How do I go shopping?

[Mama_Mia]

I am so scared to leave the house as it takes an hour travel time to go shopping. So if I leave as soon as DGS wakes from a nap and his A time is 2 hours I will get to the store approx. 45 minutes into his A time. Do my shopping, say 1 hour. Then another 45 minutes to get loaded up and get home. I wont get home till he has been awake 2.5 hours.  And thats just doing grocery shopping and hoping the lines are really short. How do y'all deal with it? My DGS absolutely will not sleep anywhere except his crib. And even if he did fall asleep in the car. I would have to wake him 1/2 hour after he fell asleep. Any suggestions for this stuck in the house women??

[clazzat]

Can you do your shopping online and have it delivered?  Or perhaps try and do it in the afternoon when he is due his catnap, so that if he doesn't sleep or only gets 30 minutes then it won't throw things out as much as if it wipes out one of the longer naps.

It is tough at this stage, but it gets much easier as their A times get longer, so even if you can't get it to work right now, in a month or so you will probably find that you can fit it into his A time.

[Mama_Mia]

have it delivered? I wish. We cant even get pizza delivered we live too far out of town. If we go after his afternoon nap and then he doesnt take his CN, wont I have to move his BT way up and end up with an EW?

[okinawamama]

Go anyway! You can't be held hostage to your E.A.S.Y! Life will and must go on despite a long A time, a short nap or an EW....You have years ahead of you working your day around naps, and while it does get easier when they're older, things still come up and things fall apart. It's bound to happen.

[clazzat]

You might have to move his bedtime up, but it won't automatically lead to an EW.  In theory, if you get the time exactly right, he will just add to his night sleep. 

And as Stephanie says, you can't actually put your entire life on hold because of his EASY.  It's a tool designed to make things easier and more predictable, not a hard and fast routine that means that you can't get normal day-to-day things done.  It's also worth bearing in mind that early bedtimes, EWs and missed naps are pretty much inevitable at some stage, even if your EASY is absolutely perfect!

[Mama_Mia]

Thanks for the wonderful insight and encouragement. We have such terrible days when he doesn't nap that I just cant see myself making him miss his nap on purpose. Maybe once I get him napping more regularly I wont mind so much, for now I think  I'd rather rot away in the house and make DH learn to do the shopping.lol Thanks again

[okinawamama]

P.S buy a bottle of wine, chocolate or some other special item for yourself while you're out

[Edesanja]

I'd leave after his 2nd nap and then he might fall asleep for his CN on the way home - if it's only 30mins it won't matter. I know it's a hard step to take (when you think it will wreck naps for ever after!) but you might be surprised and sometimes you just got to do what you have to do and be flexible. But if you're worried, aim for the end of the day when it's less likely to have a flow on effect to other naps.

[clazzat]

P.S buy a bottle of wine, chocolate or some other special item for yourself while you're out Smiley

Good advice!

The other thing to think about is whether you have neighbours who wouldn't mind picking up a couple of things for you when they go shopping - maybe they can't do a full shop for you, but they could keep you stocked on essentials.  And definitely get dh to learn!

[Mama_Mia]

Well I had to run to town today after his afternoon nap (to sign papers at lawyers office) and we didnt get home till it was 30 minutes after his nap time. He fussed all the way home, why cant he sleep in the car, like normal babies? lmao Anyway, as soon as we got home I rocked him for a bit since he was OT and put him down, he's been down for about 45 minutes now. So what I learned from this experience, is if I need to go shopping, make it a quick trip. I dont know that I would have got him down if it had been any later. And since I am and feel like an old grandma a screaming OT baby is not my idea of a nice day.lol I'm hoping in time he will learn to sleep in the car when he's tired

[Edesanja]

Good job NanaC! Maybe not something to do every week but I think you can call that a success and try it again!

 DS never slept in the car AT ALL after about 4 weeks old. He screamed every second of the trip! He WILL do it now though - started at about 10months which was really handy because we did short AM long PM naps and when it cut down to 20mins I could take him out in the morning sometimes and know that he could nap in the car for the 20mins. Very handy!
There is hope for a bad car sleeper! (next time you could take his lovey if he has one. Will be a good cue that you want him to sleep)

[~*Nicole*~]

I was also going to say that my DD didn't sleep in the car for ages, but will now that she is older.

Also, if you only go once a week or so OR try to go when someone else can pop in and look after your DGS then that might work. If it's only a few hours, surely someone nearby (a neighbor perhaps or even DH) can just stay at the house and put him down for his nap while you get the shopping done???

[Canwi]

Do you have DGS 24/7 or just during the day?  If it's 24/7 then my solution was to get your DH to mind DGS while you went out for some "kid-free" time to do groceries!!   But then I'm all for sharing the workload!   IF that won't work, totally get DH to do the groceries.  With a list with specifics on it most men can do it and get it all. 

[Mama_Mia]

I have DGS 24/7 He is my baby. The problem with DH watching baby while I go shopping is, DH is a lot older, he's 56. And prone to "let him cry" he'll get over it. But I think we did come up with a solution tonight. My 18 year old son said "mom, go at night after the baby goes to bed" Duh! I never thought of that. If I go at 7pm my son can keep an eye on him.

[~*Nicole*~]

What a smart son you've raised!!!!!