So, I have to stay home all the time?

A couple weeks ago I bought the Weissbluth book that everyone talks about and have started following it. Things have been going pretty well UNLESS I actually have to go someplace during the day. If one nap gets missed or is late then it all goes to pot.
It's a great book and all, but to have to stick to such a stringent schedule that we can never go anywhere?? Ever??
We went out for an HOUR today squeezed in between naps and bottles and I paid for it with an hour of screaming from both babies, and now DS is sleeping for 5 minutes, waking up and crying and sleeping for 5 miinutes, repeat in an endless loop

 

s, I haven't ever read the book, so I am not sure on the schedule. At that point mine were taking 2 longer-ish naps , and then a short one towards the end of the day.

 

I say, throw the books out the window (IMO).

At that age it is hard to get out... but if you are going to be going on a lengthy errand, you could always make it after bottle time, and let them sleep in the car, during naptime? I did that a few times.

 

I agree with Jamie, whatever works for you WORKS! Go with your gut, you are a better mother any BOOK is!

 

I read the book and liked it and I know others that have read it and loved it. I have to say that I started with bedtime and only worked on bedtime for a little while. I needed to do a little bit at a time. We got that down to a science, they now sleep straight through for 10.5-12 hours per night.

Naps are a whole different ballgame. I stayed home for 2 weeks straight at one point trying to get something established and it just didn't work. I then tossed it out the window and figured we'd sette into place at some point. But, I was going through days like you are having so I decided to try again before we all went crazy. What I decided to do was work with nap #1 and be very strict about it. We've gotten that down so now if I need to run errands, I wait and do it when it's time for nap #2. I find that if I do it this way, everyone is happy.

 

The only thing that has worked for me so far is making sure I feed them before I do anything with them. Even if feeding time was just an hour ago, I'll top them up with some food just to make sure they're feeling full and happy. Otherwise, no hard and true rules have worked for me. Of course, mine are still really little, so who knows what tune I'll be humming in a few months time.

Good luck.

 

I liked the book a lot, in theory, but in reality we gave them most of their naps in the car or the stroller at that age. (Granted this was only on weekends, since they were/are in daycare.) It hasn't done us any harm. It was a little tough to get them taking their main midday naps in the crib -- we did that around 7 months -- but we still do the morning nap (when they take one) in the stroller a lot.

Weissbluth would say that yes, you do have to be a slave to naps. But you can play around with it. If you wind up following it to the letter, it will be because you realize that overall, your life is more pleasant that way, even if you never go anywhere. But if that isn't the case, you certainly don't have to do it!

 

at the 5 month point for us it was hard to go anywhere....but I just followed my gut on what worked for my kids......Now that they are almost one things are getting a little more flexible but I still have nap times I try to follow.....but luckily they'll fall asleep in the car or the stroller ........I completely agree with schedules but you should just trust your own instincts....

 

I would say that you should try not to take ANYTHING to the extreme. Just take the bits and pieces of advice that you get from a book or from someone here or wherever and tweak it to work for you. There is absolutly no one way that works for everyone. I used to think that I couldn't go anywhere either cause I didn't want to "mess up the schedule," but then I came to the conclusion that while life itself can be put into a schedule, there are always going to be times where one MUST for whatever reason, go off that schedule. Life happens and I think it's actually a very important lesson for us to teach our kids that things in life are not ALWAYS going to run smoothly or go exactly according to schedule. So, sometimes their naps will get screwed up or they won't sleep on time that night. You can always get them back on schedule. Don't stop living life and doing what you got to do. Otherwise, our kids will never learn to adapt to change which is an extremely important life lesson, IMO anyway.

 

I've made going out a part of the schedule. I refused to give up my daily walk, so I go out every day after the second feeding. If I want to go somewhere else any day, I do it at that same time. They usually sleep most of the time I'm out.

 

We actually do stay home - MOST of the time except for if my girlfriends stop by then I will run BY MYSELF to the grocery store etc...

At the present time because of nap schedules and the work it involves we just don't bother trying anymore.

We go out every weekend when Daddy and I have more time.


Good luck -this is just a short season


BB

Ps: On the advice of friends with Twins I told myself from the get go that my sons could have the first year - then after that - we will start to get back to doing things. THANK GOD summer is ALMOST here and we can get out walking again!

 

I loved that book too and it totally helped my girls (and my son) get on a good schedule and take naps without fussing...it's made us MUCH happier! But I agree that it's impossible to get out if you follow the book to the letter!

Here's what we do: Most of the time, I follow the girls' nap schedule and stay home--they go down at 9am, 1pm and sometimes 4pm. The best time for us to go out is after they wake up from their 1pm nap--usually 2:30-3pm--because they are well-rested, happy and wonderful to take anywhere. If they need that 4pm nap, they can take it in their carseats and it's ok.

If I have to go out for the day, I try to leave during one nap and be home for them to take the other nap in their cribs. Usually, I will leave the house at 9am so they can sleep in their carseats during that nap and then make sure we are home for the 1pm nap to sleep in their cribs. This works out pretty well too.

Good luck! It's so hard not to become a slave to naptime once you have it all figured out and it's working for you, but I'm sure you will come up with some "going out" routines that work for you!

 

Thanks for the advice everyone. Eventually I'll get this mommy thing down