As you may know if you follow me on Instagram, I have two children – a girl and a boy. One is just 3 and has begun attending a pre-school program in the mornings, which doesn’t end until 12:30 pm. The other is 14 months and typically begins his daily nap anywhere from 11:45 am-12:15 pm.

“THIS,” I thought, “might be an issue,” when we first signed our daughter up for the program, knowing that our available coverage is limited during the day and also that our son (14 mo) doesn’t take short naps if he’s overtired, but rather, extends his nap time…. and if he doesn’t get the full amount of sleep that he wants THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY.

After a few hours of anxious cleaning – yes, I do that for stress relief – I thought about the reality of the situation and calmed down, because, hi? I’m a sleep consultant? It’s funny how mom brain pops in for everyone, isn’t it? In all reality, I have the same worries that every other parent has, I just know how to work with the sleep portion of those concerns.

SO! If you, too, are in a bind, running errands and managing pick-ups and drop-offs with little at-home coverage for your younger baby or toddler who NEEDS his sleep, here’s a great outline of what to do to combat that. Because let’s be real – life doesn’t slow down when you have more children, it just becomes more chaotic, and you become more of a multitasking wizard.

What To Do FIRST..

• FIRST, if you plan to return home MID-NAP, you’ll want to prep baby’s sleep space at home FULLY before you leave the house. By this, I mean…
  1. CLOSE the curtains/blinds
  2. Turn your sound machine ON
  3. Make sure baby’s ALREADY IN HIS JAMMIES WHEN YOU LEAVE, or pack those so you can do a quick change before he falls asleep.
  4. Have his sleep sack or blanket (if age appropriate) out and readily available the second you walk into his room.
  5. Have Alexa or OKGoogle? Have calm music on in the house when you get home.
     • IF BABY TRANSFERS EASILY, you’ll simply toss on his sleep sack and put him down when you get home.
     • IF BABY DOESN’T TRANSFER EASILY, have a top-off bottle ready to go, or be prepared to nurse quickly to top off and extend the nap. Feeding to sleep – or to a super tired state – isn’t something I normally suggest, but under these circumstances, think of this as a “nap save,” where you do anything necessary to get baby to sleep.
  6. MAKE A PLAN FOR YOUR BIGGER KIDS so they know what’s expected of them when you get inside. **This is a huge one.** No matter what type of easily transferring baby you have, they’re just not going to sleep through a 3 year-old bouncing off the walls and turning the lights on and off because you’re apparently “having a dance party!” Try having some books out for your big kid in a play space separate from baby’s room, or offer them a job to do. Like.. getting the bottle for baby, or choosing a book to read all together, or literally anything to make them feel special and involved so they’re not asking you 5000 questions about why baby is wearing dinosaur jammies instead of the striped jammies that you were obviously supposed to know they should be wearing. COME ON, MOM! GET WITH THE PROGRAM!

Next, You’ll Want To:

• PREP THE CAR. If you plan on baby falling asleep right away, Mama, have the car prepped BEFORE you get in. Things you’ll need:
  1. A WHITE NOISE TRAVEL-SIZED SOUND MACHINE. Preferably one that plays on a loop continuously and doesn’t shut off after 15 – 60 minutes like mine, which I literally purchased because it was adorable and that’s all. #MomFail
  2. Calm music playlist. If you don’t already have this, I’d suggest downloading Pandora on your phone and creating a “relaxing classical piano” playlist. This comes in handy when traveling or even when other devices aren’t working. Use this music in the car as an additional buffer form the outside world of sounds, and more importantly as a SLEEP CUE. Yes, babies and toddlers need those. And yes, babies and toddlers need those even more when traveling.
  3. A BLANKET! Weather and age appropriately chosen, of course. This just adds that little extra bit of comfort that baby is used to at home from their sleep sack.
  4. Baby’s LOVEY and/or a BINKY if used. If it’s something they use at home, they should also have it in the car.

Finally!

• Be AHEAD of time! If baby normally sleeps at 12:00, plan to be in the car BY 11:45 so they can settle into sleep. Cars are a lot different than baby’s sleep space at home! There’s so much outside stimulation which can be both exciting and distracting to baby. So, plan ahead, and give your little nugget extra time to get used to the different setting. I fully acknowledge that this can be challenging when you’re out running errands and trying to make the most of your toddler-free time, BUT it’s an important piece to this all working out. So, do yourself a solid a don’t wait until the last minute. Set an alarm on your phone if you need to! Get in line to check out at TJMAXX 15 minutes before you want to be in the car. Who knows what kind of ridiculousness you may run into, so just try to be ahead of time so baby doesn’t reach an over-tired state, since we all know how much fun that can be.

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https://www.instagram.com/infant_sleep_solutions/

Need some more help with your infant or toddler’s sleep?

• sleep
• Sleep BASICS