help with naps

I have so many questions lately.

Naps have really been hit or miss all along. Basically they've just slept where and when they need to sleep. I just don't know how to get them on a good nap schedule. I'm going back to work in two weeks and the girls will start daycare, so maybe that will help. I'm a little nervous that they won't get enough sleep during the day though.

Today we dropped a bottle and it seemed to go o.k. as far as food goes, but naps were a nightmare. Here's what today looked like:
6:45 wake and cuddle time

7:30 bottle

8:00-9:00 play

9:00 oatmeal and peaches

9:30-10:30 nap (woke because the dog barked...not sure how long they would have slept)

10:30-11:30 play

11:30 bottle

12:00 nap (woke after 45 minutes and both were super cranky)

12:45-1:30 tried to play, but both were just cranky and inconsolable

1:30-3:00 attempted to put both babies down for another nap. Annelise went to sleep. Karina would not sleep unless I held her. She finally fell asleep (while being held) at 2:00 and slept for an hour. Annelise slept for an hour and a half.

3:00-3:30 play

3:30 bottle

3:30-7:00 Oy! This is a long stretch. We played a lot, went outside, did baths, but the babies were very cranky starting at about 4:30. DH and I were finished with supper at 6:30 and were each holding a baby. Both fell asleep about 6:30 and we woke them for their 7:00 bottle.

7:00 bottle

7:15 bed

I'm afraid if we move bedtime any earlier that they will wake up earlier. They are currently waking up anywhere from 6:00-6:45. How many naps should I be aiming for? How much cumulative nap time should they have in a day? How late in the day can I let them nap without impacting the night? The girls are STTN and I we obviously want to keep it that way.

I should also add that I do watch for sleepy cues. They both yawn and rub eyes when they are tired. Karina also makes high pitched screachy sounds when she is getting tired. Generally, Annelise is very easy to get to sleep. Karina really fights it though and I have a terrible time getting her to nap. Both babies go to bed at night very well.

I'm very interested in what all you schedule gurus have to say about all this. Please let me know what you think I should change to make this schedule work better.

Thanks so much.

 

Have you read Healthy Sleep Habits Healthy Child? I didn't like all of it, but it has really good info about biological sleep rhythms and typical nap times for babies and toddlers.

According to HSHHC, until around 9 months of age, most babies take three naps -- approximately 9:00, 1:00 and 4:00 or 5:00. The first two are longer (1-2+ hours), and the last is short (30-45 minutes or so).

You may want to try to get them down for the first nap earlier, like two hours after waking, and try to get them down for the second nap after two-three hours of wake time.

I'm just offering this advice from what I read in HSHHC. Mine have just gotten on a schedule in the last month or so! At that age, they were sleeping haphazardly throughout the day at day care. Their only consistent nap was the car ride home from day car. :lol:

 

Our schedule from 6 months on has been:

5:30-6:00 - wake up
8:30'ish nap (1.5 hours)
1:15'ish nap (1.5 hours)
6:30'ish bedtime

We stick with this with about a 20 minute variance here and there.

 

QUOTE(Beth*J @ Aug 11 2008, 01:25 AM) [snapback]923459[/snapback]
6:45 wake and cuddle time

7:30 bottle

8:00-9:00 play

9:00 oatmeal and peaches

9:30-10:30 nap (woke because the dog barked...not sure how long they would have slept)

10:30-11:30 play

11:30 bottle

12:00 nap (woke after 45 minutes and both were super cranky)

12:45-1:30 tried to play, but both were just cranky and inconsolable

1:30-3:00 attempted to put both babies down for another nap. Annelise went to sleep. Karina would not sleep unless I held her. She finally fell asleep (while being held) at 2:00 and slept for an hour. Annelise slept for an hour and a half.

3:00-3:30 play

3:30 bottle

3:30-7:00 Oy! This is a long stretch. We played a lot, went outside, did baths, but the babies were very cranky starting at about 4:30. DH and I were finished with supper at 6:30 and were each holding a baby. Both fell asleep about 6:30 and we woke them for their 7:00 bottle.

