2-1 nap transition for my twins

[schellkm]

My boy/girl twins are 16 months old. She is dropping down to one nap, however is waking up frequently at night (10:30 and 5:00 every night). He still wants to take 2 naps and sleeps through the night. She tends to take one long nap in the morning and will not go down in the afternoon so is overtired at bedtime. Should I wake her up early from morning nap and try an afternoon nap too? Or should I put her down for bed earlier than him? Here is their typical routine since our American daylight saving time change.

S: Awake 7:30
E: Bottle 7:30
    Breakfast 8:00
S: Nap 10:30 -12, 12:30
E: Lunch 12:30
S: Nap (him only) 2:30-3:30
E: Bottle 3, 3:30
    Snack 4:00
    Dinner 5:30
E: Bath 6:30
e: Bottle 7:00
S: Bed 7:30
 

[~Karen~]

You can either try cutting her morning nap in order to get a pm nap in or yes, I'd put her to bed earlier than him, prob about 630pm.

[my3girlsjde]

{{{HUGS}}} I had the pleasure of mine being identical with their sleep needs for the most part so I wasn't faced with different naps like you are. I can imagine the challenge of it all.

I agree with Karen, cutting your DD's nap in the morning so she'd take that afternoon nap and save you trying to schedule two different needs and one of them being ot, kwim?

[momtonb&ab]

i am totally with vicki on this one.... and don't be afraid to try and get they both to do one nap.  by 16 months he may just be an angel sleeper and if you switch him to one long nap he will be fine.  (that is what happened to us here with DS - DD was ready but DS seemed not to be, but i had to try and he just adjusted beautifully!)

[my3girlsjde]

Oh, just wanted to jump back on and remind you not to expect immediate dramatic results when you change sleep. It can take several tries to get your true result iykwim. Just remember to be consistent

[schellkm]

I tried cutting her first nap to 1 hour and she still would not take an afternoon nap. Put her to bed no problem at 7 and she has awoken once so far at 9. Even when he takes a long nap in the morning, he still wants a catnap in the afternoon so I don't think he's ready for just 1 nap yet. I think she would take her one nap a little later in the day, but I was trying to get a break by putting them down at same time. I'd rather get some sleep at night, however. Her sleep cues are harder to read than his. Maybe I'll try putting her down for her nap a little later and letting her sleep as long as she wants. Then still put her down earlier at 7. I know it's a process, just frustrating when you can't figure out what would work best.

[~Karen~]

An hour's probably too long.  Was thinking more like 30 mins....

[momtonb&ab]

With us we thought sure our little guy wasnt ready because he just slept whenever.  But when we tried him ( we planned to do it for a week and revert back if he was a mess) but he handled it beautifully.

[twinmum1]

I had the same experience as Cherie.  Even though my DS seemed to love his 2 naps he adjusted brilliantly to only one when my DD had begun to refuse the second nap. Initially I gave them a super early lunch and the nap just after 11am. Within a couple of weeks they were both sleeping for 3 hours and until that point they would have a cat nap in the buggy at 4ish if they needed to.  The transition actually went pretty well, despite me stressing about it for weeks beforehand.

[schellkm]

First night was rough, still waking up 4 times. Next day I just let her take long nap in morning and put her bed early and she only woke up once. Today she didn't act tired until after lunch so she had her one nap in afternoon. Still only 2 hours, but we'll see how tonight goes. I don't think he is ready for one nap yet because he is just done by 10:30 and needs to go down. If I wake him up early from first nap he doesn't eat much for lunch. Don't want to mess with him too much since he sleeps through the night. They wil get back on the same schedule soon enough.

[momtonb&ab]

Still only 2 hours, but we'll see how tonight goes.

for what it is worth, we never did long glorious 3 + hour naps like other LOs, 2 hours was basically our maximum no matter what.

[schellkm]

Had a horrible few days and took her to the doctor over it. Everything is fine so discussed taking her off cow's milk to see if it was allergy related. Now back to taking two naps during the day and going to bed at 7:30. She can put herself back to sleep at night and is sleeping more peacefully, but is waking consistently at 5:30 crying. Tried giving her some water and toys but she doesn't want to stay in her crib. Any ideas?

[momtonb&ab]

how long are her daytime naps?  i can't help but wonder if she is is really needing that one nap.....