To separate or not separate for naps

Well we have been having sleeping issues for the past month now and it is not getting any better. I've tried moving the afternoon nap later and now I am trying out shortening the morning nap. I know they are tired but they fight sleep. I watch for their sleepy signs and put them down for a nap. But as soon as I get them ready for their nap and put them in their cribs they wake themselves up further and think its time to party. When I lay them down they just get up and stand. It is pointless to try to keep laying them down as they just keep getting up. They giggle and scream at each other instead of falling asleep. They then end up cranky because they did not sleep or slept very little. Do I need to separate them? Has anyone else experienced this with their twins?

Jennifer

 

Mine did this too for a little while. But I never went back in! I put them in bed said have a good nap, I love you and leave. They would talk and play for a little bit and eventually fall asleep. I leave them in their cribs for a certain amount of time for naps and don't go get them until then. They quickly caught on and now talk for a minute and go right to sleep and normally wake up 5-10 min. before I go and get them and talk and play til nap time is over. They are in the same room but different beds. Going outside always helps my guys get a little more sleepy for the afternoon nap.
I don't know if any of this made sense, but it worked good for us.

Carrie

 

Ditto to what Carrie said. Sometimes it takes the girls 40 minutes to go down for their afternoon nap. I only go in if they are having a pacifier meltdown and even then it is just to replace the paci, lay them down and say night night.

Eventually they fall asleep. I have told myself that if they don't fall asleep after 1 hour I will skip the nap - but that hasn't happened and it's been over 2 months.

 

First off, I ahave always had mine seperated for naps. But my biggest tip for you either way is to nap by the clock, pick nap times (we do 9am and 1pm) and thats when they go down period. I get 2 good naps 99% of the time, the morning nap is normally 2+hrs and the afternoon nap is 1.5hrs. I think they just come to expect it know so its not an issue.

HTH

 

As soon as my guys were on a napping schedule, they were separated to nap. In the beginning, Ryan would always cry about an hour into the nap, but then fall back asleep within two minutes. Knowing that would be the end of Colin's nap, I started to put him in a pac and play in our bedroom.
Ryan no longer cries an hour into the nap, but he does wake up first. Colin needs more sleep, so I continue to nap them separately. When they were the age of your two, I had set nap times......just like a PP mentioned (also at 9am and 1pm). It became a part of their routine (and I am a BIG believer in a consistent routine) and they went down at those times.

It sounds like they are keeping each other awake at nap time, if possible, I would try separating them......naps are so important!!! (for them and us!!)

 

We started seperating for naps because I have one good sleeper and one who is not so good. I put them in the same room today and it bit me on the butt! When I put them in seperate rooms one will always sleep about 30 minutes longer. If it goes longer than that I wake them up so that I can keep them on schedule . Our house isn't that big but it is totally worth it to give up the office (and computer access) to make sure that everyone gets the sleep they need.

Michelle

 

You won't know until you try it. Give it a shot!

 

QUOTE(JakoBen @ Jun 20 2007, 03:55 PM) [snapback]300674[/snapback]
Mine did this too for a little while. But I never went back in! I put them in bed said have a good nap, I love you and leave. They would talk and play for a little bit and eventually fall asleep. I leave them in their cribs for a certain amount of time for naps and don't go get them until then. They quickly caught on and now talk for a minute and go right to sleep and normally wake up 5-10 min. before I go and get them and talk and play til nap time is over. They are in the same room but different beds. Going outside always helps my guys get a little more sleepy for the afternoon nap.
I don't know if any of this made sense, but it worked good for us.

Carrie

That's what I do too.