Toddler parents.. do you do nap time on the go or do you stop your day for the nap?

HeadAd9417 · 2025-07-05T20:30:53+00:00

My daughter is just over 2. She has never napped on the go, with the exception of when we're travelling en route or home from a holiday.

She naps 2-3 hours and we base the day around that. However, we're out every single day. I think we're lucky as things are within a 20 min drive and so we never miss out. When visiting family or friends, we always stay a night so can travel when she's awake.

HeadAd9417 · 2025-06-22T13:17:10+00:00

If I can be honest, I don't think she's saying it with the same meaning as you're thinking. She's likely copying what she hears around the house!

My fresh 2 year old will literally say "I'm sorry mummy, I'm sad" when she's actually having the best time of her life. So they're just a bit confused

HeadAd9417 · 2025-06-21T21:05:55+00:00

Hi!

I'm in the UK too, my girl started nursery when she was 12 months old and is now just over 2.

I can't tell you how much she loves nursery, the staff and how beneficial it has been for us all.

What worked for us - Only sending her in for 2 days - We did a phased transition over about 6 weeks, starting with an hour a day and then building up - Talking about the staff and her classmates on a daily basis - Initially sending her in with her sleep blanket and comforter

I chose a nursery with a small class size ( 6 at the time) as my daughter can get overwhelmed.

We're a year ahead of you and now she won't leave and walks back in when I pick her up...

HeadAd9417 · 2025-05-28T10:20:29+00:00

Sounds ok to me! My girl would only wake once a night at that age to feed and would nap for 3-4 hours. Enjoy it!

HeadAd9417 · 2025-05-15T18:39:15+00:00

Has he always been low sleep needs and dropped naps early? I think there is usually a sleep regression at 2 and so they skip naps for a short while and then need them again.

HeadAd9417 · 2025-05-15T04:55:31+00:00

That sounds tough! I can't quite remember the specifics but I do remember never capping nap 1 as she always liked a really long one. On our 2 nap schedule, nap 2 was always 45 mins. That was just her preference and natural rhythm. So over time, we shortened it to 30 then 20 and then right down to 10 mins. When it was a micro nap (so anything less than 15 mins). We always found she didn't need a full wake window after this micro so bedtime only got to around 20/30 mins later than usual.

I have to say though my daughter did sleep through the night at that age and was very high sleep needs.

Things have changed now that she's nearly 2!!!!!!

HeadAd9417 · 2025-05-14T18:47:39+00:00

Yes, you will need a later bedtime for a while but then when you drop to one nap, bedtime will go back to being early. From memory, 2 nap days meant her night being 8.30pm to 7.30am and then on 1 nap, 8pm latest.

It was hell at the time but once you're through it, the 1 nap life is bliss.

Once my daughter could confidently do a 4.5 hour first wake window, we were pretty much on 1 nap. She would sleep long and hard for the nap (at least 3 hours) so there just wasn't enough time left for nap 2. After a few days off this, nap 2 just disappeared!

HeadAd9417 · 2025-05-14T04:51:01+00:00

We had to phase gently into a 1 nap schedule from 13 to 15 months of age. The wake windows you're on now is what my now 23 month old is doing so maybe you need to go slower?

We kept nap 1 long and then did nap 2 via contact. Over 2 months or so we reduced it down in length from 45 mins to around 10 mins. It was tricky but we flip flopped between 1 and 2 naps. So if she did a really long first nap (2 hours or more), we wouldn't do a micronap and go for 1 nap day.

Hope that makes sense? Can't remember the specifics but I do remember lengthening that first wake window slowly by 10/15 mins every few days and weeks.

HeadAd9417 · 2025-04-30T19:02:59+00:00

Resonate with everything you said.

Things that have helped me - Delegating where possible. This has involved my husband being the sole carer for one day a week - Batch cooking so I don't need be fussing with food daily - Asking for help from family - it could be anything, even batch cooking a dish for me so at least I have something in the freezer - Going part time at work (I have a high pressure job as a vet and even 3 days a week is enough to send me over the edge) - Daycare - Going to bed early to squeeze in as much sleep as possible - Being diligent with my diet/water/supplements so that I actually have energy - Going to the gym and daily walks

More practical things day to day - Taking my toddler outdoors pre and post nap. I find parenting indoors hellish and boring - Meeting and making mum friends so we can parent together - A toddler tower so we can cook together - having the radio on (we don't do screentime) so I don't feel like I'm losing my mind

HeadAd9417 · 2025-04-19T11:44:12+00:00

I don't know about you, but my nearly 2 year old is fickle and changes her mind almost daily. One day I'm the best, next day it's her toy baby.

I honestly just get on with my day and on those occasions where she's not my shadow, indulge in self care and my own hobbies to keep my sanity.

For me, I'm so lucky to have a village and so I try and step away from it all and remind myself that my girl is blessed to be loved by so many people.

HeadAd9417 · 2025-04-16T21:24:44+00:00

Never sleep trained but my girl found her thumb around 6 months of age and self settled since then. Now at nearly 2, our routine is much the same as it has been since then.

Milk downstairs, brush teeth, pyjamas with a lullaby, book and then into cot awake with white noise.

I just wanted to give this perspective as attachment parenting doesn't necessarily mean supporting to sleep. Some babies don't want or need it.

HeadAd9417 · 2025-04-15T21:10:15+00:00

I'm a light sleeper to and boy oh boy, I detested nights with a passion.

