WWYD?

So they turn one tomorrow!! But their sleeping has taken a wrong turn somewhere. They used to be fairly consistent with getting up at around 7-7P30am which I can most definately handle. Then they would get tired after some play following breakfast. I'd take them upstairs, change them and nurse them to sleep somewhere between 9:30-10am. They'd nap for a while then be up around 11-11:30am depending on whether they were truly asleep when I lay them down or if they needed alittle extra quiet time. OK then the next nap would come around 2-3pm when I'd start to see tired signs. Same routine, take them upstairs, change and nurse then lay them down. They'd sleep til about 4pm maybe. Then bed after bath, teeth, changing and nursing by 7-7:30pm.

SO....NOW! They get up before 7am, usually around 6:15am or so, although I TRY not to go in until at least 7am just to prove my point to them that they WILL sleep til 7am Then the breakfast routine and then they give me the tired signs as usual and we go through the nap routine, only now, they NEVER nurse to sleep. It's like my body produces Mountain Dew! They get right up and want to go play and get loud again, but I lay them down and tell them it's nap time, etc... Then they proceed to hang out and make noises for on average about an hour and half. Usually it's not too fussy, just them NOT sleeping or really resting for that matter too much. So, the first 'nap' usually ends around 12-12:30pm with them only sleeping about 45 minutes. Then the afternoon stuff happens and nap again around 2-3pm when they give me signs. I get to nursing them to sleep in the nap routine and the same thing happens...they want to get up and don't seem SUPER tired, even after a short moring nap. So, I lay them down and they finally sleep around 4pm sometimes. Which pushes our bedtime routine back to and 8 pm bedtime! Then, thwy wake up earlier!!!

So for those of you who stuck through all that...WWYD?! Switch to one nap already?! What if one is ready and the other isn't?! How hard will THAT be?!

TIA to anyone who has advice...I need it.

ETA: edited to take out that silly 8 pm guy

 

If your having this much trouble with their sleeping it probably wouldn't hurt to try one nap and see how they do with it. My girls were around 10 months when they went to one nap. Everyone else was talking about how their kids were doing the two nap thing, and everything I was reading was saying that they should be taking two naps until they are a year or older--but noooo, not mine. They would just sit in their cribs and talk to each other and play--but never sleep. Their sleeping was all screwed up--so I tried the one nap thing and it worked. It took us about a week or so to get their naptime adjusted to 12:00, but then they slept for 3 hours. Even now, they are on about the same schedule. They have always went to bed around 8:00 p.m. and get up around 7:45 to 8:00 in the morning.

 

Thank goodness there's hope! I think I'll try to make the switch this week and see how it goes. Everyone I talk to says their kids are still napping two times a day and are way over a year. I wouldn't mind one long nap a day I just have to get DS to jump on board with that. He seems to like sleep more than DD. Thanks!

 

Our girls turned 1 on Wednesday and they're doing the SAME thing with their sleeping. Up at 6 or 6:30, not tired again until almost 11 and napping until 12:30 or 1:00 PM (sometimes much later if they play and play before they go to sleep). So, IF they take a 2nd nap, they usually aren't asleep until 4:00 or 4:30, which has them up at 6:00PM and ready to play! They haven't been going to bed for the night til 9:00 or later lately. I KNOW they need more sleep and I KNOW I need more me time. I'm hoping to be able to hold off that first nap a little longer each day until they get into a habit of making it a nice LOONNNGGG nap and then trying to keep them up until a more reasonable bedtime like 7:00 PM (heck, I'd be happy with 7:30 or 8:00 at this point!). I am very interested to see what kinds of suggestions you get!

 

I think 1 nap at age 1 is not sufficient. I've many friends, some kids were only napping once at 11 months and at 15 months or so it started backfiring. I personally feel that they go through stages, sometimes they nap well in the morning, and then another week they don't. However, for me it's not a reason to stop putting them down. I just try again for a little longer and see how it goes.

My twins wake around 7 am, go back down at 9.15 am ... the longer I wait, the more tired they are (although they don't necessarily appear overtired), the more trouble they have getting back to sleep at all. So I put them down 9.15 am or not at all (they can manage without a nap, but not consistently). They don't necessarily appear tired but I still put them down, and they usually sleep for 45 min - 1 hour (I expect them to drop it completely within 1-3 months or so). I just don't want to put them down at 11 am or so, then my morning (and their morning) is ruined. The 9 am and 1 pm nap thing has worked well with all 3 kids.

