How to Get a Toddler to Safely Take a Nap Away from Home

I think that you have to assume you can't trust someone else's home. The problem is not what you CAN see (electrical outlets) but what you CAN'T see (medications, cleaning fluid, guns). Stay home for naps. Or if you must, bring a nap mat and put him down for a nap on the floor of the dining room and stay in the next room and talk quietly. If you visit somewhere regularly, like Grandma's, ask her to childproof a room for you. Mostly, enjoy the fact that he still takes a great nap and enjoy the time off at home.

I suggest doing your best to not be away from home during nap time. I do know that isn't always possible. Will he nap on a sofa where you can be nearby to observe that he isn't getting into trouble.

I have a family daycare and have nap mats. My son has one of his own and has been napping on that wherever and whenever we need him to. He has a stuffed animal and special blanket just for napping and we take that with us when we go somewhere during his nap time. Have him practice napping on it at home in different rooms then he'll be able to do it wherever he goes.

While you can't prevent everything, you can prevent many things. First, try to be sure to cover any exposed electrical sockets, one of my friends had travel covers, she brought with her on trips. She bought the box style that maount onto the socket, they install in 5 minutes and you know that he can't pull the cover off of the socket. What I did also was to get them a "nap time" sleeping bag, you can find them at Target in the camping section. My kids the bags that included a blow-up cuhion and the sleeping bag has a pocket in the back for the cushion to fit into. With that, they learned to sleep anywhere. My dauighter wants to take it with her whenever we travel and prefers to sleep in it instead of the beds at hotels. If we don't have it, she makes a bed for herself on the floor. Once you get the bag, or even just a group of favortie blankets, have him practice sleeping in other rooms in your house, or even at a friends house. If he has special routhine for naptime, try not diturb that at the other nap sites.

Lay down with him. You can read to him or sing to him or just snuggle him while he goes to sleep. then I would check in on him frequently while he naps or you could take some down time and read or do paper work in the room with him while he sleeps. He may not sleep as long when he is unfamiliar surroundings but any nap is better than no nap. If you go for outings he may nap in the car and that might be enough to take the edge off while you are away from home. You may put him to bed a little earlier if he is not napping as long as usual.

as usual, i'm the oddball here. it just seems weird to me to stay home every day because of naps. i tossed my kids into carseats, backpacks, little red wagons and saddle bags, and off we'd go. when they got tired, they slept. sometimes they got tired and couldn't sleep and got cranky.
oh well.
there's not a single adventure i would have passed up on.
:/
khairete
S.

We simply did not go out during these times during the nap years- its just part of life at that time. Be thankful for the personal downtime you have now, because pretty SOON he will not want to take a nap and you'll be wishing for those quiet naptimes! We always made the 'coffee' hours our visiting times. It just makes life easier, because, LOOK OUT, if those boys don't get their proper rest in the day. Life is just easier to get an early start and a good nap. Straighten up, take a nap, work out, read a book, or give yourself a spa treatment- but use it while you got it! Trust me, you will mourn nap times when they are gone! Good luck!

Have you ever seen the Peapod travel beds? It's worth checking out if you think you might be needing it fairly often. Shop around online for the best price, or see if you can find one on Craig's list. He should be able to get a couple of years' use out of it (though you'll be really lucky if he still naps that long!)

http://www.kidco.com/main.taf?p=4,5

Wow, R., I'm so with you. My son is only two, but I have the same issue. He goes down about 12:30 and he usually puts is 3 hours--so I'm not messing that up. I never go anywhere during that time. I'm going to have that problem to day when we visit relatives for Easter.

I'll probably bring a monitor and put him in someone's bedroom. I'll make sure he's asleep before I leave the room. Usually, once he's asleep, he's out! Either that or he just won't take a nap. He's gone without before--it isn't pretty, but it really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

I'm going to wait right along with you for the awesome responses from moms in the know. Maybe then we'll actually be able to go places during the day....imagine!

Have a safe and happy holiday!
M.