For anyone that has worked with me, you will know that I am very supportive of naps on the go-in the pram/carrier/car/arms. We are busy parents, we often have multiple children and imagine being stuck in the house ALL day. No thanks.
I generally find the families who are scared of naps on the go are families who may have a baby that generally isn’t sleeping so well. They often fear that their night will be even worse if we muck up a nap. It’s true though, if a baby only knows one way of falling asleep with help from a career (being rocked/fed/bounced) if they are placed in the pram at nap time it often will lead to a lot of crying and no sleep because they are not being given what they are used to to fall asleep.
After I work with a family, most of the families who had babies had never slept on the go see a big change. Introducing independent sleep means that all a baby needs is their needs met and to be tired and they will sleep. Sleep on the go will usually be for shorter times, maybe one sleep cycle, but when in light with noise etc we can’t expect a 2 hour nap. Especially if you have a baby that suffers from FOMO 🤭 But that’s ok, there are naps during the day that I encourage to be short-use one of these naps for a nap out of the house. Even if it is short, this will not spoil anything as then when you are home we return to normal.
Some tips for when using a nap on the go-
*take bubs creature comforts (sleeping bag/comforter/dummy).
*choose a time that is very close to usual nap time.
*keep movement going-jiggle the pram, bounce and pat if in carrier or arms, choose a road with minimal stops. But don’t have high expectations for these naps to be long.
*if you need to be out over lunch and you know the nap will be shorter, let bubs have a longer morning nap at home.
*if you’ve been out all day and naps have been shorter than normal, offer an earlier bed time and get back on track the next day.
Remember sleep in a babies sleep space will always be better sleep (if your baby knows how to sleep well). If we plan ahead, don’t expect perfection and only use naps on the go for a few naps a week-you are not going to spoil your good sleeper.