@Hollie I feel like I’m such a schedule person, he naps at 9am and 1:30pm everyday and it works well for him and us. But recently I’ve been feeling like he’s not interacting with other babies and wonder if that is important at this age?
Don’t feel guilty, do what works for you and your baby! We’re the same as Hollie. I go to groups and classes at all different times and just make it work by being flexible with routine. He does 3 classes a week and it’s important to me that we get out and do those things. It’s not only about the socialising, though he really does love being around other babies, but giving him different experiences to what we do at home/or the other places we go, good for me to get out the house and see the other mums, making memories with him whilst I’m on Mat leave and he’s still small. With my first child, I tried hard to stick to a fairly rigid schedule, and did only do things that fit into our routine. And it just didn’t work well for me! Which was surprising, because as a person I’m all about organisation and predictability 😂
I used to do 1-2 every week until she hit about 6 months and then stopped as I was finding it impossible around naps and she would either be cranky or sleeping in the car etc and I just wound up more stressed, so I chose peace for a while lol. Now naps are more predictable I am trying to do 1 a week again. Mums and tots are all back now and might suit you better as you dont have to go for the full time?
@CeeCee I’ve not heard of mums and tots, what is it?
I used to find it stressful juggling his nap times with the class start/finish and travelling. There doesn’t seem many classes that work with his schedule which is annoying. They’re all right when his first nap is 😔
I’m exactly the same as you! I live for routine and it works well (ish!) for us. My little one also goes down just after 9. I do a couple of classes that start at 11 and just wake her a tad early for these. I’m usually 5 minutes late lol. Then back for lunch which we’ve recently added in. The window for getting out is now getting smaller and smaller!! I’m guessing we’ll feel we have more freedom when they drop to 1 nap and we’re able to feed them out and about?? I hope anyway! 🙏🏻
Like lots of people, I went to loads initially and then when sleep became a problem for us around 5/6 months, I stopped going and prioritised his naps. We continued with swimming once a week as we both love it. This week, we’ve joined a baby sensory class that works with nap time and he loves it and I have to say, he’s getting much more out of it now than he would have done a couple of months ago!x
@Susannah its like a meet up rather than a structured class! could also be called something like tiny tots/stay and play/mothers and toddlers etc- its usually in a church hall and you pay £1 to go in and you get tea and toast usually for you and baby and you just play with all the toys and chat with other mums, have a look on your local pages, some of them have like 20 kids and some have like 40 lol
Thank you everyone, this is reassuring!! We have just been a a free 30 minute rhyme time at the local library. My son just watched the other children but I think it was beneficial for us both either way 🤷🏼♀️
My 9 month old hasn’t been to any 🙈 he’s my 3rd though, so gets lots of interaction with his siblings and their friends/my friends who have babies his age. Now my 3 year old is at preschool for a few hours a week, I do plan to take him to some, but also enjoy the couple hours to pop and do bits with just 1 child/when he naps I can have some time to myself!
We do one a week, I work around it so we go at 12:25-1:25, so the night before sensory class day I put him to bed a little later so he sleeps later in the morning, breakfast later than normal & then he’s fine for the class come home have a later lunch & then he crashes for a nap for a couple hours 😂 works for us lol x
I’ve never worked around naps if anything I worked around the groups I wanted to take her to. Ie if started at 9:30 try get a little morning nap in prior to going. That being said- my LO is 8m and still wakes multiple times through the night. So maybe a nap schedule would help 😂😂 But for me it was more important for her to be stimulated by going to these different groups and seeing other babies than having a sleep schedule.