It's going... uh, it's going. They're definitely crankier in the hour before the nap. I'm trying doing five hours of awake time on either side of the nap. They've been waking up with Sean's alarm at 6am regularly (grumble grumble) which means naps start at about 11am. Both days, they only slept for a little over an hour and a half so bedtime was 6:15pm!
I'm sure the kinks will knock out soon. All except one thing, the reason I've been dreading this transition for months...
Naps on Sundays.
Our church schedule is from 11am-2pm, right when I predict their nap will land once we're all adjusted. That time slot has actually been perfect up to this point, fitting snuggly between naps, but now it'll just step right on their precious sleeptime.
So here's where I need your advice. Many of you have had to deal with this or observed it in others. How do I manage this schedule conflict? Do I try to keep them happy during a 3 hour nap delay? Do I try and make them take two naps again on just Sundays? What's worked for you? I'm so so so so nervous about this and I need your help!
11:00 church is the worst for little kids! We haven't really found a happy solution. We suffer through it. We try to keep her awake til we get home at 2:30 then put her down. Sometimes she'd crash in our arms during Sunday School, which meant no nap once she got home and a super early bedtime. We just had to play it by ear each week and she how she was feeling. Once they're in nursery it's a little easier because they're distracted with food and fun and don't realize how tired they are. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI am a huge stickler about naps, especially when they are still pretty little and last year we had the same problem with Preston's naps. Often we drove two cars to church and Mike would bring him home after sacrament meeting for a nap, especially during the winter months when it seemed like Preston had colds a lot. I just couldn't let him miss it completely (and our kids will not sleep when you are holding them). Now that he is older, and in nursery (which definitely helps), I feel like he is ok missing a nap one day a week even if the evening is pretty miserable. We tried putting him down earlier and later for naps depending on the church time and it never seemed to work. He wouldn't fall asleep early and I didn't want bed time missed up when we put him down later. We will finally be back to 9am church in January and I can't wait! (we had 11am last year and 1pm this year) Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI thought it would be miserable, but it actually wasn't too bad with Jackson. Once he was mobile he never really liked to fall asleep in our arms so there was no chance we were going to get him to nap at church. As long as he was happily distracted with some toys and food, he didn't get cranky. So, we just pushed his Sunday naps back until we got home from church. Sunday is still the only day he naps that late and he does perfectly fine with it. I think it just depends on the kid and how well they adjust to a schedule change. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteWe have 11 church too--boo! Since the 1st week in January we split up church. Until he started nursery, we'd take him til about 12:30 then Mark would take him home and I'd switch him the last hour. Now we try to keep him in nursery til about 12:50ish. When I go get him he looks so tired I can't bring myself to leave him any longer!! Looking forward to 9:00AM and actually going to RS!
ReplyDeleteI know this doesn't work for most people, but it worked for us: When Caleb cut out his AM nap, we kept his afternoon nap at the same time as usual. So, he wakes up at 9:30AM, naps from 3-6PM, and goes to bed at 9 or 9:30PM. Yes, he's awake for three hours before going to bed. But he still sleeps for 12 hours every night, and while he naps I can make dinner, and Nate gets to spend 3 hours with him every evening, so I have no desire to change it. So, I guess what I'm saying, is that maybe they'll still be fine going to bed at their usual time even if they nap later. It's worth a try. It might not work, but you might have a hard time finding ANYTHING that will work on Sundays. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI have always had a really hard time getting Leila to take two naps since she has switched to one. We've had church at weird times for a long time, and we've just suffered through. She usually just takes a later nap (after church) and then sometimes we wake her so she won't have to be up so late. Essentially Sunday is just a different schedule from every other day.
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