OK, so I tried the last few days to wake the twins (10 months) early from their am nap in order to get a longer pm nap out of them. Well, they were OK, but not quite their bouyant selves. They went down well 3 hrs later for their pm nap, woke at the 30 min mark crying/whining, but put themselves back to sleep within 10 min. Problem was dd was so tired by 6pm (they slept from 1:30-3:00), and we couldn't put her down until 6:30--they share a room and this is how things have to be because of timing with dh getting home from work and helping with bedtime. Dd woke between 2-2:30am, crying. She put herself back to sleep. Then ds woke at 5:35, which was normal, except that he, of course, woke dd, who sounded like she could have slept a little longer.
So today, after their 5:35 wake up, I put them down around 9:15, about 3hr 45min after waking- which we have been doing for two weeks now and so far has worked (keep in mind I just started waking them early from naps 3 days ago). But then dd woke up crying hard after 30 min- not like her- and she woke up ds (they sleep in separate rooms for naps). Normally if anyone is to wake early it's ds. So I got them up, thinking that we could just go down for a pm nap earlier, like around 1:00. WELL! Dd started to tantrum around 15 min later. I gave her a bottle thinking it would help. It helped for about 5 min. Then both dd and ds started crying hard, to the point that holding them wouldn't soothe them. And I have two at once so it's hard to do, anyway. So I put them back to bed. 20 min hard crying and they are now asleep.
SOooo what I'm thinking is I will let them sleep as long as they need in the am, and go for a catnap in the pm. Trouble is I don't know when to put them down for a nap in the am, to ensure they sleep longer, but don't encourage early wakeups--or earlier than 5:30am-- or cause them to be overtired and wake at 30 min.
HELP
