Naps whilst out & about???

[Bumble11]

Hi everyone.

I am new to BW and have been doing the e.a.s.y routine for just over a week now with my 5 month old little girl!! Today has been the best day ever!!

She has never had a problem sleeping at night and goes from 7pm -5.15am (which I am hoping may get later soon) but we fell into a bit of a trap of rocking her to sleep in the day!!!

Needless to say it became awful for her and I, so we decided to follow BW.

Now we are having good feed & nap times, today we have had 2 naps of 1 hr 35 mins each with a 30 min nap just after 4.30. She has gone up to bed at 7.30pm tonight and just happily taken herself off to sleep.....

........My question is........I now want to be able to implement this into going out! If, for example, I am round my mums, or In Laws.....How do I get her off to sleep then? Or if we are out shopping etc?

I obviously don't want to thrrow her out day after day, but I don't want to feel that I have to rush home because its her nap time.

Any advice for a newbie most welcome!!

Penn

[rimkat]

Does she nap in the stroller at all? I would normally plan my outings to coincide with the last nap of the day since its always been the shortest for us (30 mins). So if I am out shopping, or out for a walk she just sleeps in the stroller. As for going over to peoples houses - my parents have a crib for Isabel and so do my inlaws actually now. If you spend alot of time there it might be worthwhile to buy a cheap crib or moses basket to keep there. But if the place I'm going to doesn't have a crib or a place for her to sleep I do usually plan that outings so that I'm home for nap time.

The other thing I do sometimes is plan so that she falls asleep in the car either on the way there or home. However, this doesn't work so well for me because my trips are rarely long and she usually wakes up as soon as I open the car door

[amayzie]

I find it best to stay home in the morning (my LOs longest, most reliable nap) and then go out after that. I feel that once he's had a good solid morning sleep then if he has 1 or 2 shorter ones then that's fine. Also- I plan to stay home the day after i've been out (this doesn't always work- but when you can plan it it's a good idea!) Then if you've had a day where sleeping and eating are mucked up then the next day or 2 are like catch up days! Mo my LO is on 3 hours up time so e can do a little more and still get back for a nap. Other days are a total write off- and you can't plan THE WHOLE WORLD to suit your Lo and her naps- so just ignore those days- focus on tomorrow!! Even if she isn't doing big naps yet- it's REALLY important for you to get out an about FOR YOUR ON SANITY!! Staying home looking at the housework you SHOULD be doing is enough to kill a person!!

[creations]

LOs love to go out too, it gives them some great sights and sounds to process in their dreams.  I sometimes think they can get a bit bored at home and not sleep so well without a trip out.

I do as amayzle does.  Stay home in the mornings, get our best nap, then get out in the afternoon (almost every afternoon). I time trips so he can have a nap on the way there and a nap on the way back. Almost always working with reduced A times in the afternoon due to a shorter nap and/or lots of stimulation.  At one point DS did a 4 or 4.5hr first A time in the morning but only a 1.5hr A in the afternoon.  Learning to take into account how much they have slept and how much stimulation they've had does help to keep on top of the sleep requirement, but you can still get stuck at times and need a catch up day or two.