What does a 2 nap schedule look like?

Hi I have 9 month old twins that still take three naps a day. They get about two hours and a bit total sleep in the day. I'm debating whether to move them on a two nap schedule but not sure how that will work.
Right now their schedule is

7 am wake
830 first nap ( I'm thinking I have to move this later as this morning They struggled going down and DD only slept 15 minutes ) 830-915 ish
12-1 ish second nap
345-415 third nap or shorter (I've pushed this later till 4 sometimes)

I'm not really reading their cues as DS gets tired earlier than DD and we go with DS schedule. It seems thy can stay awake three hours but I usually put hem down at be 2.5 hr mark. I'm not sure they are candidates for the 2-3--4 schedule and I'm worried they will get tired at 5 and bedtime isn't till 630.

What does a two nap schedule look like? Since my LOs only sleep one sleep cycle at times and an hour other times they would be awake a long time btw naps (although because the morning nap was short and entailed a lot of crying from DD DS slept an hour and half for his second nap while DD slept an hour)

 

When mine went to two naps, our schedule was roughly this:
wake:7:30 ish
first nap: between 9:30-10:00
wake: 11:00-11:30 (lunch)
second nap would be after their 1:30 bottle, so around 2:00 they would be back in bed and usually they slept until around 4.
They'd be in bed for the night around 7, no later then 7:30.

 

You need to push the naps back. First nap at 9. Second at 1 or 1:30. Bedtime may need to move earlier for a few days as they transition.

 

Mine are 9 months as well and we stopped the third nap for good close to a month ago. It lingered for a bit because some days they needed it, others not. Now they're up at 7am, naps at 9am and 1pm and in bed around 6pm or so. About 3 hours of naptime per day usually.

 

^^this is what ours looked like.
they might need an early bed time while they are adjusting or if naps are short.
 
 
one note about the two nap schedule.  it is the first time you can truly go by the clock.  they are old enough to adjust their sleep to the schedule rather than you adjusting the schedule to their cues and wake times.  
I loved this schedule, once we were on it... finally i knew what was going to happen each day.  naps 9 and 1 !!

 

Thanks everyone. I still can't see them sleeping more than an hour (unless they have a crappy night or first nap) per nap so that will put them awake from 2 pm until 6 pm at the earliest which will probably change their wake up time as they sleep 12 hours.

I can let them fuss it out in between sleep cycles but that still just gets hem to sleep an hour. Am. Suppose to let them fuss it out again to get a two hour nap?

 

 
^^That is what i had to do for DS and still do sometimes. Even now, that they are on one nap, if he is any little bit tired he will wake and fuss/cry in the middle of nap.  That is why they nap separately but sleep in the same room at night.
 
When we were doing one nap, i decided when they should wake up from nap and did not go to them or get them out of their beds before that time.  (for us it worked like morning wake up.. if I went to them early one day then they would wake earlier and earlier.)
 
I figure it is good practice for the day when they are no longer napping but i want them to have quiet time. I have no idea if it will work that way, but that is what i am hoping for!  i so like my mid-day break!

 

I would let them fuss for a few minutes at least. You should be getting more than an hour out of at least one nap.

Also, an earlier bedtime doesn't necessarily result in earlier wake up. It could be that they sleep 12 hours or it could be that they wake up at a certain time and that happens to be 12 hours. They may sleep 13 if they were put to bed earlier. They may also naturally lengthen naps as you transition.

 

Thanks
I don't mind letting them fuss if they wake up after 30 or 45 minutes but only if they wake up crying. Often times DS sleeps 45 or 55 minutes for his naps and wakes up cooing. So I would feel bad if I didn't get him and made him sleep another hour.

I recently put them in the same room for naps and it's going well. If DS wakes up happy then I get him and let DD sleep my allotted hour time frame.

I've been putting them down later in the morning and they are falling asleep faster but they don't sleep any longer! I've always been on the notion of early to bed but lately I just get a lot of crying. So I'll try putting them to bed for naps closer to the three hour awake time. It just means the last nap of the day is at 4 pm. They normally only sleep 25 to 35 minutes.

