Am I missing something ?

Let me start by describing our daily routine, so maybe you will have some suggestions on where to make some changes.
7-7:30 GET UP
7:45 milk
9:15 breakfast/play
10 am go out
11:30 lunch
12:15 pm NAP(they fall asleep within 2-5 minutes!)
2:00 wake up or I wake them up if they sleep past 2:15pm
3 pm snack, then go out,play whatever
5 pm dinner
6:30 bath(not daily)
7 pm milk(usually like 4oz)-they ask for it, then cuddle, book reading, good night kisses...
7:30 BED TIME
And this is where the fun starts-they go pretty sleepy to bed but then they roll and roll and roll thousand times in their cribs untill DS falls asleep at least 1 hour later, and DD 1.5 hours later.
WHY is it taking them so long to go to sleep at night?
Should I move nap time to later(don't think it will help).
7:30 pm bedtime I think is good time at this age.
Please share some thoughts on how to help them to fall asleep faster.
TIA

 

If it were me, I'd probably just do an 8:30 bedtime, or shorten the nap to an hour. But as you described it, they're getting 13 hours of sleep a day, which should be plenty for their age.

Actually, what I'd really do is probably keep it as is and just let them take an hour to fall asleep as long as they're not complaining too much!

 

We have the EXACT same schedule in our house. Are you sure they are actually awake during that time? They could just be restless. My twins also go down very easily at nap time but night time takes them a little longer to settle to sleep. I agree with Denise... if they aren't complaining too much, keep it the way it is! If you are looking for some things to try, maybe try pushing bedtime back until 8:00 (but who wants to do that, right?!?!?). Or maybe they just can't get comfortable. Do they use pillows or blankets? What about jammies? My twins seem uncomfortable in PJs with feet. Also, I have always heard that warm milk helps with sleep... maybe try warming their milk before bed (have no idea if that is true, but I'm gonna try it). Soft music? Stuffed animal to "play" with? Sometimes after dinner we will take the boys outside to run around or to the playground to tire them out, but that is hard to do every day. Just some ideas. Keep us posted if anything works! Good luck!

 

For my kiddos I would move bedtime back to probably around 8-ish. I also wouldn't wake them from a nap. Around 2 turning 3 is when they seem to start to establish their own body rhythms and we've found it works best for our family to work with those as much as possible.

 

It sounds to me like the long nap is the culprit. Both my older kids gave up their nap before age 2.5. Exactly how you described, bed time became a battle, they took forever to go to sleep, they just weren't tired yet. I started decreasing their nap time, and they slowly started sleeping again at night. I would try either cutting their nap back to 60-90 mins, or putting them to bed later. Or, as others said, if they aren't grouching about it, just leave it and let them rustle around until they get settled at bedtime.

My twins are a little over 2 and are already showing signs of being ready to drop their nap. They sleep about 12 hrs at night, and their naps are 60-90 mins long, but some nights it takes them an hour or more to get to sleep at night, except they aren't just rustling around, the keep getting up, banging on the door, playing with noisy toys :lol:

 

None of my kids were napping at that age because bedtime became such an issue. I would say shorter naps or an adjusted bedtime.

 

Ditto! And I also agree with PP that if all you're hearing is rolling, they're probably more or less asleep, just taking a long time to fall deeply asleep.

My kids have always (since infancy at least) taken a long time to fall asleep. Since they nap at daycare, I have no control over their naps (as evidenced by the fact that that they're still napping at age 5 <_< ), but DH and I need our adult time and we've always just put them to bed around 7:30. When they were in cribs they would talk to each other, sing songs, jump up and down, etc. We never even tried to enforce quiet at bedtime -- just let them zonk out when they got tired.

I guess if they were going on and on till midnight, or if they seemed cranky during the day, we would have had to change this, but they have always seemed to get as much sleep as they really need.

Plus, it was hilarious to listen to their post-bedtime conversations.

 

Both my boys gave up naps by their 3rd birthday. Our situation was different because they would take FOREVER to go down for their naps. I tried putting them down earlier and later and nothing helped. They would finally fall asleep but I paid for it at bedtime. I would put them to bed at 7:30 and it usually took both of them until 9:00 or later to fall asleep. Even keeping them up until 8:30 did not help; they still would take a good 1 1/2 hours to fall asleep.

At the time they were still in cribs so I would just let them talk. But once we moved to toddler beds on their 3rd birthday I knew naps would go out the window and I was right; they have not taken a nap since. Now at bedtime, they may talk/play for a little bit but will fall asleep within 30 minutes.

I found this article on Babycenter.com. The average 2 old needs 11.5 - 15 hours of sleep per day. 3 year olds need between 11-14 hours. Mine get about 12.5 to 13 hours at night. Any less and they are :crazy:

I like my nights to myself so if it were me, I would try shorter naps.

 

Thank you ladies for all suggestions.
I think if they fall asleep for nap in few minutes that means they do need their nap.I will try shorten their nap and see what happens but I know DS will not be happy to be awaken early.
I will leave their bedtime same time and just let them chat and toss for whatever time they need to fall asleep.
Thanks again.