So annoying!

So a couple of weeks ago my boys at 7months dropped from taking 3 one hour long naps to two wonderful long naps. They were taking to two hour naps all the way up to 3 hour naps to the point where I had to wake them up. It was wonderful! Now this weekend we had construction done and I had to move them into play in packs for a couple of naps and I was off one day by only a half hour. Ever since then they have been napping horrible and the dreaded 45 on the dot waking up and my one son that never gives me a problem started waking up at night time several time after I put him down. Then I had to take them to the doctor yesterday and that was like pouring gasoline ontop of their naps, so of course today has been horrible with the naps. This weekend we have to have construction done again so I am going to have to nap them some place different again. How is it that the smallest bump in the road can mess up their naps for a whole week and mess up their night time sleep. It is so annoying. I am such a slave to their naps and I didn't even leave the house just moved them into different rooms. Is is because you are trying to corrdinate their naps instead of going with their own unique sleep patter? Are anyone elses kids this inflexible? I wanted to get out this weekend, but now this weekend is going to be focused on their naps. I want to get them back to those wonderful two naps, they were so great. For those of you who have had singleton's do you have to be a slave to your kid's naps like you do with twins? Of course my family thinks I'm crazy ahh, so annoying. Sorry for the vent.

 

It sounds like you are a slave to the nap schedule. My older sister is the same way. In fact, her kids naps dictate all of our family get togethers. I don't have any advice for you. I think people are wired the way they are wired. I would tell you to relax and go with the flow like I do with my kids but you are probably Type A like my sis and doing that would just stress you out more. I'm not really type B, I think I'm half and half and that is what works for us. You just have to do what works best for you and your kids.

 

I think I stuck to the nap schedule way more with the twins than I ever did with the other three. If two babies get cranky in the afternoon because their naps were messed up, it is way worse than having one cranky baby! My third baby (Tess) rarely ever had a regularly scheduled nap. She napped here & there in the car or whenever we could fit it in among driving the other two kids to preschool & whatever else we had going on. But with the twins, I think I needed the regularly scheduled quiet time as much as they needed the nap!

 

I pretty much am a slave to their nap schedule. I have a migrane condition and if I do not get a good nites sleep I have a horrible migrane the next day and can't leave the house or go in the sun. So if they are up at night then that means I am up at night and the next day is ruined with me having a migrane. The other day I had one so bad that I was throwing up while taking care of two babies that had 45min naps. I wish I didn't have this condition so I wouldn't have to revolve their naps around my life It is so hard balancing my condition around taking care of them and that is the only reason I am afraid to have more kids. Atlest now I can sleep while they sleep and catch a nap here and there. it is so annoying.

 

God Bless, that is awful for you. Well then it is perfectly understandable that you don't really have a choice. I just feel horrible for you that you get migraines. That is such an awful thing. Get some rest.

 

My twins are much more portable than my 1st was, that may change, but we are still a slave to our older child's bedtime - if she stays up too late, her next day at school is havoc - getting in trouble, not doing her homework, etc...
She is VERY sleep sensitive... we were a slave to her nap schedule when she was young for her sake, not ours... we felt awful when we would watch this good natured, cheerful, witty child become aggressive, angry and throw temper tantrums over the littlest of things...
I think it depends on the temperment of your child... you do what is best for them as much as you can while it fits in the needs of the whole family unit.

 

Our days are still scheduled around the twins nap schedule! For us that works the best, it helps me and DH get a couple of hours of sanity in and they are much happier having their naps at the same time. There are some exceptions to the rule but for the most part our days were always scheduled around the nap schedule. It was hard for us to get them on that schedule, so we are afraid to do anything to mess it up. It's tough and annoying at times :hug:

 

I really need a schedule to my day (not necessarily to the minute, but a pretty predictable routine) and so I worked hard to get to the point where the babies slept 2 decent naps (2 hours + each nap) each day. The trade-off is that the babies are not that "portable" ..they don't sleep very well on the go, in the stroller, etc. They will cat nap about 45 minutes or so but they are EXTREMELY fussy if they don't get their longer naps. To complicate matters I have 2 older children (ages 4 and 6) and so it's hard to be a slave to the nap schedule every day because it makes it difficult to get out and do things. So this is what we do:

My husband works at home so I try to leave the babies napping home with him and then I'll go out with the big girls (at times) during naps...I just have to be back for feedings (which isn't too bad now since the babes are 6 months old). We try to get out as a family (the beach, the lake, day trips here and there) about once week so on those days the babies get a bit messed up and then are fussy for a day or two but then they go back to their routine.. sometimes I need to let them cry a bit more than usual but they do ok get back into it. So I try to make sure we don't stray from the routine for more than a day or two because then we all pay!!!! BUT, I refuse to be so much a SLAVE that we can't do ANYTHING fun....the babies need to adapt to our family life too.

So that's what happens here. We went to the beach for a week in June and the babies naps were awful..they were crying all the time...sleeping bad at night..it was brutal so I feel your pain in terms of major disruptions to nap schedules. I see how when my babies don't get their nap sleep, their night sleep gets worse.....and it just spirals downward....the more tired they are the worse they sleep, etc. But disruption here or there, we trying to get them used to that.

shannon

 

I think some babies are very sensitive to change. It might take them a while to settle back down. I mostly try to follow our twins nap schedule. Ours nap in the morning about 10-10:30 for an hour and a half. Then they nap again, usually at 3:30. I almost always try to keep the 10 am nap schedule in place. It helps them and it helps me. I've had PPD and knowing I will get a break at a certain time has been a lifesaver. If I don't sleep well then I know I can take a nap and feel better for the rest of the day. Our afternoon nap time is a bit more random, depending on where we go for the day (park, gym, etc).

I play volleyball one morning a week during their nap time. Sometimes they nap at the gym, and sometimes they don't. It usually throws the whole day off. One naps in the car, the other naps at the gym, different times for the rest of the day. I'm fine with it once a week, but I don't want nap chaos every day (like when they were newborns!).

Anyway, I'm not type A so much, but I've found our life is much better when I schedule around naps. They are better rested and I'm a happier Momma. I'm sorry about your migraines. I think if you stick with your schedule they will get back to their old routine. Don't worry about what your family thinks. They don't understand your situation, I guess. You need to take care of yourself and your twins. Having two cranky babies all day is not worth it. We had the dreaded 45 minute nap schedule for the longest time. It was horrible. Do whatever it takes to get them back on track. GL, Beth

11 mo old b/g twins

 

STICK TO your nap schedule! My twins are 2.5 yrs old now and I credit my complete insistence on same naps and same bedtime every day (with only a few exceptions due to emergencies and travel etc.) with their great sleep habits. There will be hiccups along the way like you described, but if they are good sleepers in general, they will nap well for you again. Just grit your teeth through this week and stay consistent. I had to tweak mine every once in a while - move the morning nap gradually later and later until it became the afternoon nap after they turned 20 months, but for the most part I was completely inflexible about it. People with one child always rolled their eyes at me and thought I was nuts, but then I would hear them complaining about how their kids "refused to take naps" or wouldn't go to sleep until 10pm because there was no consistency to their nap and bedtimes.
I would have gone insane if I didn't get those 2 naps and early bedtimes every day! It will come back, just hang in there.