Working lo nap around preschool pickup

[~Kiki]

My 15 mo is down to 1 nap and naps lovely on Fri-Sun (around 12:30) when big sis doesn't have school. But when big sis does have school she falls asleep at some point dropping off in the am or picking up in the afternoon. Her pick time is 1pm, but it takes us 30 mins coming and going (plus it normally takes us 30 mins to get out of the school in the pm). So we end up getting home around 2. Any suggestions? Should I try to get her to nap earlier? The catnap in the car sometimes holds her over for a later afternoon nap, but then she doesn't want to go to bed until really, really late. Or she is overtired and won't nap unless being held. If we do the earlier nap, should I wake her earlier?

[~Kiki]

Or should we just continue the late nap and try to prevent napping in the car? Then just suck it up and do a really late night bedtime? We are having a ton of waking at night, which could be related to many different things. We only have 2 more weeks until our house is built and we've been in an apartment temporarily. I'm just wondering at this age, is it better to do an early am or late pm nap? Then what would bedtime and morning wake ups look like?

[Vicku]

Hi Kiki,

Sorry I have no advice but will soon find myself in the same situation DD2 is still on 2 naps but is starting signs of transitioning soon. DD1 has preschool three days a week and pick-up is between 1:30 and 2pm. Was just thinking about it earlier today how I will fit the one nap around this

Hopefully you'll get some advice from others that have been there too.

/Vick

[Ryan&HollysMom]

oh, hugs, kiki!
is there any way for someone else to pick up your dd#1? like another parent that's there anyway? or grandma/grandpa?
or could you have someone be with dd#2 while she naps and you go pick up dd#1?
that is such an awful time for school to let out, holy moly! i would def. try and work around the nap that she has on the weekend, i mean, it's picture perfect right? and that is the time she'll be napping at for the next couple years, likely... if you were to move nap to earlier it would have to be extremely early to get her up again before you leave, and you prob won't be able to get her down that early much longer anyway.
when your new house is done, will you be closer to the school? or is there a schoolbus?

[NadeneR]

Hi Kiki

Same problem here. I'm fortunate to have my domestic worker / nanny here on Monday's, Wednesdays and Fridays, so I put DD down for her nap (around 12:30) and fetch DS from school between 1 & 1:30. On Tuesdays and Thursdays when the nanny isn't here, I normally leave DS at aftercare and pick him up by 3, and on the odd occasion have managed to arrange that another mom, who lives fairly close to us, brings him home. But DD's naps are non-negotiable to me, so I don't mess with those.

Any chance you could leave your older child at school longer, or get involved in a car-pool (you do morning drop-off and the othe mom fetches)? Something like that?

Good luck
Nadene

[~Kiki]

No luck with early or late pick up and we just moved to the area, so I don't really know the moms well enough in her class or at school. I think we will just keep going with the late naps and bedtime and maybe we will just get used to it? I'm not a night owl, so on e the sun goes down I start shutting down too

[ikesmummy]

I know what a nightmare it can be. My school run was proving really difficult for two nap days. Can you walk to school and have lo sleep in the pushchair, this didn't often work for my lo who likes to sleep in his cot.

[Lilah'sMommy]

I am in the same boat.  My DD2's preschool pick-up time is 1:00, and by the time we're home (if we high-tail it out of there), it's 1:15, and DD3's down by 1:30.  But she also usually wakes well before 7 am, so that is a REALLY long morning.  Pretty much we've just had to suck it up and get home as quickly as possible.  Occasionally I'll pick DD2 up a bit early so we can shave 15 minutes off, but it's a hard sell, and it's not much better, anyway.

Does she go down easily for the later afternoon nap if she cat-naps during the morning drop-off?  If she does, I'd probably keep doing this as long as you can, even with the later bed time.  If she sometimes resists it, though, then you pretty much have no choice but to keep her up.  Does she transfer from the car reasonably well?  You could let her fall asleep in the car at pick-up time, and then transfer her to bed when you get home... which has never, ever worked for me, but maybe it would for you?  Just a thought.

[~Kiki]

Oh I wish just one of our kiddos would transfer, but no luck here either. Looks like we just will have to suck it up. Do you wake your lo? Most of the time she wakes, bit I hate to let hero past 4:30, since we've had 10 pm nights with 4:30 wake ups How long are "normal" naps at this age?

[Ryan&HollysMom]

what if she falls asleep on the way back, could you park the car in the garage and leave the door open or some such thing and she naps in the car? we do this in the summer sometimes when it's not too hot, or in the winter when the car is in the garage...

[~Kiki]

Maybe we can do this once our house is built but we are a temporary apartment on the 3rd floor for a little over 2 more weeks

[Vicku]

It's so different with the second kid isn't it? With one you can shoot for perfect A-times, spend ages sleep training and sleep when the bub sleeps. Second time round... not so much

Hope you can find something that works Kiki

[~Kiki]

Not to mention have sone down or alone time I feel like with the 2nd there is extended surivial, unlike the 1st which survival was done after the newborn stage. Well then retiring for colds and other 1st time around parenting freak outs

[Lilah'sMommy]

Oh I wish just one of our kiddos would transfer, but no luck here either. Looks like we just will have to suck it up. Do you wake your lo? Most of the time she wakes, bit I hate to let hero past 4:30, since we've had 10 pm nights with 4:30 wake ups How long are "normal" naps at this age?

I don't wake her, but she usually goes down just fine between 7:30 and 8, even if she naps until 4 (has never slept until 4:30... that would be over 3 hours, which she's never done).

As for your question about how long naps are at this age, my DD1 would routinely sleep 3 hours, and occasionally more if I'd let her (didn't know how good I had it!).  With DD2, we were very lucky to get 2 hours once she went to one nap, at 18 months.  With DD3, we usually get 2 hours, sometimes 2.5, but never 3.  I think the average is anywhere from 2-3 hours around this age, and getting closer to 1.5-2.5 by age 2.

[~Kiki]

Thanks! Been trying to work on the 1 nap, but she rarely makes it without a snooze in the morning, so maybe she is just not ready for 1?