visitors, holidays, other distractions

These are my first babies so I'm not sure what to do...when we have visitors or other holiday outings or distractions, sometimes it wakes one or both of them from their nap. I try to have music or white noise to hide the additional noise in the house, but they are so interested in everything right now that they fight naps to see people. If yours wake up and you know it's too soon (like 15 minutes or a half hour) or worse if they refuse the nap, what do you do? The past few days I've found myself trying for so long to get them back to sleep that it's already time for them to get back up to eat. They are still sleeping well at night dispite the hit or miss crazy naps, but I know they need the extra sleep. Today I'm on my own again so we're working on getting back on schedule, but Christmas is just a few weeks away and the visiting will start up again. The crazy thing is that even with the short or missing naps, they don't really get cranky so I feel like a tirant spending so much time trying to get them to sleep when the visitors are waiting for them to be awake anyway. So if for example you put your baby down at 9:30 for a morning nap (which on a normal day would be for 2 hours) and they wake at 10, you try all of your soothing tricks til 10:30, then try the swing for 15 minutes, still no nap...now it's almost 11 and still no nap...do you let them be up and active for a bit to tire them out? I just don't know what makes more sense...struggling to sooth sooth sooth for as long as it takes or just figure it's too late, second wind has kicked in, and let the visitors play with them until they start looking sleepy again? Without distractions, when I put them down sleepy (rubbing eyes or yawning), they'll nap well (in the morning anyway). But if they get woken up, it's like they think they've already slept so now it's play time. Sorry if this is going in circles...I'm just not sure what to do. Maybe you just deal with hit or miss naps for special occasions? I didn't worry so much when they were younger because they slept well whenever they were tired, even at social gatherings, so even if the nap schedule (lol) was off, they still napped when they needed it. Yesterday, my DD barely napped at all for 8 hours straight between being woken up by all of us cooking and then looking around a new house when we went to a friend's place for the actual TG dinner...but she still STTN so maybe they can handle it occasionally? What do you do?

 

In your shoes I would follow your babies. They may just be babies that dont need to sleep as much. My DS is very active, alert and hates to miss anything too but as soon as I see those cranky noises or eye rubbing, off he goes for a nap! In general, mine sleep for about 4.5 hours during the day (not all at once) and sleep between 10-12 hours at night. If yours are sttn at night no probs, then what they´re getting during the day is probably enough. If you see they are out of sorts, then pop them down for a nap. Its hard because when they´re really small all they do is sleep then suddenly around 4-6 months that all changes and we worry if they´re getting enough shut eye! :lol:

Going out, visitors, etc does interfere with the routine. If we have visitors, I try to time it for when they´ve just had bottles or are a bit more awake. They sleep in rooms where noise doesnt bother them and, to be honest, they are used to the household noises now. You may need to ask your visitors to keep the noise down or even leave. I had to do the latter once but they understood - lucky for me! (DD had a huge meltdown and screamed for 2 hours hence me taking this drastic action!).

As for waking up early, well that´s inevitable. I make sure they dont want to sleep anymore - maybe offer their dummy and a toy and see if they play themselves back to sleep. They soon let me know if they want to play. If they fight their nap and they are obviously tired, then I take them to a quiet room where there is very little light and stimulation. This is their bedroom in my case. I stay with the baby in question and calm him/her but holding and humming softly. I always ensure the curtains are drawn, etc. I then pop them down adn give them their dummy (i.e. pacifier). If they are very psyched up then it does take a while. Distraction is best but very low key. DD meltsdown when she cant sleep.

It sounds like you´re doing fine so try not to worry (hard I know! Im a first-time mum too ) your babies will soon tell you when enough is enough!

 

i find that with my girls, disrupting the routine once & a while is okay & it's not too difficult to get them back into their routine the next day. i try to arrange necessary outings, visitors, etc so that it's rarely more than a once a week thing. i find that when we really get into trouble is when their routine has been disrupted for more than two days in a row - then i have a pair of super cranky babies!!

i also agree with PP to just follow babies' cues. if they're up and curious, but in a generally good mood, i'd say let them get up. you may need to put them down early for their next nap or add a short extra nap at the end of the day if they're starting to melt down, but otherwise i wouldn't worry about the occasional disruption.

 

naps? what naps?

When we are with family, unless they fall asleep in someones arms (which they eventually will when they get exhausted) then it is hit or miss with our naps. I am a super schedule oriented person with the boys, but on occasions like this you just have to go with the flow. They boys adjust well and get back on the routine very nicely the next day.

 

Are naps turn into even shorter, cruddy naps! They get extremely overtired and fussy and I feel like everyone thinks I have whiny babies!!!

But they are easy enough to get back into the routine the next day.

 

We just follow the cue of the babies. We got a great nap out of them in the am yesterday but in the afternoon when family started to come around, forget it. It usually takes us a day to get back on track, but they will. Hang in there!

 

Thanks for posting this...I'm having the same issue. Today we let them stay up and be held (usually we play in the floor) and they were perfectly happy. When they weren't we put them in the swing/bouncy in the same room as us...my DS went to sleep, but DD stayed up and still wasn't really getting too irritable. I am really particular about our schedule during the week, but we're going through some sleep changes with DD, so I'm trying to see what is going on. I guess the holidays are making me relax a little bit about our routine and making me watch my babies for their cues. Good luck...I was totally stressed about this at first, but they're dealing with it pretty well.