I always followed HSHHC (also b/c he was our ped while we lived in the US). I want my kids to go down at 7 pm at the latest (my oldest goes a little later) and not at 9 or 10 pm. Also after almost 4 years of motherhood I know most kids nap somewhere between 1 and 3 in the afternoon, so in order to have some social life (for me and for them) it works best to have them on a similar schedule. It allows me to follow classes, meet up with friends, etc. Now they're out of bed at 10.15 am or so which still gives me a couple of hours in the morning to do stuff.

 

FWIW my kids NEVER EVER took 2 naps - from the time they were infants and we sort of fell into a schedule (around 5-6 mos or so) they'd nap from approximately 10 am to about noon ish and as they got older its evolved to where they now nap from about 12:30 ish til about 2 ish on a short day and up to 3:30 on a good one - some kids just don't need that 2nd nap...my son wakes up terribly if he sleeps too late in the afternoon - hence the one nap and he's good to go all day!

 

We are just going through this as well. I have been doing the AM nap as usual but they seem to play around and fall asleep later and the second nap ends up being later then too. My rule is if it is after 4pm I skip the second nap and go to bed earlier. I hope they get over this soon, although they do OK with one nap by 5pm they are looney toons, or rather I am... :crazy:

 

We went to one nap around 13-14 months. When we first made the switch, the nap would be at 10:30, with lunch after nap. Then we switched to lunch first, nap at 12:00, and it's gradually moved back to nap at 1:00. If things aren't working as they are, there is no harm in trying to make a change.

 

I could have written your post!
Mine turned 1 on 2/2...and have been fighting the morning nap for about 2 weeks. We're under construction, which is not helping...so I started letting them skip it. Some days it worked great...some days it was an absolute disaster trying to get to 1pm. Yesterday they went down at 2pm and slept 1 1/2 hours...today, by 11am they were little puddles so I put them down at 11 and they are still asleep at 12...the rest of the day is a crap shoot.

I think the irregularity is just them maturing and not needing as much sleep. I do, however, think they need a morning nap some days of the week during this transition.

SO, I think I'm going to try to do it every other day????

Who knows.
I hope the transition works well for you...
Thanks so much!
Jolene

 

So this morning I tried to put them down early after breakfast (9am) without nursing to see if I had been waiting too long to put them down for that first nap, but neither of them was going for that. They didn't need the nursing so much as they weren't tired yet I guess. Evan was giving me such tired signs at breakfast even. <_< So I waited an hour (10am) and they were still giving me the signs so I nursed them and then laid them down. Evan is just NOW asleep over an hour later (now 11:15am) and he's the one that usually sleeps more!! Since they have been moving this way for several weeks, I've decided to try the switch but tomorrow is their 12 month doctors visit at NOON so I think maybe I'll start this one nap thing next week when DH is out of town and we'll be staying home everyday! Like THAT'S rare with all the snow we're getting and the long dark days! Thanks for all the advice thus far!

ETA: For the longest time I just thought they liked the quiet time in their cribs without me around, it was good for them and it used to only take about 30 minutes of chat or quiet play for them to conk out completely most days. But it has just progressed to the point where I feel like I'm missing out on being with them and they with me for those, NOW, couple HOURS a day where they just sit up there not sleeping. I hope this works!!

 

We switched to one nap early (before their 1st bday). We LOVE 1 nap. It works great for our family.

 

QUOTE(Snittens @ Feb 4 2008, 10:19 AM) [snapback]604466[/snapback]
When we first made the switch, the nap would be at 10:30, with lunch after nap. Then we switched to lunch first, nap at 12:00, and it's gradually moved back to nap at 1:00. If things aren't working as they are, there is no harm in trying to make a change.



This is really close to how our girls did. We began putting them down at 11:00 and it just naturally progressed to what it is now, which is 1:00. We, too, did the lunch after nap, and now do lunch before nap.

Please keep us updated sitkamom, I'm curious as to how they do!!

 

We're still trying two naps...even though they push them back...for a little while longer. Today was nice, they got up a little before 7 but I let them hang out in their cribs til 7 then I laid them down a little after 9:30 and they were sleeping in less than an hour which is progress. Then we had their 12 month visit at the doc and some shots around 1pm, came home had lunch and then I laid them down again at around 3 and they were conked out around 4pm.

I think two naps might still work around here if I can just get my a$& out of bed in the morning early enough to get them tired by 9-10am. So, they're still trying two naps for now. But I can see in the not-too-distant future one nap. I will let you know when and how we go about it! Thanks for the support