Eliminating 3rd nap

I'm curious at what age your twins where when they stopped with the 3rd nap? My B/G twins are just about 7 months old and currently nap three times a day, 8am (about an hour), 11/11:30am (abour 1.5 hours) then around 3:30/4pm (about an hour). Should this be something i start eliminating or will they let me know that it's no long necessary??
Did you find that once they stopped with the 3rd nap they slept longer at night? Right now they are in bed by 6:30pm and are getting up anywhere between 5:30-6:30am. Of course i would prefer that they sleep until 6:30am every morning but it's usually 5:30am.

Thanks

 

12 hrs (approx) at night sounds pretty darn amazing. I don't think you can really expect them to sleep longer than that! So well done for getting them on a good sleep schedule.

My girls are just over 9 months old and have been on a modified 2-3-4 schedule since about 7.5 months. That works really well for us. They take two naps a day - the first 2 hours after they wake (usually anywhere from 45 mins-1.5 hrs), the second 3 hours after they wake up from the first nap (that is usually the long one - anywhere from 1-3 hours). Then they have their last bottle at 7:30pm and are in bed by 8pm. They sleep until about 7-7:30am. That works for us but it may not work for anyone else. From what I have heard, 8pm is considered to be quite a late bedtime but we tried putting them to bed earlier and it was not working. I would rather they be in bed at 8pm and sleep till at least 7am as opposed to getting up at 5:30-6am! I will just also add that until about a month ago they would occasionally take a 3rd catnap at around 5:30-6pm but we eliminated that after it began to interfere with their bedtime (it was too close to bedtime and they were very hard to put to sleep when bedtime rolled around). Now they go to bed most nights with a minimal amount of fussing (most of the time they will whine for a couple minutes and then fall asleep). All that to say I would just pay attention to their cues and they will let you know when they're ready to eliminate that 3rd nap.

 

It was around 7 months when mine dropped the third nap. I encouraged it by taking them out after they nursed around dinnertime to places by my house- the fun of it amped them up but they weren't in the car so long they'd fall asleep. We also pushed their bedtime up at first because they were so tired. They are in bed by 7 now, sleep until 5! (ugh!), down for nap 1 at 7, nap 2 around 12-12:30. I bet if you could stretch them between the first and second nap a bit you could drop that second nap.

Good luck,

 

Funny you should post this After having a horrible last week trying to get them to nap 3x/day, (they would not settle down at all)I clued in that they were trying to tell me something!!!!!! Silly Mom wasn't listening :fool:

So yesterday we started a 2 nap schedule. It went pretty well. And this morning they went down like a dream for their first nap. My girls are nearing the end of 8 months old. We were on the same scheule that you are currently on. They sleep 7pm-6am, give or take a 1/2 hr. I don't think they will end up sleeping longer at night. So in my experience they let me know when they were ready.

 

I can't remember the exact age, but I know it was well before they turned one. So, maybe 9 months? By 1, they were firmly on to two naps a day, an hour or so in the morning & a longer 2 hour one in the afternoon.

 

My kids were about 9 months old. I knew they were ready to give up the 3rd nap because they woke up cranky and often only took a short nap (20 or 30 min.) I would follow their cues and keep the nap until they seem ready to give it up. We did have some difficult evenings of fussiness during the transition.

 

My twins are 7.5 months old and I was in EXACTLY the same boat (and exactly the same schedule!) as you until 2 weeks ago. Our girls were going down around 7:00 at night and waking up around 5-5:30 (ugh), and taking 3 naps a day (around 8:15, 11:30 and 3:00). We decided to cut out the 3rd nap and put them to bed at 6:30 to see if they would sleep longer in the morning. IT WORKED!! They now sleep till 6:00 and generally seem to be in better moods throughout the day. Now they nap from 8:30-10:00 and 1:00-2:30 or so.