Their nap schedule sucks! HELP ME PLEASE

My babies' have always been pretty good nappers (and on the same schedule), but lately things have gone completely haywire. Our Pediatrician said they babies should be working toward 2 longer naps a day, but there naps are really short now - almost always under an hour.

Our current schedule is like this:

9:30-10:15

1:30 - 2/2:15

then they don't seem to need another all day until around 5/5:30 when they hit the wall and get really cranky. I try resist putting them down at this hour b/c their bedtime is 7:30, but sometimes it seems unavoidable. How do I get the babies taking longer midday naps so we make it to bedtime w/o a dramatic showdown???

I do have a sound machine, but it only seems to help mine get down faster - it doesn't seem to keep them down any longer.

Thanks in advance!

 

For us it's hit and miss when it comes to naps... At what time do they wake up in the morning? I never put mine down less than 2.5 hours since they started making noise in the morning... and I try to push that to 3 hour in the afternoon. So usually their naps are at 9.30am and 2pm, but some days it will be 10am and 2.30pm. Bedtime is 7pm, and they wake up typically between 7am and 7.30am (used to be 6.30am tops before we switched to two naps).

The naps are hit and miss though. They rarely fuss at all now when I put them down, but they can sleep any time from 45 minutes to 2 hours. In my experience though after one of two days of shorter naps, they end up napping longer the following day... So I'd just keep doing what you're doing and eventually if they need more sleep, they will sleep.

 

well, i think you have a couple of options - you could put them down for a short 3rd nap. maybe try around 4:30, and only let them sleep for 45 min to an hour max. that should hopefully not interfere with bedtime too much. or you could change their bedtime & make it quite early for a little while - say 6:00pm & see what that does. anyway, those are my thoughts.

as for the shortness of the naps, it sounds like they might be waking up after one sleep cycle & then having a bit of trouble getting back to sleep on their own. i'm not sure how old your babies are or how you feel about letting them cry, but what we did with our girls is if they woke up from a nap and it had been less than an hour, we would let them cry - up to an hour max. the longest they ever cried was 45 min - and that was only the first day. since then, they almost always nap for 1.5 - 2 hrs at a time. anyway, i know a lot of moms aren't comfortable with that style of sleep training so if it's not for you that's a-okay.

 

QUOTE(Fran27 @ Dec 5 2008, 06:59 PM) [snapback]1099340[/snapback]
For us it's hit and miss when it comes to naps... At what time do they wake up in the morning? I never put mine down less than 2.5 hours since they started making noise in the morning... and I try to push that to 3 hour in the afternoon. So usually their naps are at 9.30am and 2pm, but some days it will be 10am and 2.30pm. Bedtime is 7pm, and they wake up typically between 7am and 7.30am (used to be 6.30am tops before we switched to two naps).

The naps are hit and miss though. They rarely fuss at all now when I put them down, but they can sleep any time from 45 minutes to 2 hours. In my experience though after one of two days of shorter naps, they end up napping longer the following day... So I'd just keep doing what you're doing and eventually if they need more sleep, they will sleep.



Thanks Fran.

The babies have a very similar schedule to yours. Wake 7/7:30 am, and down by 7:30 pm. Your babies take just two naps now, correct? How do they do from 5 - bedtime? Do they seem to get cranky?

 

We had that problem around that time that 3rd nap seemed like they needed but we just stuck with the 2 we had.

I agree with pp, if you can let them CIO or stay in there if they are quiet. Sometimes even now at 14 months they nap 1-2 hours and don't always go to sleep. As long as they have quiet time in their with no toys or interaction except for each other they do okay. Again this is what we have tried and found works for us.

Consistency and patience is so hard when they are crying but works in the end. GL

 

QUOTE(twinkielove @ Dec 5 2008, 09:18 PM) [snapback]1099576[/snapback]
Thanks Fran.

The babies have a very similar schedule to yours. Wake 7/7:30 am, and down by 7:30 pm. Your babies take just two naps now, correct? How do they do from 5 - bedtime? Do they seem to get cranky?


