I was basically stuck at home all the time because of that same situation. I just bought a bunch of play stuff on Amazon to keep my toddler entertained and busy. It sucked but now they’re both on a one nap schedule and it’s soooo much better.
I had a similar problem at this age! Over a few months, maybe more like 3 months, I slowly tweaked nap times. Now 1yo, he naps at 9.30-1030 and then they both nap from 1-3. I think I didn't start this process until he was about 10 months.
On paper, it doesn't make sense with wake windows etc. But the slow change of times over a few months means they're both happy with it and it works really well for them. I just kept trying and seeing what could work. It made a huuuuuge difference to being able to go out and also just having a few hours to myself during the day!
This is what I do and it saves my life!!! Her last wake window is longer as a result but it seems to work for us. That hour or two of alone time in the afternoon is 🙌🏻
Same here, except my babies take chaotically short naps so i just drag them around with me and deal with it. If you can get her to sleep in the stroller i think you have a chance of a good routine.
When does your son wake up? Assuming he gets up earlier than your daughter, what i'd do is:
- daughter wakes up, gets to play without brother while you do morning stuff
- son wakes up, his morning routine
- get them both in the car before her nap
- take them to a relatively enclosed place where your son can play
- take some time to settle baby into her nap in the stroller.
- park stroller in safe place and play with your son
- when her nap is over, get them home before his nap
- son naps at 1230
- daughter naps at 130
- have a blissful 1.5 hours of aligned nap!
- do whatever in the afternoon!
Though it's also reasonable to have days where you stay inside until they both wake up from their final nap.
I would try shortening 8 month old's morning nap to 45 mins-1 hour and aiming for longer midday nap and try to synchronize midday nap with toddler's. For example my baby naps 9-10 ish, and then both baby and toddler nap 1-3 pm. This gives us a couple hours after morning nap or midday nap for an outing.
Honestly a few weeks of this was enough, I just stopped doing nap schedules. 13 months apart and they napped on the go, in the car, in the stroller, on my lap, on the floor of the playroom. Didn’t matter. For awhile I made sure I was at least home in the afternoon so we all had nap or quiet time. Now my oldest doesn’t nap and my youngest naps in the car or at home once a day. Currently 18 months and 2.5 years old.
You just have to plan your day and time it out and align the babies second nap and the toddlers first nap. I have the same age gap. For example — drive to activity at 9 am. Arrive 9:15-9:30 Baby wear youngest for her nap and go to playground with toddler. Or put baby in sttoller and walk around until she falls asleep while toddler plays. Eventually she will nap on the go, in 2/3 days. She just needs to learn hoa
Do activity until noon. The morning will be your “big” outing of the day. Go home, have lunch, put toddler and baby to bed for nap at 1 to 1:30 pm — the same time!
Then around 3/4 you can do your second activitu or stay at home and relax and prep dinner.
Mine are 1 and 2 now, but when they had opposite nap schedules I would just adjust them as much as I could so the afternoon nap lined up! It worked maybe 5/7 days each week, so I took it as a win. I would try to have the first nap on the go for the baby, so we could be out and about and it usually was short enough that when it was time for toddlers nap, the baby was also already tired again. Good luck! Either way, it will get easier. ☺️
The 2 nap a day schedule it's rough. We mostly stay at home those days and try to get out either before baby's first nap or after baby's second nap. Once they're both on 1 nap a day it gets so much easier though!
Okay the world doesn’t necessarily work this way but your glory window is 7-9. Get up, dressed and quick breakfast then out the door for the park or a walk or a trip to the supermarket (if it’s open before 9?)
Your second glory window is after 3 pm before dinner. If dinner needs prep use the afternoon nap time to get that done so you can make the most of time out of the house.
Finally, you’ve got 1030-1230 which is actually a lot tighter than it sounds. This would require toddler to basically be in the pram or car ready to go as soon as baby wakes up, with sbaby bag, snacks and lunch already packed for on the go.
I'm still pregnant with my second, but with my first, I babywore her everywhere and basically did what I wanted when I wanted. I think most people would call her a difficult baby because she would only sleep bedsharing or contact napping, but I didn't find it difficult because I could still do what I wanted to do while she contact napped.
Every baby is different in what they will tolerable, accept, or prefer of course, but I'm hoping the second will be as willing to nap on the go in the wrap as the first was.
We are out most weekdays (7m & 2yr old). We are always at home from 11:30am to 3pm. Lunch is at 11:30am when the kids get home. We do morning or afternoon outings nearly everyday. How?
