I feel like my parents and in laws only napped us a few times a day as babies. My mom talks about stretching us way out before bed time so we would sleep a long time at night! My mother in law thought I was crazy for napping my kids as babies every few hours. I think frequent napping is the norm now whereas it didn't used to be.
Were your parents/in-laws like this too?
clementine / 856 posts
Yeah, there were no schedules or "awake times"- my mom initially thought I was crazy for wanting to put lo on a schedule so early on. Luckily she went along with me, because he's been in grandmacare since he was a newborn!
honeydew / 7463 posts
They've never said directly that they don't get the napping thing, but they are definitely annoyed that he naps a lot. (My inlaws I mean).
I wonder if infant sleep (sleep begets sleep, tired and wired, overtired, etc) is something that has become more researched and understood over time. So maybe it is relatively new to be so regimented? I guess we could see when Weissbluth's book was published because I think a lot of these ideas come from him.
ETA: just checked and his book was published in 1987. Which is definitely after when I was born
cantaloupe / 6669 posts
DH's family definitely has the mindset that babies will "pass out" if & when they are tired enough. They also all sent their LOs to daycare so they were on regular schedules at daycare and then on the weekends they just did whatever. I was a little bit neurotic about LO's naps as a baby so to them I probably seemed completely insane.
My mom kept us on routines but I think she was more flexible with naps that I was during the infant stage. The idea of specific wake times was pretty novel to her. When helping with LO, I feel like she preferred to just follow her cues and if she was acting happy she didn't feel the need to put her down for a nap just because it was "time."
With LO #2 I am hoping to be a lot more chill about naps. I do think sleep begets sleep and overtired babies can be terrible! But I hope to be more open to cat naps, naps while baby wearing, etc. during the first few months. I just can't imagine having the mental energy to focus on a nap schedule AND a toddler/preschooler.
honeydew / 7444 posts
My parents didn't follow a schedule. They would just put me down when I was tired but I only slept maybe 30-40 minutes.
pineapple / 12234 posts
My parents didn't follow a schedule at all. I remember taking a lot of naps in the car (front seat without a car seat, haha) when I was 3!
pineapple / 12566 posts
I have no idea what my parents did! I was with an in home daycare for the first two years, so I assume she did whatever worked for her and her other charges!
pomegranate / 3231 posts
It never occurred to me to ask this question. My mom loves to give unsolicited advice, so I generally avoid requesting information from her!
grapefruit / 4361 posts
My mom is a big believer in keeping kids awake in the day so they sleep better at night, and putting them to bed later makes them sleep in later. However I def still got naps, thanks to daycare.
wonderful kiwi / 23653 posts
I ask my mom all the time what she did with us when we were young and she says she doesn't remember 
coconut / 8079 posts
I'm not sure what the ILs did with their own kids, but their other grandkids have never been on a schedule. And everyone tried to tell me he didn't need a nap at 14 mos when we were on vacation last summer! 
I come from a big family and can remember my mom having my younger siblings take naps, stick to a schedule, etc.
coconut / 8472 posts
I'm not sure what my parents did. But I remember when DS was 16m they were watching him while DH and I were out, and they didn't put him down for a nap and ended up passing out on the floor. I was kind of horrified and was like, "um, that's the sign you waited too long to put him down." I mean, they knew when his nap time was. They also tend to keep him up later at night than we do and tell me, "Well he didn't seem tired yet." Um, what?? If we waited for him to look tired, it could be 10pm before he goes to bed.
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