It depends on how long they sleep for their second nap. Sometimes they're up at 2.45pm so it's tough, but the evening is busy enough that they're not THAT cranky. They go to bed a bit earlier than yours though so I'm sure it makes a difference... It's past 6pm that it can get hard.

 

Their nap times seem OK, mine were going down at 9 am and 1 pm but I think the bed time is too late. You won't win anything by keeping them up. Mine were going to bed at 6 pm at that age, now 6.30/6.45 pm and they turned 2 last week. Once they start sleeping better (and longer) overnight, they will nap better during the day. Overtired children have more trouble falling and staying asleep and/or have bad naps (in our case, night time was never an issue but their naps could be).

Why keep them up if they're so tired at 6 pm? Whether I put them down at 6 pm, 6.30 pm or 7 pm, it doesn't matter in the morning, and even if it did (a little). I rather have happy babies in the morning and in the evening ... I wouldn't do a 3rd nap, they're too old for that. At 6-9 months babies should give up their 3rd nap, and you should move their bed time accordingly. Also they're getting more active, so they may be more tired from moving around ... I wouldn't concentrate on the clock too much, but on their behaviour. And their behaviour says 7.30 pm is way too late. My oldest (4 1/2) is down before that! Put them down earlier, let them have a better night, and I am sure they're napping will improve too. And sometimes can't hurt to leave them for a little bit too ... mine would wake up after an hour nap and fall back to sleep 10 minutes later ... for another hour. Just a few thoughts (all advised by my favorite pediatrician Weissbluth ... we miss him!).

 

QUOTE(Mom2SofieAndTwins @ Dec 6 2008, 02:24 AM) [snapback]1099850[/snapback]
Why keep them up if they're so tired at 6 pm?


I don't have much choice... They need their last bottle at 6.30pm, and as it is now it's still only 2.5 hours between the last two bottles, and they don't always finish it... but if they miss it, they're hungry and wake up at 5am.

I'm not complaining though, they sleep 12 hours at night and nap 3 or 4 hours during the day.

 

QUOTE(Fran27 @ Dec 6 2008, 09:43 PM) [snapback]1100328[/snapback]
I don't have much choice... They need their last bottle at 6.30pm, and as it is now it's still only 2.5 hours between the last two bottles, and they don't always finish it... but if they miss it, they're hungry and wake up at 5am.

I'm not complaining though, they sleep 12 hours at night and nap 3 or 4 hours during the day.

I would always fill my children up, even though it was only 2 hours later or so. They would usually have their last bottle around 3.00 pm, then dinner at 5.00 pm (they've been on regular food since 6 months or so - jar / table -, then bath and another bottle at 5.45 pm. If they drink it fine, if not, also fine. But then off to bed. I am not very surprised they don't finish it, if they're really tired that's probably not the last thing on their mind. I would give it a try, feed them at 6.00 pm or so, whatever they want / need, then shoot for a 6.30 pm bedtime ... you could do bath first, then book and bottle (I've always done in that order anyway, except we were having some kind of dinner at 5.00/5.30 pm).

HTH!

 

QUOTE(Mom2SofieAndTwins @ Dec 7 2008, 03:05 AM) [snapback]1100726[/snapback]
I would always fill my children up, even though it was only 2 hours later or so. They would usually have their last bottle around 3.00 pm, then dinner at 5.00 pm (they've been on regular food since 6 months or so - jar / table -, then bath and another bottle at 5.45 pm. If they drink it fine, if not, also fine. But then off to bed. I am not very surprised they don't finish it, if they're really tired that's probably not the last thing on their mind. I would give it a try, feed them at 6.00 pm or so, whatever they want / need, then shoot for a 6.30 pm bedtime ... you could do bath first, then book and bottle (I've always done in that order anyway, except we were having some kind of dinner at 5.00/5.30 pm).

HTH!


Well my second nap is later than most. They wake up from it at 4pm usually. So 6.30-7pm is very reasonable for bed time - last night DS was chatting in his crib until 7.15pm. When they wake up earlier, they go to bed earlier, as they get their third bottle at 3 or 3.30pm instead, so we can give the last one at 6pm. I try to shoot for 3-3.5 hours of awake time between the last nap and bedtime.