7mo 9hour nights, 13hours total: can I extend this?

[Anders45]

Oh dear. Today hasn't been as bad, but hubby is home with me today. Here is their schedule

NW 4 gave paci and went back to bed
WU 6 nursed
A
S 8.15
WU 10.30
E
A
S baby b fell asleep at 1.00 in his car seat, WU at like 1.15 baby a fell asleep in his car seat around 2.00 WU at 2.30
E
A it is currently 4.00 here and hubby and I are debating whether to give them another catnap... I think I'll watch extra close and see how they act in the next hour or so.

So they've had like... 2.5 hours of sleep today

[Anders45]

Update: just put the boys to sleep and it's 4.30. But they are asleep! Yay!

[Kellyjs]

I would've done a CN too hun. How did the night go?

Hmmmm I'm really wondering about that second A, the first looks good, but think we need to tweak something there. When they do the 30mins nap, are they waking happy or really cranky? Xx

[Anders45]

They slept really well last night, they fussed a little at 5, but put themselves back to sleep promptly.
WU 7
S 9.30 -
WU 10.15 (we tried for half an hour to get them to fall back alsleep, and they would have nothing to do with it)
S 12.30
WU 2.00
CN 5.30 (I felt so bad, but we were out and about, and they rarely sleep in their car seats, and if they do it isn't very good sleep, but they fell asleep promptly as soon a s we laid them down)
WU 6.00
BT 8.00

I feel like their night sleep is amazing now, but their naps are horrible all of a sudden. They wake up... Wide a wake. Not really cranky, but after an hour of being awake they get really cranky and act tired with yawns, or sleepy eyes and whatnot. so that's when I usually offer them finger foods, and a bath.

Also, I think baby B might be teething. His teeth haven't come in just yet, but his gums were swollen, he's chewing on everything and is drooling quite a bit.

What do you think I should do to tweak their A length? I am fairly certain they need to sleep a little longer. 1.5 seems enough usually although baby b is super happy after a 2hour nap.

[Kellyjs]

This is good news hun. 

I would look at stretching hat first A by another 15mins, classic UT nap going on there! I'm thinking they're definitely showing signs that their sleep needs have dropped considering the nights are better with the rubbish naps. I think if we move the CN sleep to the first nap (as in total length), they'll probably do a lot better. It's all on pushing the A times enough to eliminate the CN xx

[Anders45]

Ok. So 2 hour 45 minute A time then for the first and should I keep the second A time about three hours or extend it too? I'll watch their cues and see what happens. Thank you again. I'll post tonight how today went.

[Kellyjs]

You might have to extend that second A especially of they do take a good nap in the am, hope it goes well. Let me know xx

[Anders45]

K... Today went much better. I am fairly certain now that Baby B is teething because of his unusual grumpiness. No teeth yet, but teething gel is doing wonders ( for about an hour at a time). Anyways, here was the schedule for today!

WU 6.30
EA
S 9.15 (Well... Baby B fell asleep promptly at 9.00 and Baby A stayed up until 9.15) ... (also, I'm fairly certain that Baby A could stay awake longer, but I'm afraid to have them on different schedules because I then have no me time, but he seems to go to sleep really well when I do put him down, so...)
WU 11.30
EAEA
S 2.15 (It was a fight to get Baby B to last this long. He was so grumpy and he was falling asleep on my shoulder jumping between giggling and crying)
WU 3.45
EAEA
CN 5.30 (They didn't sleep, just played in their crib, but they (by they I mean Baby B) weren't crying in the crib and actually seemed somewhat happy. I wonder if he just needed some quiet time. Anyways we pulled them out of the crib around 6.00, fed them some solids, then changed them, nursed, and had them alseep in their crib by 7.00

so.. BT 7.00

Yay! besides the OT/teething grumpiness of Baby B, I think we are doing really good. I mean, he wasn't hard to put to sleep, he was just really grumpy, and he slept 2 ish hours the first time and 1.5 the second. What do you think? Should I try to keep this schedule for the next couple of days, or should I try to extend the second activity time a little further? I know that it was only 2 hours and 45 minutes, but they seemed to do well with it.

[Kellyjs]

Yay, good day! I'd stick with it for a couple of days hun. It may need tweaking again, but i think we should give them chance to get used to it. We'd only need a small increase in time to get rid of that CN which they obviously are saying they don't need anymore when they take decent naps.

I'd try ibuprofen for teeth hun, it works really well for teeth. So much better than teething gel and paracetamol. Maybe just medicate 20mi s before naps and BT and see if that helps the grumpiness? Xx

[Anders45]

K. Yesterday went really well (except the part where I tried to change baby A's poopy diaper half hour into his nap. He did go back to sleep, but not easily). Schedule was essentially the same as the day before and they didn't ask for a cat nap. Yay!

[Anders45]

The boys woke up at 6.00 today. They ate, we played outside and when 8.30 rolled around they were getting tired. So I changed their diapers fed them and put them down for their nap around 9. Ten minutes later baby A wakes up bright eyed and bushy tailed. I swaddled him, shoosh patted until he was almost asleep/looked like he'd fall asleep. Put him down and his eyes were wide open, didn't look sleepy at all. But he was acting really tired all yawns and stuff before. And he'd been awake for three hours. What happened? Is it possible he woke up because he was hungry maybe? He did fall asleep while nursing. Are they maybe waking up because eating has always been at the beginning of Atime and so eating triggers them to wake up? Thanks again for your help. Baby B woke up half an hour later, p.s.

[Kellyjs]

So a short am nap for baby B too? And they both woke happy?

Perhaps let's look at extending that first A by another 10mins hun and keep the rest as is? Wdyt? Xx

[Anders45]

They get so grumpy though around that three hour time, like they are super tired. Are they just getting used to being awake this long? I think I'll try that tomorrow. Wish me luck!

[Kellyjs]

Good luck! Sometimes it can be learned behaviour. I had that with DD too. A change of scenery usually helped like going outside if the weather is ok where you are atm? Keep me posted xx

[Anders45]

Yesterday.... Ugh... So here is the outline:

WU 6
EA
S 8.30 -though as soon as I laid them down they just wanted to play, so I fed baby B, then Baby A. They fell asleep around 9.00
WU 9.30 baby A woke up at 9.30, baby B woke up at 10.30
EAEA
S 1.00 I put them in their crib at 1.00, and it was closer to 1.30 that they fell asleep.
WU 3.00
EA
CN 5.15 they were acting grumpy and I was so tired... So I gave in. They would have slept another two hours had I let them I think. They were sound asleep when we went in
WU 5.45
EAE
BT 8.00 -they didn't fall asleep until after their "dream feed", so 9.30

I'm not sure what happened, unless the CN happened. Also, try as I may, baby A always falls asleep while nursing when I feed him before his nap. I can plan it fifteen minutes before, but he'll still fall asleep. Should I feed him earlier, or just try harder to keep him awake? I think he may be starting to use me as a prop...