7:00 bottle

7:15 bed

I'm afraid if we move bedtime any earlier that they will wake up earlier. They are currently waking up anywhere from 6:00-6:45. How many naps should I be aiming for? How much cumulative nap time should they have in a day? How late in the day can I let them nap without impacting the night? The girls are STTN and I we obviously want to keep it that way.


I think they might still need 3 naps a day. I would try your first nap 2 hours from the time they wake up, so if they wake at 6am and even though you dont go to them right away, I would still try for 8 am for the first nap. Then 2 hours or so from when they wake from that I would start working on soothing them for the second nap. The third nap for us was just a 30-45 min catnap in the swing around 5 ish. Then they went to bed about 6:30 or 7.

IMO 7:15 is late for them with only 2 so-so naps per day and that is why they are falling asleep at 6:30. So if they really will only take 2 naps, I think they need to be in bed way before 7:15 and it may or may not effect the wake up time. Once ours dropped the third nap around 9 months, they had to be in bed by 5:30 or ELSE!! They did get up at the crack of dawn for months, but we gradually were able to move it back.

I think for cummulative sleep about 16 or so might be where you want to be?? Ideally 12 hour nights, 2-2 hour naps?? It will vary each day but that might be a rough guideline that I used. GL!

 

Couple suggestions:
For that 12:00 nap, if they wake up before 1 hour, I would try to soothe them back to sleep. I remember reading in HSHHC that 1 hour is a full nap. And I know with mine, if they wake cranky, they are still tired.

As for bed, it does sound like they need a little earlier bedtime. Oh, and try to put them down *before* they start shrieking or rubbing eyes. I know it is a lot easier to get mine down right before they start the shrieking. Once the shrieking starts, mine are overtired

 

We did the 2/3/4 thing beginning around 7 months, on the advice of a mom on this site. I loved it! That's 2 hours between first waking and nap #1, three hours between nap #1 and nap #2, and 4 hours before bedtime. Of course sometimes we had to adjust (i.e. if they needed an early night or took a very short nap), but I loved having this guideline to prevent overtirednes during the day and to keep me on track. I also like the book HSHHC - very informative (although a little dull!).

 

Thanks for all the input. We were in the car at 9:00 this morning (dropping the dog at the vet) which is when they needed a nap. They slept for 45 minutes in the car, but of course they woke up as soon as they were taken out of the car. For my sanity and to stretch the nap a little longer, I held them (and got my TS and Facebook fix) for another hour while they slept. Then they woke up and had another bottle and some solids. We ran a quick errand in town and returned home at 1:00. I put them in their cribs and they went to sleep SOOOO easily (knock on wood). Karina just cried because she lost her paci, but I turned her onto her tummy and re-binked her and she went right back to sleep. Woo hoo! I'm going to aim for another catnap in the late afternoon and see how that goes. So far, your suggestions have really helped. Keep your fingers crossed that it continues.

What do you do if appointments, etc. mess up your nap time? We will be messing up the morning nap again tomorrow because we have to go pick up the dog from the vet. The vet is an hour drive, so no matter when I would go, it would likely mess up a nap time. The girls will sleep o.k. in the car, but they wake up as soon as they are carried into the house and I can't seem to get them back to sleep if it has been a shortened nap.

 

QUOTE(Beth*J @ Aug 11 2008, 06:28 PM) [snapback]924696[/snapback]
What do you do if appointments, etc. mess up your nap time? We will be messing up the morning nap again tomorrow because we have to go pick up the dog from the vet. The vet is an hour drive, so no matter when I would go, it would likely mess up a nap time. The girls will sleep o.k. in the car, but they wake up as soon as they are carried into the house and I can't seem to get them back to sleep if it has been a shortened nap.


I may be the exception since gas is sooo expensive right now, but when they were taking 2 naps a day I would either leave earlier for them to have some time to sleep in the car to get a fair to adequate nap in or even now if they are going to be napping on the way home I have been known to circle the area until they wake. Sometimes I get coffee from the drive thru right before we leave the Mall and drink and drive and listen to the quiet all the way home

Sounds like you are off to a nice start with the napping...fingers crossed for the rest of the day.

 

That's a good idea about leaving a bit earlier for appts. I don't really have a suggestion about it because every time (almost) we go out and do something it messes them up. I just deal with it and get back on schedule the next day.