Day sleep vs. night time sleep...

Hi ladies!
I have 9 week old twins who are fairly good sleepers at night-- sleep 4-6 hours in two shifts. During the day is hit and miss, however, but can usually get a good 3-4 hour nap either in mid morning, afternoon or mid afternoon.

I am concerned, though, about them taking a long nap during the mid afternoon and dipping close to their bed time. I usually get ready for bed time around 7:30..but sometimes they wake up from their nap at 6:30 or 7 after sleeping for up to 3.5-4 hours. So I am worried that perhaps they think this is the start of their night time? So I often feel I have to wake them up, feed them and have them stay up so that they know it isn't night time since during night time feedings they go right back to bed.

But I am also reading Marc Weissbluth's book Your Fussy Baby and the importance of sleep and shouldn't wake them up. What to do?

 

I never let my babies sleep past 3 hours...3.5 if they had a particularly sleepless day, but especially if their nap was close to their bedtime I woke them up. I did it for my sanity, as well as for their sleep habits. If I let them sleep 4 or more hours during the late afternoon, then nighttime was a horrible nightmare. Sleep is important, for both baby and you, so if allowing them to sleep 4 hours creates havoc on their nighttime sleep schedule, then by all means wake them up. If what you are doing (as far as waking them up so they will sleep well at night) is working for you, then why change it?

 

It was about this time i found the Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child book by Marc Weissbluth. Prior to this, I had been trying to keep them up later in the hopes that they would sleep longer in the morning. According to him sleep for infants doesn't work that way. so I started encouraging sleep when they were sleepy and just made sure the day/night cues were clear. Lights dim and not talking at night feedings. I had happier babies when i stopped trying to keep them awake.
However, at that time, during the day, my LOs were on a 3 hour eating schedule so they never napped more than 3 hours at a time.
At this age, try to follow their lead.. if it works great and if not you can make some adjustments.


PS - some of the stuff Wiessbluth says sounds crazy but it totally works if you give it an honest try.