Help! Nap schedules!

[Momof4]

I have done that in the past too Luda, since we always go out at 9:30am for our morning outing it is perfect if I have a child who naps while we walk to the park or the library, then stays awake the rest of the morning.

My worst nightmare is that the child falls asleep at 11:30ish on our way home just before lunchtime and naptime, aaargh! I get the other children to check on and talk to that little one to keep her awake. We have one right now who does that and she's 17 months old. But distracting her with a leaf or rock or squirrel watching works well as we walk home.

[playfelt]

Combining the walk and the nap sounds like a good idea. Over time the child will only sleep if they really need to. Then when you get back from the walk it is snack and activities and you can keep the child busy. When I have a child like this too I will move lunch up earlier so they can go down from 12-2:30 if necessary and then older ones do an activity after lunch and before their nap - the good thing is it usually means the youngest is out of the way. Then rest go down for their nap. Sometimes it means baby is up sooner but it also means getting them changed and just putting them in their chair with snack like cheerios while I get snack for everyone else ready assuming child won't just stay in bed once they wake and some will.

[Cocoon]

What I do here is 9am I pit them down for a morning nap and wake them up very latest 10:30am. They would normally wake up at 10am though. And we go out etc. Again for afternoon nap I put them down between 1-1:30pm and they sleep until 3- 3:30pm then diaper change, snack time etc. And they are ready to go home at 4:30-5pm.

I personally would not cut their sleep but play with the timing as they are very young and for their growth they need to sleep.

If you can take them out in the morning after their morning nap they will be tired again for their afternoon nap.

Hope it helps.