Planning a late night out with your baby?
We’ve all been there…you get invited to dinner at 7pm on a Friday night. The problem? Your baby goes to bed at 7pm! You don’t want to miss out, but you also don’t want your baby to get overtired, or worse, completely ruin their sleep! Sound familiar?
If so, you’re not alone! As a baby sleep consultant, I’m here to tell you that you’re totally allowed to take your baby out late every now and then, and that it is not going to ruin their sleep. You heard that right. You can take your baby to dinner, holiday parties, or wherever you’re wanting to go and not ruin their sleep. Why? Because sleep is a SKILL that is not suddenly forgotten because you had an off day or night!
With that being said, here are 3 things you can do to help the late night be easier on you and your baby:
Add in an extra nap that day if you can. Adding in extra day sleep will help your baby be less tired at night, and therefore make it easier for them to stay up later.
Make the power nap a full nap! If you are still on a 3 nap schedule (2 naps + 1 power nap), make the power nap a full, 1-2 hour nap. Again, the idea is to add in more day sleep so your baby is more awake later at night.
Push baby’s schedule back by 15-20 minutes per nap so their bedtime falls at a later time. This is the best option if you are planning to be home 1-1.5 hours later than their typical bedime:)
I wanted to keep this post short and sweet, but if you want to hear more tips and tricks to keeping your baby our late, I did a full podcast episode HERE where I’ll share even more tips and tricks and dive into each tip in detail.
I want you to know that being a mom does not mean you have to stop living your life. Enjoy those later dinners, holiday parties, or extra time with your friends. Babies can make these things a lot more exciting:)