What is going on with their naps? Geesh!

My twins will be 1 next week and I’m struggling with their recent napping issues. What is going on with them? Seriously!!! They are nuts lately. I worked very hard early on to get them on a schedule and it was working for us up till about a week ago. Any ideas?

6:30am ish – awake

Super cranky and winey starting at about 9am, but I can usually hold them off painfully till about 9:30 – if I put them to bed at 9:00, they scream and cry for over an hour and it’s unbearable.

9:30 ish – 1st nap (lately not been falling asleep till about 10/10:15am). Read a book, sing a song, play soft music and some white noise. In (separate) cribs by 9:45.

11am – awake

Start to get winey around 1:15 – but again, if I put them to bed then, holy hell is raised.

1:40 ish – 2nd nap (lately not been falling asleep till about 3:00pm!). As always, we wind down by reading a book, singing a few song, play soft music and some white noise. In (separate) cribs by 2:00. Mostly my Son because my daughter usually is quiet…and I think sleeping because I hear only him.

If they are still sleeping at 3:45, I wake them to preserve our bedtime of 7pm. This is a must for us so we can spend time with our 4 year old before she goes to bed.

7:00pm in cribs with minimal fussing, for the most part.

What do you see that is glaring here? I can’t think of a thing…except are they getting ready for going to 1 nap? But they are so tired and cranky by 10am…I can’t imagine keeping them up for another hour and moving up the 2nd nap to like 11:30ish….if that is the case, how do you squeeze in lunch??

This is nuts…any ideas would be appreciated.

 

it sounds to me like they're already overtired when you're putting them down for their naps which is why it takes even longer for them to fall asleep.

have you tried starting your soothing routine earlier? i would try that for a week or so & then reevaluate.

 

I'm thinking the same thing as Rachel. When do they first start showing tired signs? I would try to do some quiet time before naptime. I noticed with my two that 30 minutes of quiet time before nap and bedtime helps them ease into sleep easier, so I turn the TV off, we read and do quiet things and then go up for sleep.

 

When my guys were your LOs age, I had them on a 2-3-4 schedule. They would wake at 7:30, nap at 9:30 (2 hours after they woke), and nap again at around 2 (3 hours after they woke from their nap). Then I'd put them down at 7:30-8, which was 4 hours after they woke from their afternoon nap. I would try putting your LOs down earlier (8:30-9 if they wake at 6:30) and see how that works!

Good luck!

 

I would also try the 2-3-4 routine. It didn't work for us, ours did better on a 2.5/3.5/3.5 routine. Try tinkering with the timing a bit and see if it helps

 

I also try and keep mine on the 2/3/4 schedule...however, they have been waking up later these days so it's usually a 2/2.5/2.5 schedule. I can tell you that mine started fighting their naps right around 12 months. I was losing my mind so I just kept putting them down, it took a while but they finally got back into their routine. We still sometimes have problems with the afternoon nap and might skip it every once in a while but the next day they are even more tired and more likely to take it. Hopefully it's just a phase and they will go back to their regular routine.