I'm done with this napping nonsense

I thought had come to terms with the idea that I just need to wait out sleep disruptions, but for 6 very loooooooooonnnnnggg weeks, I cannot get them to sleep for than 1.5 hours during the day. I have bumped their awake time shorter or longer, I've tried lunch before nap or after, I've tried keeping them home in the AM or out running errands. I just do not know what else to do. And I know everything will change on Sunday b/c of the time change.

Here's the schedule right now
Awake anywhere from 5:30-7 am, although I do not go in until at least 12 hours after they go to bed (usually 6:15)
Breakfast/Play/Snack/Play/Lunch
Down for nap, and I've tried a variety of times between 10:30 and 12.
Wake up after 1 hour and 10 min- 1.5 hours later
Bedtime 6:15

Will wakes up from his nap screaming, and both are super grumpy, so I know it is just not enough.

I also know there are no magic cures, but I'd love to hear new ideas, because obviously nothing I've tried has worked. And venting to you all is better than banging my head against a wall.

 

I don't have any great suggestions, I can just tell you what we do since mine usually (knock on wood) take a good nap.
Our schedule is this:

6:45 - Up for the day - they may wake earlier but don't get out of their cribs until 6:45 and lately it has been more like 7:00 because they are just waking up at 6:45 and I find tht a little time to wake-up and jabber to each other puts them in better moods.
8:00 - Breakfast
8:30 - 11:00 - playtime and now that the weather is warm we try to find ways to wear them out - playing at the park mostly
11:00 - Lunch
12:00 - 3:00 - Naptime - they sometimes wake at 2:30 or so and I will let them get up then, but not before then and usually if one of them wakes after an hour or so they go back to sleep. Even if they don't though I figure it is good for them to get rest/quiet time. I will wake them up at 3:30 if they aren't up on their own. I think the key for us is that from 12:00 - 2:30 it is non-negotiable that they are in their cribs and usually that means they are sleeping.
3:30 - Snack
Playtime
6:00 - Dinner
6:45 - Bath, book - bed by 7:30

 

I'm sorry the last 6 weeks have been so rough :hug: It sounds like you've done everything I would have suggested, sorry! I would stick with one schedule and try that for a couple weeks, it sometimes takes a week or two for them to fall into a good sleep pattern. :hug:

 

[quote name='K&T's MOM' date='12 March 2010 - 01:31 PM' timestamp='1268429489' post='1599462']
I don't have any great suggestions, I can just tell you what we do since mine usually (knock on wood) take a good nap.
Our schedule is this:

6:45 - Up for the day - they may wake earlier but don't get out of their cribs until 6:45 and lately it has been more like 7:00 because they are just waking up at 6:45 and I find tht a little time to wake-up and jabber to each other puts them in better moods.
8:00 - Breakfast
8:30 - 11:00 - playtime and now that the weather is warm we try to find ways to wear them out - playing at the park mostly
11:00 - Lunch
12:00 - 3:00 - Naptime - they sometimes wake at 2:30 or so and I will let them get up then, but not before then and usually if one of them wakes after an hour or so they go back to sleep. Even if they don't though I figure it is good for them to get rest/quiet time. I will wake them up at 3:30 if they aren't up on their own. I think the key for us is that from 12:00 - 2:30 it is non-negotiable that they are in their cribs and usually that means they are sleeping.
3:30 - Snack
Playtime
6:00 - Dinner
6:45 - Bath, book - bed by 7:30
[/quote]

This is the rule in our house, too. Naptime for us is between 12:30-3:30pm...it took a little while for them to catch on, but I think it helped my little ones really stretch out their naps.

Our schedule looks pretty similar with our kiddos awake between 6:30-7am (we don't go in until 7), lots of playtime between 9-11am, naptime from 12:30-3:30pm and bedtime between 6:45-7pm.

 

Naptime here has been between 1-4pm...if one of mine get up earlier, I try to get them back to sleep. I am sorry that you are having such sleep issues over the the past 6 weeks :hug:

 

did they boycott 2 naps a while ago? ours were still on 2 naps a day at that age... and could not stay awake for more than 2 to 3 hrs at a time.

our schedule for a long time was wake 7a, nap 9a-11a, nap 2p-4p then bed 7p or so...
then it stretched or a while to wake 7a, nap 10a-noon, nap 3 to 5p then bed 7:30p

now that we've transitioned to 1 a day its: wake 7-7:30a, lunch noon, nap 1-4p, bed by 7:30p

were they taking more than 1.5 hrs of naps a day before?

one other comment, ours used to play in their cribs for quite a while - like 20-30 min. and sometimes when I heard fussing past that time point I'd go in and they had a dirty diaper.

now I don't ever had that problem, and they seem to be really tired and go to sleep right away. so maybe the 2 naps a day schedule was not keeping them up long enough? anyway, the other thing I was going to say was that they really seem to go down quickly for naps when we've been outside playing hard for 30 to 60 minutes. they get worn out! otherwise they seem just cranky, but not tired out.

 

Ugh the napping drama is SO not fun. We were doing two naps a day then too, in the process of going to one, which was tough. They used to take 2 1.5 hour naps, then we went to one nap they only took one 1.5 hour nap. It didn't make sense to me! They were really unhappy when they woke up but I could never get them to go back to sleep. Unfortunately, their naps haven't gotten longer (there's an occasional 2 hour nap) but at least now they usually wake up well rested (they're 24 months now). You're probably in the rough transition phase, and it seems like most kids nap 2+ hours so hopefully yours will be part of that crew!

 

one other thing to think about is that most of the baby sleep books talk about sleep cycles being about 45 minutes in length. so maybe you can find a way to get them to soothe themselves back into another sleep cycle. (I did hear recently that adult sleep cycles tend to be in 90 min. increments).

at least you are getting them through 2 cycles... some people have what they call the "45 min. intruder" which must just be getting through 1 cycle.

 

Thank you all for your thoughts. We dropped to one nap quite a while ago (December, I think). In January we had a whole month of these delicious 2-3 hour naps, but, alas, they stopped.

I'm just going to have to roll with it for now. I think I might start leaving a book within reach of their cribs so maybe they can grab it when they wake up instead of the crying fit.

 

ugh for getting long naps and now not!! yes, sometimes I leave small toys in the cribs... mega blocks, little people and books. my dd chews books... so that's not a great thing for her, but the $1 books are good. my ds likes books so its good to leave him with a book. good luck - that's a good idea for giving them something to do!