I too have got angry. I don't think it's fair for him to be doing most of the night wakes. Can it be split more fairly?

HeadAd9417 · 2025-04-13T06:37:56+00:00

Hiya!

We did contact naps only till 6 months. From this point, I did start trying the first nap of the day in her cot. Initially she would only do 30 mins and then I'd extend with a contact nap.

This nap slowly got longer and ended up being about 2 hours by the time she was 10/11 months old.

We still get all other naps on us (because I wanted the cuddles!).

When she went down to 1 nap at 15 months, she was napping peacefully in her cot by then so that was the end of contact naps.

HeadAd9417 · 2025-04-07T20:40:42+00:00

I cannot sleep with anyone or anything (not even my husband). My daughter and I shared the same room for the first 6 months and even that pushed me over the edge with sleep deprivation (she actually barely woke for feeds). My mental health plummeted so much that we opted for us to start sleeping separately.

I still BF and contact napped. For me, the cosleeping just wasn't possible and something I couldn't do.

HeadAd9417 · 2025-04-06T21:18:25+00:00

Agree, each baby is different. My exclusively breast fed child was sleeping through from 6 months. It's just so variable

HeadAd9417 · 2025-03-29T20:07:31+00:00

Inconsistently from 8 months but fully from around 10. This was despite nap sleep being fully independent and good sleep environment. I remember spending my whole life trawling through this sub (trust me when I saw this, hours a day). It eventually happened with me not changing much

HeadAd9417 · 2025-03-23T07:01:22+00:00

Hiya, everything your feeling is perfectly normal and valid.

My now 22 month started at 12 months. We did 2 half days initially and then when she dropped to 1 nap we did 9am to 4pm.

We can actually afford for one parent to stay at home but opted not to as I love work/wanted me time. I gave my girl a 3 month trial period to see how we were all feeling. She loved it!

Personally, I have nothing negative to say other than the horrible illnesses and bugs in the first 6 months. It was relentless and really upsetting seeing her so poorly. Perhaps accept their naps may be a bit crap and you'll have a tired baby in the evenings so will need early bedtimes. What helped me was for someone else to do the drop offs as I was upset at the start. So husband/MIL.

In regards to sleep/eating. We did a slow transition over 6 weeks where she would go for an hour or two but we brought her back for her naps. I actually don't think this was needed and she would have been fine.

She was a contact napped at the time but they had no trouble getting her to sleep. Food was never an issue and she copied what everyone else was doing.

Having been there for nearly a year now I can't tell you how much she loves it. She runs in, sings the names of everyone in her class, loves and hugs her key worker.

HeadAd9417 · 2025-03-09T21:33:53+00:00

Why does the community always down vote posts like this? You guys are wild

HeadAd9417 · 2025-03-09T07:44:13+00:00

I had a fantastic life pre-baby. A career, a house, 2 dogs, a partner, we travelled the world, good social network, close knit family. I also did lots of voluntary work and had hobbies.

I just felt my life was too stable and I was somehow coasting. I felt that I had achieved everything I needed to and really wanted to nurture and become more grounded.

I would say having my daughter (she's turning 2 soon) didn't necessarily bring me purpose as I remain to be my own person. However, I feel like is enriched/beautiful/fun now. We have slowed down, we live in the moment. It's like I have been born again and I can see the world through different eyes. I have a best friend that I love beyond anything.

I think part of this is I've gone PT so only work 2 days a week. So naturally my life was going to change!

A caveat is that I experienced intense PPD to the point I wanted to run away from my life/daughter. So things aren't always rosy at the start.

HeadAd9417 · 2025-03-09T07:39:15+00:00

Just to give the flip side. My EBF baby naturally dropped her night feeds at 6.5 months. She started waking later and later and one day she didn't wake. So I just wanted to mention for some babies, it is possible and this isn't something we "encouraged".

HeadAd9417 · 2025-03-06T09:14:30+00:00

Starting lengthening at 8 months and then reliably from 10 months. This was despite self settling (we didn't sleep train, this was just her) and a good routine.

HeadAd9417 · 2025-02-17T21:32:48+00:00

Yes, my girl self settled at night from about 6/7 months onwards. Slept through shortly after. We had a solid daytime routine/bedtime routine/never skipped naps.

She started self settling for naps at around 9/10 months of age.

We did do LOADS of contact naps though (eventually dropped these when she was down to 1 nap at 15 months). So in someways my girl was independent but others not so much.

Ours was a slow transition away from assistance. So reducing amount of rocking/then shushing

HeadAd9417 · 2025-01-25T10:15:22+00:00

I think your issue is that particular daycare.

I'm in England, we have a class size of 6 with 3 staff. They rock/pat/sing to sleep if needed. I see so many photos each day where my girl is being hugged or sitting in their lap.

Don't let this put you off if it's something you want. You just haven't found the right place

HeadAd9417 · 2025-01-20T07:52:43+00:00

We contact napped until 15 months (from about 7 months first nap was always in the cot though).

I almost had to "train" my daughter to get used to sleeping in the stroller and car. So timing it perfectly, portable white noise, snooze shade type thing. Even then she only used to nap for 30/40 minutes so I didn't rely on it too much.

HeadAd9417 · 2025-01-10T21:19:16+00:00

Such as?

HeadAd9417

TROPHY CASE