5 rjamz said:

Feb 6, 2016 10:22:30 GMT -5 devonpow said:

It sucks.

Sorry, no better way of saying it. I woke up E from naps aaaaaallllllll the time for school pick up. I also rocked him to sleep for naps for WAY longer than i ever should have because he HAD to fall asleep by certain points so he could get a decent nap in before pick ups etc. I ended up using a part time nanny (2 days a week) and had her schedule work so that he could nap those two days, but the other 3 school days I just had to wake him and he had a crappy schedule.

The good news is that I was so excited for him to go to 1 nap, and thrilled when he stopped napping! Lol. I never thought I would be happy to have a non napping child but it is SO much easier with the 2nd kid.

I have legit considered hiring a nanny just so I can do school pick up!

I guess I may also just have to get used to the idea of her napping on the go. We have a stroller with a bassinet, so I can always put her down in that and then just stick it on the stroller? Though of course that doesn't work when it's 10 degrees and I don't want to walk a mile to school. I would save on gas, though, lol.

Also, thank you all for not telling me I'm insane.

me too. Actually I asked a family friend if she could come over for half an hour while I pick up. She couldn't though

[Deleted]

Feb 6, 2016 10:09:01 GMT -5 imimahoney said:

I'm a crazy nap scheduler. When she was younger she would take 3 naps they would be like E's, every 90 minutes or so. If needed I would stretch it to 2 hours and she would adapt.

From 3.5 months on she napped at 9, 12:30/1 and 4. That last nap didn't always happen but I'd try to talk to walk and wear her if possible.



We cut out that 3rd nap around 5 months when it would just stress me out. She had always gone to be by 7 so it's fine.

Now she naps at 9:45 until 11:15 or so and then again at 2:30 until 4ish.

On daycare days she only naps from 12:30 to 3.

this is almost like us

[jsillyfun]

Clara generally naps around 10 am and often that's on the go in the stroller or car. If she wakes up she wakes up. Second nap around 12:30 usually in the car when I drop off may. Again in the evening around 4 usually nursing on my lap while may watches tv. It's not ideal but I have no better ideas.

[jsillyfun]

Of course my kids only take like 30 min naps so that makes it "easier"

[rjamz]

It also doesn't help that of course I read the sleep books and sleep blogs that I relied on with Jamie and they're all like NAPS ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS EVER. DO NOT MESS WITH NAPS.

[dojo]

I think you just need a week or two at reduced naps to figure out what will work for you. Some days c has to stay up longer than I'd like, some days his nap is truncated. We have no choice but to roll with it. Some days are better than others but overall we have fallen into our own rhythm that works.

[lauranicole91]

We didn't start structured naps until 6 months.
At that point-current this was/is our schedule
Wake at 7:30
11am 1 hour nap
1:30 2 hour nap
5pm 30mins-1hr
Sometimes he adds in a 30min nap at 9am, but not so much lately
Also he's starting to take a longer afternoon nap and not need his evening nap.

If we have plans for the day, we just plan to leave the house during nap time assuming he will fall asleep in the car and we plop him in the stroller/cart at the store. Or if he's awake when we arrive at the store we put him in the ergo and he's out.
As much as I love nap time, if we tried to stay home for naps everyday, we'd never get anything done. Haha.

[AndyCohen]

I wouldn't worry if a day or two are off schedule. Here's what we do.

She's up between 6:30 and 7:30 (this used to be 8:00 so I don't know if this is my new reality or a developmental thing).

Most days she goes down at 9:00 or 9:30 depending on when she woke up.

Then she will sometimes wake up at 11:30, but I always wake her up by 12:00.

She goes back down around 1:30 or 2:00 depending how tired she is and sleeps until 4:00 or 4:30.

Then she's awake until bed time at 8:30.

There were a couple months where she had a third quick 30-45min nap around 5:30 to get her through the evening, but I had stopped that by 6 months

Now Audrey has swim at 3:30 on Mondays so on Mondays I'm going to wake her up at 11:30, put both M and A down right at 1:00 and wake at 3:00 to run out the door. Last week I put her back down for 45min when we got home and it was great.

Non-school or help days, I try to put her down right at 9:00, and then wake her at 11:00 and do a museum with both of them then eat out at a restaurant for lunch and then nap when we get home which is usually around 2:00 and she does fine. Being with her sister in a different location helps her stay up longer.

Basically, I recommend having a schedule that you'll tweak on certain days to fit Jamie's schedule. She'll be able to stay up longer soon.

My biggest problem now is figuring out how to fit in lunch for Margot since she can't really eat on the go.