Baby going to doctors tomorrow during nap time. What to do?

[rdliid]

Hi, first time mom and first time Reddit poster here so take it easy on me! Our LO generally sleeps well, 9mos and 4 days on 2 naps. Typical schedule is:
W - 6am (some days as early as 5:30am but we don’t mind, he is sleep trained, and we just roll back his schedule by 15min)
N - 9 -11am
W - 11am - 2:30
N - 2:30 - 4pm
W - 4 - 7:40
B - 7:40, sleeps around 8pm

My question is, if we have a doctors appointment at 9:45am tomorrow (the only appointment we could get, scheduled months ago when his wake windows were much shorter), should we just keep him up until he gets back from the doctor? I’m that case, he would be up for 4.5 to 5 hours before his first nap! Any ideas? Thank you kindly!

 

[maame]

@rdliid STM here, if this were me I’d reschedule the appt to one of baby’s awake times. I’m a stickler for schedules and naps tho so I’m sure not everyone would agree with me on that. But that’s what I would do.

 

[ktb]

@rdliid I mean you’re kind of stuck, he’s going to fall asleep in the car - no doubt about that. We end up with this every so often because no matter when I schedule appts I get a call a few days before with a “sorry doctor won’t be here, we need to reschedule” even though I made the appt months in advance.

My twins don’t “transition” well so if they fall asleep in the car, we stay in the car for an hour (doctor for us is 15m away, so we pick up food and my wife or I sit in the car and eat / scroll for the next however long to get them a full hour nap) .. our other tactic is to move inside when we get home and do bottles again as a reset, then move them to cribs and just go for an hour (shorter than their 2 nap 1.5 hr schedule) and try to regroup the day from there.

You’ll just have to flow with what works for you. I don’t find it an exact science at this age. Some times they can handle longer windows, sometimes they want to take that bottle and sleep.

 

[pasofinodude86]

@rdliid I once took my 8 month old on a field trip with my 5 year old’s class since they desperately needed chaperones. Figured she would nap in the stroller eventually- maybe not perfectly timed but eventually. Nope- 8 month old was up for 6.5 hrs and didn’t crash until we got home. Not even on the car ride home. No signs of tiredness and no crying/whining. Outcome? Nothing. Night sleep was fine and next day we were back to normal. Life happens and you gotta go with the flow and baby will too. It’s not ideal but it’s real life.

 

[matt_hil]

@rdliid This sub and the internet are full of great strategies, but sometimes the precision of the recommendations feels like a mandate or like it’s your job as a parent to craft the perfect set of circumstances. It’s not. Life has disruptions both planned and unplanned and at 9 months it’s no big deal to go with the flow occasionally (or frequently depending on what works for you and your kid!) Personally, I would not wake a baby up at 5:30am just to try to have a closer to “optimal” nap schedule. You deserve the sleep and also deserve the opportunity to trust that things will work out fine overall no matter when or for how long baby sleeps!

 

[zoeylevy42]

@matt_hil This! I tried to wake up at 530 to time the nap once and it backfired ROYALLY. At least if you don’t do that you get a decent night sleep ideally, and can roll with the punches a bit better.

I found my LO does a lot better at adjusting naps for stuff like doc appts than I thought she would.

 

[knowledgeisnotignorant]

@rdliid It's just one day so whatever you do will be fine. Relax!

Plop him down for an early bedtime if the naps go horribly wrong and he ends up a mess.

 

[pammy777]

@rdliid I always just kept mine awake until after. She’d usually take a 30 min car nap and then would be good until her afternoon nap.

 

[seville90210]

@rdliid You could leave a bit early and give him a 20 min nap in the car? I’ve had lots of appointments during nap time, they get cranky but just power through and try to salvage naps the rest of the day.

 

[sunny2014]

@rdliid This happens to me a lot. Baby is 12months still taking two naps and I’m pregnant so we both have appointments lol. If we end up having to skip it he usually falls asleep in the car in the way home. Sometimes he’s really cranky and sometimes he isn’t and even sleeps in a bit the next morning. If there is no other option I try not to stress about it because nothing can be done and I’m already stressed about so much.

Also, his new thing is refusing an afternoon nap and there is LITERALLY nothing I can do about that and some days he’s awake for 7 hours before bed time. So that’s another reason I try not to worry. Even when I do everything perfect he sometimes has other ideas lol

 

[rdliid]

@sunny2014 This is so comforting, seriously. Thank you!

 

[katvan1969]

@rdliid Do you think you could squeeze in a 20-30 min nap before leaving for the appt? I had a similar situation today and what I did was put her down for a nap 15 min early and she thankfully fell asleep, woke her up 30 min later right before we had to head out the door. You could even wake up 15 min earlier (5:45) and squeeze it in if needed? Or maybe a car nap?

Alternatively, if yours is the type to sleep in, you could let him sleep in and then just shift first nap to a later time. E.g. wake 7:30am, nap 10:30/10:45am when you get home. But hard to tell when you’ll get home.

 

[rdliid]

@katvan1969 Okay, I think I have an idea, but we’ll see how it goes. I’ll wake him at 5:30, and then we’ll do an hour nap from 8:30 -9:30. Luckily the doctors office is very close to where we live. Then we should be back by 11, and we can do 1:30 - 3:30 for the second nap, 7:30 bed. I pray that works!