Nap troubles!

I posted a while ago about night waking and switching the boys to a later daytime nap. The night waking is resolved and the boys typically go to bed at about 6:30 or 7 and are asleep by about 7:30 (although this varies.. sometimes they play in their crib quite late!) and they'll sleep through until about 8 - 8:30 am. So they're usually starting out the day with about 12-13 hrs of sleep.

Naptimes are NOT working though. I have tried to gradually push their naps back from 9:30 because they were just chattering in their cribs for quite a while. I have pushed it to 11 am over the last 2 weeks, and they still chat in their crib forever...they've been up there over an hour right now and they're still talking! So do we go back to earlier nap times? They won't go back to 2 naps, but maybe if I go back to putting them down earlier they'll at least get 1 in?

I am also frustrated because my parents are up to their old tricks of going to get the kids out of bed any time they hear them awake... even if I am trying to let them fall asleep. My folks come over about 3-4 times a week and the other night my dad kept Austin up until 10 pm because he didn't want to hear him cry for a few minutes. I usually end up in a big fight with him and he storms out, so I tried to keep my mouth shut, but it's :headbang: .. and probably the topic for a whole other post.

 

How are they on days that they don't nap? Are they still in good moods? I would try to go to back to 10am and see how they do, if they are still chatty at that time, perhaps try a later nap 11:30 or noon?
I would be frustrated if my mother was doing the same thing your parents are. Is there anyway, when everyone is calm to have a general conversation about your goals for the boys sleep (i.e. I am trying to teach the boys to self soothe, it's okay for them to cry for x amount of minutes?)...maybe have the conversation so that your parents don't feel singled out. I had problems like that with my DH and when I wanted to get a message across, I would do it when my Mom (and Dad, when he was alive) around, so I felt like I was keeping all the caretakers in the loop but also not singling out DH.

 

I've found that if I put my guys down for a nap any earlier than noon, it won't work or it'll be a really short one! They go to bed at 8pm and wake up between 8am and 9am. Then they nap from noon-3. Sometimes it sucks cause it's right smack in the middle of the day and if I want to try and get things done, it's a lot of work, but it's also a lot of free time in the house to get things done. Do you think they'd last until noon then put them down for a nap?

 

We've had the conversation a thousand times. My parents just don't respect my boundaries. It's not a huge issue as they're not here all the time, it's just mostly frustrating during periods like this where I am trying to reinforce a new schedule. They do it with everything though... from household repairs to politics to what we eat. They can't keep their opinions to themselves.

So Austin didn't have a nap at all, and Miles had a short one. I am going to try an earlier nap tomorrow and see how it goes. Toddlers! :gah:

 

I did try noon the other day and there was no sleeping at all.. but maybe I should just try it consistently for a few days and see how it goes? Frustrating!

 

My boys will do noon-3 or 1-4. It's kind of back and forth, but always sleep a couple hours. I'll let them go until 1 if they're playing nicely, but if they start to seem cranky, they'll go down before 1.

 

i would definitely stick with the change for a while, even a week or a week and a half, before evaluating if it's working or not. it takes time for them to adjust.

how's your pre-nap routine? maybe they need more of a wind down between morning activities & nap time?

 

I decided to stick out the 11 am nap for now because, like Rachel pointed out, I am not sure we've really given it a good consistent chance.. the boys were tired and crabby this morning, so I put them down about 10 mintues ago, sang them a song, read them a book, left them with board books in their cribs.

THEY ARE JUMPING UP AND DOWN SCREAMING WITH LAUGHTER :gah:

What turkeys! I don't know how we'll ever make this happen.

 

:hug: My babes go down at 9-9:30 and get up around 9 or so (pre-time change....we won't get into the issues since time change )...and they go down for their nap around 2pm. Sometimes the little stinkers don't act tired and will stay up until 2:30. It does suck, it's right in the middle of the day, but it's what works best for them. They only sleep 1.5 hrs on a good day (1 hr right now, again, time change issues...), and they are up around 3:30-4 pm. It means my MIL has to pick my oldest up from school, thankfully she's retired and enjoys doing it, so it hasn't been an issue. If it was, I would have to wait and put them down at 3:10 after I pick up Sean, because they absolutely will not go to sleep early, I tried.

So what I'm saying is, have you tried pushing their nap back so they are up a good 4-5 hrs before going down? You do have to give it a good week or so of trying something before you can tell if it's working or not, so since you are trying the 11am nap now I would see how that goes, but if it doesn't work, I would try pushing it later, even if you move it in increments of 15 mins or so and see if it helps them go to sleep sooner.

I will say, that both my older kids gave up naps fairly early, shortly after they turn 2, and I can see signs of my twins doing that as well. They do still need their nap right now, but there are days that it only runs 20-30 mins when we are running errands, and they still manage to make it until their normal bedtime. :headbang: I do so enjoy naps....I hope they continue them forever! :laughing:

 

Do you have a nap routine? We do a book, song then nap. There is also a white noise machine in there. Also, I say to them "time for nap, you go night night and mommy will see you when you wake up". All of that seems to set the stage for them to sleep. I would try nap at noon for a week and stop your parents from going in there. Good luck!

 

Our bedtime and wake time sound exactly like yours. We did nap at 11 when we first switched to 1 nap, but have gradually moved it later and now they go down between 12 and 1 and sleep 2-3 hours. They ALWAYS play in their cribs first, sometimes for quite a while. They can be rubbing their eyes and snuggling on us, and the minute we lay them down it is two shrieking monkeys! I think of it this way: a lot of us need to read a little or watch some TV to wind down before bed and kids need that quiet time to wind down before they fall asleep. Maybe if you compare it to more adult routines your parents will start to get it. Or maybe you can leave them some reading materials describing toddler sleep patterns so they see you're not making this stuff up.