Sleeping them in Separate Rooms

My girls are fraternal and I have read that sometimes their sleep can unfortunately be drastically different. It has always been different but we have managed to always sleep together at night (separate cribs/same room.) However, the gap has been widening for a couple months with sleep needs. Zoe can sleep a 6:30 pm - 8:00 am night, whereas Jude is always up between 5:30 - 6:00 am. Jude has never needed the amount of sleep that Zoe has. She was ready to transition to 1 nap at 12 mos...I have held her off (not very successfully) and now they both go down about 11 am for 1 nap a day anywhere from 2-3 hours. That being said, when I get Jude up in the morning, Zoe has a fit so I end up getting her up too. Today I snuck out of the room with Jude and Zoe slept until 8:00 am - she did wake up but fell right back asleep at 6 am. I am so torn about considering putting their cribs in separate rooms for a while. Poor Zoe needs every bit of her sleep and I am running out of ideas. The thing is, I am not usually willing to go up at 5:30 am and snag Jude...she usually babbles for an hour or so and then they both get up. But she is disrupting her sister. Has anyone encountered the wide variance of sleep needs? I feel terrible about the potential of splitting them - they are so close. I keep thinking it could just be a temporary solution to get Zoe some consistent nights of good sleep. Frustrated. :headbang:

 

I haven't for a long period of time but mine do go through phases. I really can't handle having them on different sleep schedules and don't have the space to move one so they deal with it :laughing: Like I said in a previous post, I keep a couple toys in their crib and they usually will hang out and play with them until the other has woken up. Sometimes they will both play for 20 minutes and then silence and turns out they both fall back to sleep for an hour.
Good luck, sounds like a tricky situation!

 

I would suggest some crib toys too... ours never woke too much different though, but the toys did seem to occupy them. that or books, depends on the kid. my ds would page through board books (and not chew them), he loves to "read"... my dd would chew them, so she doesn't get books in the crib...

good luck!

 

Yeah, we have been doing the play in crib thing for a long time. I guess I can keep it up, but even when Jude plays fine, Zoe lays there in this state of semi-alert awakeness for 60-90 mins but doesn't really sleep, so when she gets up she starts off not happy. Feels like I am cheating her. It was okay when she took two naps, but now she is not doing that so I think that is why this is suddenly a bigger issue. Today I snagged Jude again at 6 a.m. and Zoe again slept solid until 8 a.m. I am concerned about sleep debt - Zoe had low iron for a while and those levels are back up due to diet but the fact remains that she needs a lot more rest. Grrr...Jude plays so nice alone but is now very vocal and stands over there and trys to wake her sister...kind of funny.

 

Funny you post this, cause Im in the same exact situation....My DS, loves to sleep DD is my early bird....and for sometime, DD would get up screaming and DS would go back to sleep, but lately he isnt able to , Why I dont know, so when she is waking everyone up between 5-6, he is up to and is so miserable until nap time.....I dont know what to do either, Im thinking about seperating them but mine are also close....I try and get DD as soon as I hear her, but thats not working anymore....DD just screams , she will not play with her toys or nothing, she just wants me ARRRGGG...Hoping someone has an answer to

 

I put mine in their own rooms at 9 months because of this and also just because of general disruptions that were happening. (also MY paranoia about one waking the other.)

I always felt bad that one would have to wake up when he wasn't ready.. etc. I DO, and always have tried to keep them on the same schedule, but I also let their naps and morning sleep vary by up to an hour. It's not always possible to have them fall asleep at the same time etc so it's nice that you can allow one to sleep in.

GL.

 

I am also going though this. But when my DS wakes up at 5:30- he screams his fool head off. I don't put books or toys in his crib because he would use them as missiles to launch at the door. I'm not ready to put them in separate rooms either. For now, when I hear DS I go and get him and we play until DD wakes up- usually an hour later.
Are you using a white noise machine to drown out the chatter from the awake baby?

 

We used to play a CD all night but we stopped that a month ago...now the air conditioner kicks on and off - it is a stand alone with a fan. It is wonderful white noise. I just think it is the time of morning when Zoe's sleep is not as deep so Jude startles her with her babbling and she lays there grunting in and out of sleep. This has went on far too long to be a fluke. I think I am going to give us a couple more weeks to master our 1-nap schedule and if that doesn't help prolong the wake-up time, then I am going to split them. I just look at my little Zoe and she is so tired all day, takes a 3-4 hour nap many days and still wakes up tired. She can't get caught up and seeing her cranky more than giggly (which she used to be) makes me so sad. Bummer.