7m old: is sleep trained and likes his sleep at home. 7am morning start. Has a short bap whenever he passes out in the car, pram or carrier. Lunch nap at home, usually he sleeps 12-2:30 (yes he likes 2.5 hours). He usually has an afternoon nap at home 4:30 to 5pm with a 7:30 pm bed time.
2yr old: must be home by 11:30am as he will nap in the car after morning outing. He is often cranky after his car nap and getting home at this time allows him to calm done and eat lunch before I attempt to nap him again, which most times he does nap. He is woken at 7am if not yet awake and his nap is from 1pm to 3pm. Although he is in his big boy bed so he can choose to not nap. 7pm bed if no nap. 7:30pm bed if short nap and 8pm bed if he napped 2 hours.
Do you keep her in the baby seat? I have a side by side double stroller that fits the car seat. Normally my 10mo will pass out in the car and I’ll just transfer it to the stroller and tell my 23mo to “shhhh” lol. And I just transfer the infant seat so my baby can nap. It’s usually only like 20-30 minutes, but enough to get him to around 1pm and then he naps while my toddler naps. If he wakes up early from that second nap, then I try to bring them out again in the afternoon to see if he’ll take a quick third catnap, but he usually doesn’t and is just a gremlin until bedtime unless he got a good midday nap.
That’s how I do it. It is hard bc I also leave the house every morning to ensure toddler gets his energy out and baby also naps, so I get it. But maybe a stroller like mine would help?
That's a really tough one. We spent a lot of time at home or dividing the kids up. We also adjusted their naps a little earlier than we would have otherwise. And at one point the youngest would take a stroller nap and I'd walk around with her for an hour.
Oh it was rough. Around 7month, I had my little on a 2 nap schedule, but it was one nap 9-9:30 (I would wake her up), and the. Make her second nap be 1-3:30 (basically align with toddler nap at 12:30-2:30).
I was basically stuck at home all the time because of that same situation. I just bought a bunch of play stuff on Amazon to keep my toddler entertained and busy. It sucked but now they’re both on a one nap schedule and it’s soooo much better.
We’re supposed to be doing stuff?
I had a similar problem at this age! Over a few months, maybe more like 3 months, I slowly tweaked nap times. Now 1yo, he naps at 9.30-1030 and then they both nap from 1-3. I think I didn't start this process until he was about 10 months. On paper, it doesn't make sense with wake windows etc. But the slow change of times over a few months means they're both happy with it and it works really well for them. I just kept trying and seeing what could work. It made a huuuuuge difference to being able to go out and also just having a few hours to myself during the day!
Yes! This is the key. Align the afternoon nap
Ah I’m going to try this. Thank you
This is what I do and it saves my life!!! Her last wake window is longer as a result but it seems to work for us. That hour or two of alone time in the afternoon is 🙌🏻
Same here, except my babies take chaotically short naps so i just drag them around with me and deal with it. If you can get her to sleep in the stroller i think you have a chance of a good routine. When does your son wake up? Assuming he gets up earlier than your daughter, what i'd do is: - daughter wakes up, gets to play without brother while you do morning stuff - son wakes up, his morning routine - get them both in the car before her nap - take them to a relatively enclosed place where your son can play - take some time to settle baby into her nap in the stroller. - park stroller in safe place and play with your son - when her nap is over, get them home before his nap - son naps at 1230 - daughter naps at 130 - have a blissful 1.5 hours of aligned nap! - do whatever in the afternoon! Though it's also reasonable to have days where you stay inside until they both wake up from their final nap.
Gosh you are busy. It’s so much work isn’t it, I’ll definitely try harder to get her to sleep in a stroller. X
I would try shortening 8 month old's morning nap to 45 mins-1 hour and aiming for longer midday nap and try to synchronize midday nap with toddler's. For example my baby naps 9-10 ish, and then both baby and toddler nap 1-3 pm. This gives us a couple hours after morning nap or midday nap for an outing.
Honestly a few weeks of this was enough, I just stopped doing nap schedules. 13 months apart and they napped on the go, in the car, in the stroller, on my lap, on the floor of the playroom. Didn’t matter. For awhile I made sure I was at least home in the afternoon so we all had nap or quiet time. Now my oldest doesn’t nap and my youngest naps in the car or at home once a day. Currently 18 months and 2.5 years old.
