Need help for ds's naps

[jmoran544]

Here's the schedule:

6:30/:45 wake
10:15-10:45 nap 1
2:00 down for nap 2
7:45 asleep

The problem:

for the last week my lo has not been consistently sleeping during his 2nd nap. He is 13 months old, 11 adjusted

Wed: slept 30 min in am, 30 min in pm- woke up crying hard
Thurs: 30 min am, 1:10 pm (this is what he did the previous two weeks consistently
Fri: 20 min am, 45 pm- woke up crying hard
Sat: 2 hrs am, 30 min pm (wasn't feeling well, most likely the casue for sleeping so long in am)
Sun: 30 min am, hubby put him down 15 min later in pm, he slept 1:10
Mon (today): 30 min am, 30 min pm- woke up crying hard- still not back to sleep after 30 min

WHAT'S GOING ON? WHAT DO I DO NEXT?

[Aly Mac]

Hi there,

by the looks of it he may be having too much A time before each nap and is getting overtired.  But given his age, I might pop this post over to the toddler board, so you can get some more age appropriate advice.

bear with me while I do this for you.

[jmoran544]

Thank you. I would agree, except that he has done this schedule for over a month now. For a while, he was sleeping 30 min in the morning and 2hrs in the afternoon. Only recently he went down to 1:10 in the afternoon. I'm not sure why now he's not sleeping well in the pm.

[skatty]

I was recently having a very similar problem, I was cutting the AM nap but then was mostly getting 30-40 min PM naps too  I decided to let DD sleep longer for her AM nap and she has a catnap on the afternoon. I actually realised she wasn't getting enough A time but seeing as your DS is waking crying it suggests OT. Are you waking him at 30 mins in the AM? I think my DD got used to short naps because I was waking her, she then started to wake from all her naps at around 30 mins until I made the change. I fixed the OT with early bedtimes and once she caught up she increased her A times very quickly. perhaps if you put him down at 10 for his AM nap tomorrow and hope he sleeps well he can catch up on his OT? Do you put him to bed earlier when he has bad naps, it woks a treat for us.

Good luck 

[jmoran544]

DO you mean putting him down at 10am and let him sleep thirty minutes, or are you thinking that 10:15 is too late and causing him to sleep only 30 minutes in the am?

[jmoran544]

Here I am again... I guess I'm confused, now, about which direction to take. The thirty minute am naps seemed to be fine for almost a month, but now they're not? Shouldn't the twins be getting ready for a shorter am nap and a longer pm one? Currently the morning A time is 3.5- 4 hr, their midday A time is 3.25 hours, and their evening time is 4.5 hrs for ds (if he sleeps in the pm) and 4hr for dd. DD seems to have no trouble sleeping either nap no matter what time she goes down, although sometimes she won't fall asleep, if I put her down early, until the scheduled time. And if I let her she'd sleepo a longer am nap. I wake her up when ds wakes up, to keep their pm nap time the same. And I need to put the kids down at the same time or nearly the same time in the pm, so as not to go insane. 15 minutes in either direction I could handle.

Here's their schedule again: (they are 13 months, 11 adjusted)

6:15 dd wakes; 6:45 ds wakes
10:15 nap 1 (30 min)
2:00 nap 2 (dd 1:45; ds, if he sleeps, 1:10)
7:45 asleep*

*If all goes well they both get the same amount of sleep time; dd gets the extra half hour during the pm nap, and ds gets the extra half hour tacked onto his night sleep, that is, unless dd wakes him early (they share the same room)

[pbmom]

I know this is probably not what you want to hear, but when my DD was that age she could never do the recommended A time and still at 2 is not able to pull a long stretch in the am.  So, after I figured that out I realized that she could only handle about 2 1/2 hrs in the am (at 12-13 mos) and I woke her at 7 and she went down at 9:30.  Once I started doing that the naps stretched and she actually slept more for the entire day.  I know it must be difficult with twins, but I know that the OT really caught up with my lo if I didn't go by her biorythm.  Good Luck!

[jmoran544]

pbmom- Thank you for that insight. I've been working to stretch and stretch the A time in the am. I'll try what you suggested. I hope it works! My ppor ds hasn't had a full day's sleep in almost two weeks now.

skatty- Thank you for your insight as well. I think you may be right, that my ds is getting used to only sleeping that long in during the day. I'll do some time tweaking.

[elmarie]

I do agree with pp's that the A time is too long which is causing him to be OT. It does sound like he is making the transition to 1 nap though.... Maybe if he has a 30min am nap put him down for pm nap 2-2.5h A later.  Remember that 30min is not a restful sleep so he may be too tired by the time he gets to pm nap too do a long nap.  I will also do an earlier bedtime especially the days that nap was bad, maybe 6.30 ish..

[jmoran544]

Thanks elmarie. Today, since he already had his 30 min at the regular time, I put him down earlier for his 2nd nap. He fell asleep 10 min earlier- so 1:50 instead of 2:00. It has been 40 min and he is still sleeping. YAY! And the funny thing is that I also put dd down at the same time. She fell asleep around 1:45- and she was the reason the kiddos were going down for their pm nap so late- in the past it was taking her that long to fall asleep. These guys are always keeping me on my toes. 

[elmarie]

Glad it's improving ...keep us posted 

[pbmom]

Yay - improvement...let us know how you get along.

[jmoran544]

Weird goings-on in my household. Last night both kiddos slept from about 8pm til 7:30 am. My dd hasn't done that in ages. Yesterday they both slept longer naps in the am. DD and DS woke at 6:15, we changed them, they fell back to sleep. DD woke at 6:45, and DS slept again from 7-8am. So I oput them both down at 10:30. DD fell asleep right away, and I woke her up after 2 hrs. DS slept for 1:10- he hasn't slept long am naps in a while. SO I gave them both catnaps in the pm- at different times, of course, because they woke up from different length naps.

Do I assume that the loinger am nap helped them sleep longer at night, or is it too soon to jump to that conclusion?

And my new question is, what do I do now? How much A time should they get before the am nap, after, and before bed? What is more important? Putting them down at the same time consistently for their first nap, so as not to encourage early wakings, or A time? (they are almost 14 months, 12 adjusted)

[elmarie]

Yes, if they have enough sleep during the day their nights are going to be more peaceful and longer because they are not OT.    Maybe you can start with reducing the am nap so that the pm nap increases, getting ready for the switch.  You do this by cutting am nap with 15 min every few days until it is down to 30min.  Once it's down to 30min you put them down 2-2.5h A later for pm nap because a 30min nap doesn't make them properly rested and you always have to watch that your lo's don't get OT.  Once you down to 30min you can switch to 1 nap.  Our routine after the switch which has been 4 months still look something like this:

5.30-6am   wake
11ish nap (now 1 1/2-2h)-you have to extend this nap if they wake early.  i find wi/wo works best for us
6pm  in bed asleep

Please read the thread on the 2-1 switch and remember that it is a mine field-we still have bad days  and it does take time so be patient

[jmoran544]

We were back to the 30 am nap again today. They woke at 7:30 and fell asleep for nap #1 at 10:45. DS fell asleep for nap 2 at 1:50 (2.5hrs after 1st nap). I'm hoping they'll both sleep more than an hour. DD is still fussing a little bit. She's moving toward 2.75 after 1st nap.