school run at nap time

[Liz R]

Hi,
does anyone else have to interupt naps to go on school runs? This is a problem for me as Jake goes to sleep in his cot at around 8.30, as is closing eyes under gym! But then I have to get him up to go out, and he ends up awake again, any advice ? By the way no one else can sit with him while I go,and no one else can take my kids! :?

[Kayna]

Hi, I am in the same boat. DD is 16 weeks and we struggle almost everyday trying to get her routine to fit between the school runs. It's about a 45 minute round trip for us which involves taking her out of her carseat to go get ds from his classroom. I don't have any way of car pooling or extra help to watch dd either so we just do our best. I've worked it the best by feeding her about an hour before we leave and then putting her back down for alittle longer in the mornings so I can get myself and ds breakfast and dressed. Then I wake her about 10 minutes before we leave to dress her. She has her awake time during the drive and then eats again when we get home and straight back down for a nap. I usually have to wake her again to go get ds from preschool and that sucks. :x I keep trying to think of an easier way but there just isn't and this is my life, so I trudge on. :cry: 

Sorry not much help but I share the burden. :wink:

[deb]

One thing I can sometimes get away with is going shopping after I drop Josie off at school. Natalie will often fall asleep in the car, and I can just run errand after errand. When I get home, I take out the car seat carrier (and I had a neighbor who would take out the whole CAR SEAT when her DD outgrew the carrier! :shock:) and then re-install when it's time to get Josie if Nat's still asleep.

In the mornings, though, it totally sux when she wakes up at the wrong time. Best time for her to waken is 7:15-7:30, so I can put her down for a nap when we get home and if she sleeps more than 45 minutes I have almost the whole AM to myself. Then she wakens, I nurse her, play with her for a while if we have time, and we go get Josie. When she wakes at 6, though, she'll go down for a nap at 7:30 or 8:00 and if she sleeps long I have to wake her to take J to school. At least it's only a 10-minute round trip. And when Nat doesn't sleep much during school, then she naps while Josie has Quiet Time and I get my break then. As long as I have one, I cope with the crazy sleep schedule as best I can.

Is this any help?

[Kherzy]

I am in the same situation and I wish I knew what to tell you.  I can't get my daughter to nap in the car.  If she would then I wouldn't have a problem.  At my son's preschool the teachers take the kids from the car to the classroom.  We just line up our cars and drop em off at the door one at a time.  You'd think napping should be a breeze for my daughter when all she has to do is simply sleep in her carseat, but no.  She won't sleep anywhere but her bed for more than 10 minutes (Preschool dropoff is a 45 min roundtrip).  So I try putting her to sleep in the crib and then move her to the carseat but she wakes up and screams.  I try doing the naptime routine and putting her in her carseat to fall asleep but she screams.  I try just letting her scream in the car until she falls asleep but now she just associates the carseat with screaming.   Ugh!  What's a mom to do?  My son's preschool is only on T/TH so I think that makes it worse b/c I can't get a routine going.  But at the same time it makes it better b/c then she has all the other days to recover (except Sunday b/c church throws things off again).
I've just tried to keep my daughter on EASY but haven't set a schedule for her.  We follow the same routines everyday but I let her nap for 3 hours if she wants to (she usually needs it to make up sleep)  But I never let her sleep longer than this.  Some naps are only 40 min.  It's very inconsistant but then again, so is my life so it all balances out.   We just take it one day at a time and as long as she sleeps at night, I don't care.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?
Good luck,
Kate

[deb]

One way I have found to help Nat fall asleep in her car seat is to rock it like a swing. Yes, my arms get tired, but it makes it SOOOO much easier to transfer sleeping baby straight to car instead of to car seat (where she wakes) and THEN to car.

[kellyhushhh]

I too have this problem. Hopefully when your Lo can stay awake for 1.5 hours you should be ok because if you can get her to start the day at 7.15am or even better 7.30am then you may be able to drop the kids off at school at 8.50am and get home for 9am nap.

I,m lucky as school is just five mins down the road and ds is allowed in school for 8.45am, so i get back just in time for the first morning nap.

But i still have the problem if ds wakes up at 6.45am or 7am and needs to be asleep by 8.30am, its a nightmare but what other option have we got?

I think we just got to do what we have to do and hope they dont get too tired. I always swaddle my ds so that if he does fall asleep in the car seat i can just transfer him staright into his cot when we get back.

Its a pain but it will get better for you in a few weeks when her awake time is longer. I cant wait for my ds to be able to stay awake for 2 hours.

Kelly xx

[Liz R]

thanks for the replies everyone
I get so hung up sometimes on my routine, even tho I know they are supposed to be flexible.
I fell a bit guilty for moaning now, especially as Kayna has a 45 min trip!
Liz x