refuse a 3rd nap

[grahan]

I have twin girls that are 4 and 1/2 months old.  I have only just begun to really get educated on the EASY system and I love the plan.  We've kind of been on a similar type "schedule" for about 2 weeks.  I've been feeding them shortly after waking, then we have a little play time then they are down for a nap 2 hours after they woke.  My problem is that the morning nap typically goes from 9 a.m. until 11:00.  So, nap #2 would start at 1:00.  The problem is that one of them always wakes from this nap after less than an hour and are then they are UP.  There is no going back to sleep either once they are up.  I usually let them cry/fuss for 15 minutes and go in when it turns into a full on cry and I know they are not going back to sleep.  So, since they are up at 2,  I try another nap at 4.  They NEVER will go to sleep at that nap... never!  So, they'll be up from 2 until 7 when they go to sleep for the night.  They sleep from 7:15 ish until 4 or 5 a.m.  Then they go back down until 6:30 or 7 ish.  Could they possibly need more awake time in between nap #1 and nap # 2?  Or should I keep trying with the #3 nap and hope that they eventually take a short one.  I just think that 5 hours of awake time is a lot for them and they get cranky at about 5:30.     

[mommy2mason]

Congrats on twins! It sounds like you've already got a great start on their routine! When the one wakes from the 2nd nap at less than an hour, does she usually wake after 45 minutes? If so, this is very common as some LO's have trouble getting back to sleep after waking from the first sleep cycle which is 45 minutes long. My LO was stuck on 45 minute naps from about 3-6 months. But it's great that you're getting a good first nap! Many times an increase in A time before the nap can help get them tired enough to sleep past the 45 minute mark. You could try an extra 15 minutes A time and see if it helps. Whenever I added A time like this, I just kept everything very low-key and spent it as quiet time either playing with soft toys, looking at books, or singing. It usually takes a few days to see a difference so if you do add some A time stick with it for a bit and see if it helps. The other thing I can think of about them refusing the 3rd nap is that they may be overtired. Since they didn't get a good 2nd nap they may not be able to handle the full amount of A time before needing that 3rd nap so I would try putting them down a bit earlier. 5 hours of A time before bed is pretty long for their age. When we dropped the 3rd nap at 7 months it was still pretty long for my LO and if he had short naps there were many times he was in bed at 5:30! Could you also try an earlier bedtime? I know I was always afraid that my LO would wake really early the next morning but he never did and always did really well with early bedtimes when he had short naps.

Hope all of this makes some sense!
Amy

[brenda2]

hi
i agree with pp on both increasing the A times a touch before nap #2, and if it's still short reducing A times before you try for nap #3.  also agree if nap #3 never happens do an early bedtime.