I find they are no longer sleeping three hours total during the day. Sometimes it's as low as an hour and 40 minutes.

 

If he wakes up happy, leave him and see if he will go back to sleep. Infant sleep cycles are shorter than an adult's. He may be waking up between sleep cycles and go back to sleep if you let him.

 

Sorry I was on my phone last time and clearly, i don't know how to work it!
 
I was going to comment..
I agree with the earlier to bed, especially if their naps are off during the change. 
My little ones needed 13 hours at night at this age.
 
 
 

For us crying meant they were over tired.  I countered that by putting them to bed early enough to get through the crying and still fall asleep at an earlier time.  If i put them to bed when they weren't tired they would just play quietly.
 
 

^^ I agree

 

Bumping this thread with another question.  How do you know when your twins are ready for a two-nap schedule?  We're on three naps right now but this past week none of their naps has been longer than 45 mins.  I remember when we had them sleeping 45 mins for their 4 naps per day and not sleeping well at night, we switched to 3 naps and they started sleeping 90 mins for 2/3 naps and better at night, so I'm wondering if they're just having a bad week or if they are ready to move to two naps.  They are 7.5 months, 5.5 adjusted, a bit over 14lbs.  They get 4 bottles/day of 6-7 oz and one night feeding of 4oz.  Here's our current schedule:
 
5:30 they're usually awake but we try to keep them in bed until 6
7:45/8:00 nap #1
11:30 or 12:00 nap #2 (depending on wake time from nap 1)
3 or 4 nap #3 (depending on wake time from nap 2), never lasts more than 40 mins, usually 30 mins or less
6:00 bedtime

 

Mine were doing two naps at that point. I think you know by the reasoning you stated: naps or night sleep start to suffer.

 

Basically we knew we were ready when they started refusing to fall asleep for the third nap more often than not or they'd take so long to fall asleep for the third nap that we were cutting it close to bedtime. Like I said though, it lingered for a bit; some days (short naps, etc) they needed it, some days they didn't.

 

^^ this.
 
For us short naps mean they are behind on sleep.  Once they catch up on sleep (for us, by early bed time) the naps get longer again.  They are almost 2 and this is still true for us!  Not falling asleep but playing quietly means they aren't tired.  Not falling asleep but fussing or waking early means they are over-tired.
 
I think our third nap went away when i could keep them up longer before the second nap and then they slept longer in the afternoon which meant they could make it until bed time.
 
Possible Helpful Suggestion- I often used the car for this 'maybe they do, maybe they don't' period.  I schedule my trips out so they can sleep during this 'maybe' window.  Then the wake up time is definite and they don't sleep too late.. trip's over, nap is over.  
(My DS is the only almost 2 year old, i know who can sleep for 30 minutes from 10:30 to 11 and then go down for a nap (and sleep happily) at 1:00.  He needs a lot of sleep! and this little catch-up opportunity really helps him.)
 
At 5.5 months, it seems early for them to be on 2 naps but every kid is different... if in the past you changed the schedule and they adjusted maybe they will do it again.  between 5 and 8 months is when the 2 or 3 nap schedule should become more consistent.  But some kids never really do 3 naps and go to 2 fairly quickly... not the case for my LOs.
 
Hope it evens out quickly for you.  I hate 45 minute naps!

 

I tried pushing nap #2 back a little yesterday but they were too tired, so I think we're going to be on three naps for a while yet.  Maybe we just need to work out the feeding schedule or something so they don't get hungry during naptime?  Or perhaps they are just not napping well because of a growth spurt.  I'd like to add some more volume to their daytime feedings to hold them a little longer but their tummies can't handle it yet.  Sometimes they take a 6oz bottle and are happy to not eat for four hours, sometimes they take a 6oz bottle and want more two hours later.  Yesterday we got two good naps but today we got only 45 min for all three.