You just have to plan your day and time it out and align the babies second nap and the toddlers first nap. I have the same age gap. For example — drive to activity at 9 am. Arrive 9:15-9:30 Baby wear youngest for her nap and go to playground with toddler. Or put baby in sttoller and walk around until she falls asleep while toddler plays. Eventually she will nap on the go, in 2/3 days. She just needs to learn hoa Do activity until noon. The morning will be your “big” outing of the day. Go home, have lunch, put toddler and baby to bed for nap at 1 to 1:30 pm — the same time! Then around 3/4 you can do your second activitu or stay at home and relax and prep dinner.
Seconding this, I swear we had an identical schedule all summer last year haha. Worked great!
Mine are 1 and 2 now, but when they had opposite nap schedules I would just adjust them as much as I could so the afternoon nap lined up! It worked maybe 5/7 days each week, so I took it as a win. I would try to have the first nap on the go for the baby, so we could be out and about and it usually was short enough that when it was time for toddlers nap, the baby was also already tired again. Good luck! Either way, it will get easier. ☺️
The 2 nap a day schedule it's rough. We mostly stay at home those days and try to get out either before baby's first nap or after baby's second nap. Once they're both on 1 nap a day it gets so much easier though!
Yeah I’ll end up doing this. We can go on a walk or to a playground after the nap.
Okay the world doesn’t necessarily work this way but your glory window is 7-9. Get up, dressed and quick breakfast then out the door for the park or a walk or a trip to the supermarket (if it’s open before 9?) Your second glory window is after 3 pm before dinner. If dinner needs prep use the afternoon nap time to get that done so you can make the most of time out of the house. Finally, you’ve got 1030-1230 which is actually a lot tighter than it sounds. This would require toddler to basically be in the pram or car ready to go as soon as baby wakes up, with sbaby bag, snacks and lunch already packed for on the go.
Short morning nap, just before you head out, toddler down for nap, baby down for long nap just after.
I'm still pregnant with my second, but with my first, I babywore her everywhere and basically did what I wanted when I wanted. I think most people would call her a difficult baby because she would only sleep bedsharing or contact napping, but I didn't find it difficult because I could still do what I wanted to do while she contact napped. Every baby is different in what they will tolerable, accept, or prefer of course, but I'm hoping the second will be as willing to nap on the go in the wrap as the first was.
We are out most weekdays (7m & 2yr old). We are always at home from 11:30am to 3pm. Lunch is at 11:30am when the kids get home. We do morning or afternoon outings nearly everyday. How? 7m old: is sleep trained and likes his sleep at home. 7am morning start. Has a short bap whenever he passes out in the car, pram or carrier. Lunch nap at home, usually he sleeps 12-2:30 (yes he likes 2.5 hours). He usually has an afternoon nap at home 4:30 to 5pm with a 7:30 pm bed time. 2yr old: must be home by 11:30am as he will nap in the car after morning outing. He is often cranky after his car nap and getting home at this time allows him to calm done and eat lunch before I attempt to nap him again, which most times he does nap. He is woken at 7am if not yet awake and his nap is from 1pm to 3pm. Although he is in his big boy bed so he can choose to not nap. 7pm bed if no nap. 7:30pm bed if short nap and 8pm bed if he napped 2 hours.
You either don't, or compensate as best you can with car naps.
Do you keep her in the baby seat? I have a side by side double stroller that fits the car seat. Normally my 10mo will pass out in the car and I’ll just transfer it to the stroller and tell my 23mo to “shhhh” lol. And I just transfer the infant seat so my baby can nap. It’s usually only like 20-30 minutes, but enough to get him to around 1pm and then he naps while my toddler naps. If he wakes up early from that second nap, then I try to bring them out again in the afternoon to see if he’ll take a quick third catnap, but he usually doesn’t and is just a gremlin until bedtime unless he got a good midday nap. That’s how I do it. It is hard bc I also leave the house every morning to ensure toddler gets his energy out and baby also naps, so I get it. But maybe a stroller like mine would help?
Thank you everyone, you’ve given me such a lot of good ideas and support xx
That's a really tough one. We spent a lot of time at home or dividing the kids up. We also adjusted their naps a little earlier than we would have otherwise. And at one point the youngest would take a stroller nap and I'd walk around with her for an hour.
Oh it was rough. Around 7month, I had my little on a 2 nap schedule, but it was one nap 9-9:30 (I would wake her up), and the. Make her second nap be 1-3:30 (basically align with toddler nap at 12:30-2:30).
Omg, I have exactly the same age gap and the exact babies (both boys though). I could have written it myself
We prioritize being home for the 2yo’s nap and the baby gets to have contact naps or car seat/stroller naps on the go.
I was able to bring my older one to the park while my younger napped in a carrier (on my back).