How to deal with no nap day for special occasion - 18mo?

[clairebear79]

Hi all.

We have our Nephew's Christening to go to on Sunday & its at 1pm - smack bang in the middle of DS's usual 2hr nap.  We will have to leave the house at 12.30pm ish.  There's a meal straight after the ceremony so its my guess we won't be home until 4pm (ish).

He's never missed his nap before & its always at home in his cot in the dark.  He WILL NOT sleep in the pushchair.  He's Touchy & doesn't handle OT well at all & needless to say I'm feeling pretty worried about it.    I'm going to try & put him down for a nap at 11/11.30am & hope & pray that he settles but this will obviously depend on what time he gets up in the morning.  I suspect if we get a 7am WU an 11/11.30am nap will be unlikely.   

What can I do in this situation if he doesn't nap before we go?  Its only a 15min car journey away so not really long enough for him to have a snooze on the way there.  Do I just shoot for an EBT & if so, what time?

BTW he's 18 months & his usual routine is WU: 7, nap 12.30-2.30 & BT: 7.30.

TIA.x

[*Ali*]

Can you leave early and take a scenic route so he could get a cn in the car on the way?
I had a similar situation with a wedding back in June when DS1 was 18mo and my plan had been to let him sleep late in the morning. As it was he was woken early that morning at 6am and then went down beautifully for his nap at 11.30 (in the pushchair) and slept only 45mins but it got him through the day.
Could you wake him early so he will want to nap early? Risky though in case he doesn't I guess. I would definitely do an EBT around 6pm if he skips the nap or even if he short naps early in the day. I couldn't do an earlier BT as he would think it was a nap and wake a couple hours later.

[We Three]

I was going to say the same...put him in the car and try for a 45 minute/one hour nap on the way. THere must be some nice neighborhoods you've been wanting to drive through, no?     Dh and I did this a time or two when dd was younger...but then driving around and checking out houses is a passion of ours!