I've tried to keep LO on a pretty consistent nap and bedtime schedule since she was little. And I try to make sure her sleep happens at home in her crib as much as possible. She just turned 1, and takes a nap at 1030 (1 hour) and then again at 230 (1 hour) with bedtime at 7. How important are schedules at this point? Sometimes, I skip out on doing things I'd like to do because I'm afraid she'll fall asleep on the car ridethere/back and mess up her sleep. We've been going through a rough patch lately with night sleep due to separation anxiety so now I'm even more afraid. 
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Ummm, never? My son is 27 months old and he always gets his afternoon nap. His sleep is just something I don't mess with, having been on the bad side of not napping enough.
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Our LO's are still young (4 mos), but I don't ever envision myself messing with their naps. When they don't nap, they don't sleep well at night, and that's just not a risk I think I'll ever be willing to take!
That said, I do occasionally schedule outings during their naptimes. I don't mind if they sleep in the carseat every now and then, as long as it's not a habit. -
It sounds like if you're having separation anxiety issues, it's probably best to adhere pretty strictly to the schedule for the time being. I think once that's calmed down a bit, like @twoofeverything said, you can probably have the occasional outing during nap time as long as it doesn't become habit?
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I'm still pretty strict about making sure he has his nap at 21 months. However, I'm cool with it being in the car every once in a while if we're taking a long drive for some special reason. If your LO is a good car sleeper, I don't think an occasional car nap is a huge deal if it makes sense for your schedule that day.
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I think I must be in the minority on Hellobee, but I have never been super strict on naps. If he naps at home, great. If he naps in the stroller while we are out and about, cool. I didn't want to be a prisoner to a schedule. I don't know if it's because of this, or due to this, but he is great at being a bit flexible. I don't notice a big difference in him based on where he naps.
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@MegWag: Part of my reason for being strict is that I need the couple hours at home to catch up on work! So it's selfish, too
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LO is 11 months and lately I've been less strict about the naps. He usually takes two, but if we are doing something he is fine taking one long nap, or occasionally he skips his afternoon nap and goes to bed a little earlier. I've never really been all that strict about naps anyways.
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X is 17 months, and we never ease up on the nap schedule now that he's down to 1 nap. I've tried a few times to have him take the nap later, but it never ends well. He doesn't nap as long, it throws off his bedtime, he's crabby, and he doesn't sleep well for days after. I know other kids can be flexible, so I don't see the harm in trying and seeing how things go, but I know for X, it's a bad, bad idea to forego the nap schedule.
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@Mrs. Yoyo: I hear you. I thought I had planned our day so that we would be home for nap time today so I could have a rest. Wouldn't you know it... DS moved his naptime to before lunch! Ah well. Roll with those punches
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We've only ever messed with naps if we were travelling, but otherwise, I have no plans to let him skip naps until after the age of 2. Even if I haven't seen major repercussions (we rarely have nighttime issues - knock on wood), I just have no desire to deal with a cranky baby who should be sleeping rather than being toted around by me. He's never been an on-the-go napper and who knows if that is his personality or a result of me always ensuring naps take place at home (or at least in a crib)...
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LO is 7 months old. He still only manages to be awake for 2 hours at a time before getting cranky and tired. So, we follow the nap schedule pretty closely. I'll be happy when we can drop him down to two naps, but for now, it's at 3 followed closely by his tired signs.
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I guess the answer to "how important are schedules" really depends on how much you can handle. For me, it's not really worth it to skip a nap, because I know she (and I) will both be miserable for the rest of the day.
I've been pretty flexible with regard to pushing back naps (like up to 30-45 minutes) if I'm out and she has to nap a little later, but I've never really skipped naps unless we were traveling (LO won't sleep on a flight).
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@meredithNYC: the separation anxiety has really thrown us for a loop. I've tried to maintain a schedule as much as possible, but she's still been really unpredictable as far as how her sleep will go at night. It's exhausting trying to figure it all out!
I'm scared to try anything different because I don't want things to go from crappy to mega crappy!
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Well, we are away from home 1 weekend a month, and I want to have some flexibility when we are away, so I try to make sure he naps in the carseat/stroller (AKA anywhere but in his crib) at least once a week. I find that if I don't, he begins to lose the ability to nap well when we are away from home. I also will push back, or skip naps when necessary to accommodate play dates, lunches out etc. I really value the flexibility. I can't wait to go down to 1 nap per day because I think that we will gain even more schedule freedom!
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