How to achieve naps on the go

How scary! You have just got your precious bub sleeping perfectly. Naps on schedule, connecting sleep cycles and now, something has come up at nap time. This can be a really daunting thing to steer off schedule and achieve a nap out and about. I would not recommend doing this everyday, but it can be done. Some useful tips can be to:

Plan ahead: This may mean leaving slightly early so you can have bub sleep in the car or arriving at your destination early enough for bub to go to sleep in the pram

Bring comforters/dummy: Take as many familiar items with you as possible so your bub knows it is time for sleep. This could be a favourite swaddle, dummy, toy, white noise and something to make the environment dark

Bring portable white noise: This can be in the form of an app on your phone, or a rechargeable white noise machine. Maybe the busy cafe will be the noise your bub needs to drift off to sleep.

Relax: Time to relax and enjoy your outing. You need some time to yourself and it is okay to prioritise yourself sometimes.

If all above fails, you may need to pop a quick catch up nap for babies under 6 months into their day and for babies over 6 months, you can try to push through to the next planned nap or bring bedtime slightly earlier to make sure they do not become overtired.

You have got this!