Catnaps...Help!

[momsquared]

I have 7 1/2 month old twins who don't sleep near as much as they should. One of the boys will only cat nap during the day (like 30 mins tops) we sleep between every feed (3 hours) but only for 30mins or so. Any advise on how to get them to sleep longer? Could really use some help..... Thanks...

[empowered mama]

hi there

could you post your routine in EASY format so we can take a look? 

For example:

E - 7:00
A - 7:30
S - 9:30
etc...

[momsquared]

sure
wake up at 5-5:30 and eat then up for about half an hour to an hour
Wake at 8
eat cereal at 8:30 then bottle at 9
a- till 10-10:30
s- for about 30 mins
e- 12:00
a- 12:30
s - 1:30
e - 3:00
a - 3:30
s - 5:00 for about 20-30 mins
e - 6:00
a - 6;30
eat cereal at 8 then bath then bottle then bed. Usually asleep by 9....
one of the boys will wake several time during the night but we just put him back to sleep , we usually have to wake the other boy to eat at 5:30am

[empowered mama]

a few things here are popping out to me....

Starting at 4 months, LOs are typically put on a feeding schedule of every 4 hours.  The theory is that if they are eating more often, they can develop the tendency to snack and therefore not take a full feed which could potentially cause them to wake hungry.  Is there a reason they are on a 3 hour rhythm?

Also it appears that you could increase the A time as LOs of this age are typically getting 3 or more hours of activity time.  They are likely not tired enough to take a long nap, so what you could try is to slowly push out that first A time by about 10-15 minutes until you get closer to what they should be getting.  This *might* potentially get rid of your 5:30 waking as well - however it sounds like you are waking them to feed - is that right?

HTH!

[momsquared]

well they are still on a 3 hour schedule because of the nicu (they were 9 weeks preemie), and we havne't changed since. I do wake on of the boys at 5:30 but i have to as i want to keep them on the schedule (a mom of multiples) i have tried to delay the activitiy time but they sometime can't make it two hours in the morning of a time, cuase they will start to get really crabby. i wanted today to try delaying the feeding time up only got to half an hour longer as they got fairly crabby again... I even tried to feed them baby food and just delay the milk. They aren't snacking as they eat full bottles every 3 hours.
I will try to keep delaying feeding to see if this helps and as try to delay the a time