I am REALLY trying to help my little one stay awake for about 2-3 hours at a time (She's 8 months old) in hopes of helping her to be tired enough for a nap that lasts longer than 30 measly minutes.
She seems to sleep longer when she gets lots of fun stimulation (i.e. Barnes and Noble looking at books, grocery store, morning music class, etc). However, she always falls asleep on the ride home (it takes us about 15-20 minutes to get there, and 15-20 minutes drive back of course. That 15 minute nap is enough to restore her for another 4 hours of wake time!!! We've had many days when I've had errands to run and she just NEVER takes a nap at all for the whole entire day(besdies little catnaps here and there as we jaunt from one place to the next). This happens even though I try to limit the errands to 1-2 stops so that she she gets home well in time for her usual napping time so we can follow the routine of winding down in her darkened room with some soft music/book/paci. It just seems that the car is a sedative for her!
If only I could take her out and stimulate her with fun stuff and keep her awake on the car ride home, I think we'd get a pretty good nap out of her once we're home. She goes down fairly easily, but she just won't sleep for very long AT ALL. To keep her awake in the car I've tried to sing to her (loud, fun songs), I turn the radio up, I jiggle toys for her, I open the car windows, I bring new toys she hasn't seen before and present them just when she looks like she might be falling asleep and I leave the soothing pacifer at home.
Do you have any secrets to keep your little one awake during car rides???
She seems to sleep longer when she gets lots of fun stimulation (i.e. Barnes and Noble looking at books, grocery store, morning music class, etc). However, she always falls asleep on the ride home (it takes us about 15-20 minutes to get there, and 15-20 minutes drive back of course. That 15 minute nap is enough to restore her for another 4 hours of wake time!!! We've had many days when I've had errands to run and she just NEVER takes a nap at all for the whole entire day(besdies little catnaps here and there as we jaunt from one place to the next). This happens even though I try to limit the errands to 1-2 stops so that she she gets home well in time for her usual napping time so we can follow the routine of winding down in her darkened room with some soft music/book/paci. It just seems that the car is a sedative for her!
If only I could take her out and stimulate her with fun stuff and keep her awake on the car ride home, I think we'd get a pretty good nap out of her once we're home. She goes down fairly easily, but she just won't sleep for very long AT ALL. To keep her awake in the car I've tried to sing to her (loud, fun songs), I turn the radio up, I jiggle toys for her, I open the car windows, I bring new toys she hasn't seen before and present them just when she looks like she might be falling asleep and I leave the soothing pacifer at home.
Do you have any secrets to keep your little one awake during car rides???
