11 months twins hard to settle

[LinaC]

I have always had to hold my hand on my twins, more or less, to help them relax and settle down but lately it has more and more become a struggle to just keep them from sitting up. Is it supposed to be like this or should I let them sit up and then do PD? If I do I'm afraid I will have to be doing it for hours. Now it takes about 5-10 mins for them to fall asleep after I've put them in bed.

6.00-6.30 wake up
9.30-10.30 nap
2.00-3.00 nap
6.30-7.00 asleep

[jessmum46]

They may be in need of a bit of a routine change.  Their A times are on the lower side for their age, but neither of their naps is really restorative (1.5h or more) so either UT or OT could be the culprit.

I would try pushing out their morning nap a little - add ten mins to A time, hold for 3-4 days, then increase again if you're not getting a 1.5h nap.  If you get the longer nap, try the same A time again for the second A and you may need to wake them from the second nap so they are tired enough for BT.  A typical routine might look like:

WU 6am
Nap 10-11.30
Nap 15-15.45/16.00
BT by 7pm

The alternative is to cap their morning nap shorter and bring the pm nap earlier e.g something like

WU 6am
Nap 9-9.45/10
Nap 1-3
BT 7pm

You want to keep the day to a max 13h so if you're getting resistance at BT, you need to shorten your short nap further to fit everything in.  There's a useful link here: 10/ 11mo sleep gone wonky? Read this first!