Please help us break this cycle

[jrmommyx2]

I am struggling to get my 3 year old twins back on their normal routine. We had a busy long weekend of family, parties, and late nights. My kiddies are good sleepers, always have been! As they have gotten older they are pretty good about dealing with a crazy day here or there and getting back on track with no problem... This time is different though... we seem to be stuck in late night, late morning, late nap pattern and can't get out! Our normal routine looks like this:

7ish wake up (I had been waking them to preserve the nap)
1-2 nap (sometimes sleep the whole time, sometimes part of the time- waking them to preserve bedtime)
7:30 bedtime (asleep before or by 8pm)

so essentially they were sleeping about 11 at night and 1/2- 1 hour during the day. This was working great! Now we are stuck with a late bedtime- 9pm on average (a few nights a little earlier a  few nights a little later!) The problem is, I don't want to wake them at 7, because it is too short of a night... So I have been waking them at 8am (probably would sleep even later if I let them!) The problem with the late wake up is that they aren't ready for a nap until later, which then means a late bedtime again! Do you see where this is going??? I can't seem to get them back to sleeping a good amount without being on a "late" schedule... which I don't want! Anyone have any suggestions for us? It is actually more my DD then my DS and her lack of sleep/normal routine is creating monster behavior issues!!! I would greatly appreciate some help with this one!

[~inbalance~]

I think you would either have to wake them at 7 to try and get back on track, or cut the nap right down to 30mins or less to get bedtime back to normal.  Do you think that would work?

[jrmommyx2]

Yeah, I think that may be the only way to do it... I guess I have been focusing on trying to get them caught up a little. It just seemed like a 9-10 hour night is so low for them and I'm afraid without a little catch up her behavior is going to get worse and worse, iykwim?! My other thought was to let them sleep as late as they want in the am and then skip the nap and do an early bedtime... But I'm afraid that not putting them down for a nap will give them the idea that is it ok to not nap.... which I definitely don't want them giving up until the last possible moment!!!! I guess I'll wake them at 7 tomorrow and see how it goes... Thanks! Any suggestions on how to get them caught up a little with out it throwing their schedule off again? I know we are going to get back on track just in time for us to go on vacation and screw it all up again!!!

[jrmommyx2]

So I'm a little stumped now... I am thinking OT, but she's got me confused... I did wake her yesterday morning and and she went down for a nap great and bedtime was pretty good. She went in at 7:45 and was asleep a little before 8:30 ( not great, but much better than the last week!) So today, again, I woke her at 7:15 this am, we were out at a friend's swimming, which meant no nap unless she fell asleep in the car on the way home- which she did, but only for 15 min if the 45 min drive! I actually thought this would be great for an early bedtime tonight. She was in bed at 6:45... now it is 8pm and she is still awake!?!?!?!? DS slept almost the whole way home, so I knew he wouldn't fall asleep that early- But I did put him to bed at the same time... of course, he fell asleep!!!! What is going on with her? It has got to be OT, don't you think? Where should I go from here? I'm starting to panic, as getting back on track has never been quite this hard... and as we are leaving for vacation next week, I was really hoping to go into it well rested... God knows we'll have a mess coming out of it!

*** It is now 8:50 and she is still up!!!!! Other then 15 minutes of sleep in the car from 1:45-2:00pm, she has been up since 7:15 this am!!! So I need some help for tomorrow... Should I still wake her in the am? Should I nap her earlier? How long should I let her sleep? What time should I do bedtime??? Why do I feel like I don't know what to do?

[~inbalance~]

Oh I think she must have been OT with only a 15min car nap all day.   

Ok, I would wake her in the morning but do a slightly earlier nap and maybe make it a bit longer to get her caught up, then normal bedtime.  So maybe:
awake 7am
nap 12:30-2
bed 7:30
And if possible try not to go to any activities where she might nap in the car again.

I hate it when I'm certain my LOs will sleep in the car and they don't! 

[jrmommyx2]

Thanks Martina, I will try that! The poor thing finally cried herself to sleep a little before 9:30!!!! I had a not so good mommy moment last night that ended with me taking everything out of her bed... including her lovey at one point Not one of my finer moments... She only cried for a few minutes, but I just feel awful... I know she couldn't help not falling asleep quickly. We have no plans tomorrow (other than get some sleep into that girl!) Keeping my fingers crossed that this will work...

[~inbalance~]

We mommies are only human too, don't be too hard on yourself.  Tomorrow (or today ) is another day.  Hope she gets back on track soon! 

[jrmommyx2]

Well... We had partial success today! I woke her at 7:15 and put her down for a nap at 12:20, she was asleep within 10 minutes and when I went in to get her at 2:05, she was just waking up! I made sure she had a very active afternoon, we swam and played outside. She was in bed at 7:30... but it is now 8:10 and she is just talking away **sigh** What do you think?

[~inbalance~]

Sigh is right....tonight sounds like UT.  :-/  Thinking the nap was a tad too long maybe?

[jrmommyx2]

Ok, so it wasn't as bad as I was thinking it was going to be! I went in at 8:10 and told her she needed to close her eyes and go to sleep... to my surprise, the talking actually did FINALLY stop! She probably fell asleep between 8:15 and 8:30- Pretty good after a much needed longer nap! So, what do you think I should do for tomorrow's nap. I still think she has a little more catching up to do, but I don't want to push it. What if I wake her around 7am and do a 12:45 nap, wake by 2 and then bedtime at 7:45?

[~inbalance~]

Yes, I would try that.  Sounds like a good plan. 

[jrmommyx2]

I think we are turning a corner... finally!! Again today, I woke her at 7:15. I was planning on that 12:45 nap, but it was actually 1pm when I put her in. She fell asleep pretty quickly and I woke both her at 2:10. In bed at 7:50 tonight. They were literally in the pool for 2 hours straight this afternoon- swimming with floaties, so I was expecting them to be asleep within minutes. It was more like 20 minutes, but I'll take it! Bedtime is still a tad later then I really want, but I guess I have to deal with it if I still want that hour nap! Thanks for the tweaking help! We leave for vacation at the end of this week... So I'm sure I'll be back!

[~inbalance~]

You know, I find my 3yo can run around outside all day and still take awhile to fall asleep when I think he should just be exhausted.  Today we skipped his nap and I thought he'd be shattered, but he was his usual chatty self at bedtime.    I think part of it is just the age. 

Have a great vacation, make sure you enjoy yourselves and don't stress too much about sleep! 

[jrmommyx2]

Thanks! I hear ya on the enjoying vacation part! When do we moms not stress about sleep??? We go from mommas to little ones and all we want them to do is sleep to one day mommas to teenagers, and all we'll want is them to wake up!!