Nap time battles

My girls are trying to give up their nap but they still need it. They nap at daycare, but weekends are another story. If I dont run them ragged until they pass out on the way home from somewhere in the car, then they wont nap. One of them would nap if she had the chance, but the other one keeps her up. I have tried separating them, but that just results in a lot of crying. I have tried just having a "quiet time" where they stay in their room for an hour or so but they usually destroy the room, don't nap and are total cranky pants by 6pm. Any advice?

 

Not sure I have advice, but a few things to think about:

1. Do they sleep in on the weekends?
2. Are you following the same schedule as during the week to include nap time?
3. Have you tried rewards for quiet time? Sticker charts worked wonders for mine.

Mine had nap strikes periodically around 2.5, maybe it will just pass. FWIW, I am all for running them ragged, but staying close to home as you approach nap time to avoid falling asleep in the car and then not napping.

Best of luck!

 

I don't have any advice either as mine do the exact same thing. They are 29 months old, so I think they are way too young to give up their nap completely. For the most part they nap at daycare, but get each other all riled up at home. I'm looking forward to reading the advice of all the seasoned twin mommy's!!!

 

Mine both went through a nap strike right at 2.5. We got through it though and they're still napping at close to 3! What worked was being consistent with putting them down for a nap around the same time every day with the expectation that they'd sleep. My two are in their own rooms, which makes things a whole lot easier, I admit. With DD, I put her down for her nap, and she'd end up playing the whole time in her room. I don't mind this, but I do make her stay in there until I decide naptime is over. Even now, she typically plays for 45 minutes before turning off her light and crawling into bed for her nap. With DS, it was much more difficult. I tried a nice soothing nap routine, rocking him for 15 minutes, etc. If he didn't fall asleep during the rocking, I put him down in his bed and left the room. He raged and screamed and cried and threw a massive tantrum. Sometimes he'd tired himself out and fall asleep. Other times, I made him stay in his room for an hour and he never slept. If either one didn't nap, they'd go to bed an hour earlier than usual.

After 4-6 weeks of protests and nap struggles, they just went back to napping normally. I think they just had to realize I wasn't going to budge.

 

You mentioned you separated them. How long did you try it for? My girls were playing in their room as well at naptime so I separated them and it has worked like a charm. At first one of my girls cried for the other but I left her alone and she fell asleep. Now they just know they're going in separate rooms and they take great naps. Sorry I don't have any better solutions for you. I would give separation another chance.

 

I had that problem, they would nap at daycare but not at home on the weekends...

I kept them all home this week, and I tried somethin different. After the first 2 days of no naps for ANYONE (3 yr 4 month twins and 22 month old) I had enough. I normally don't let them watch a lot of TV,but the only way I was able to get them to nap was to put one on the couch, tell her to 'relax' and watch cartoons for an hour, then I put the other twin in our room, with the same instructions.

The baby I just kept in his room till he fell asleep and put him in his bed...


But that was the ONLY way I could get the girls to sleep. We've also trid the whole 'quite' time, separating, etc. before to no avail. They just never slept. At least I got naps out of them this way - they usually were asleep within about 10 minutes.....