6.5 month old twins short naps

[Helen25]

Hi there,

I'm not sure if this is a nap problem or a NW one. I have previously posted on the NW forum and Erin gave me some really good advice. I have 6.5 month old twin boys and their routine is as follows:

A - 7am (6oz bottle)
   - 8am breakfast (they are not taking to weaning very well - one is OK, but the other is refusing all solids)
S - 9:30
A - 10/10;15
E - 11 (7oz bottle)
   - 12 - try offering food - generally rejected
S - 1pm
A - 2/2:30  (have to get them up at 2:30 anyway to collect daughter from nursery - sometimes they sleep again in the car)
E - 3:30 - 4 depends on time I get back from pick-up - 7oz
S - 5 -  30mins max - I wake them in case they won't go to sleep at night
E - 6:30 - 7oz
Bed - 7

They still have a 10pm feed (7oz) and wake for it and still have about 2oz at about 2:30 - 3am

I feel that their day can be disrupted and I have to wake them, which I don't like doing, but have little choice. In all they're prom getting 2.5-3.5 hours sleep per day. Do you think it's too little? I could try to give them 2 sleeps of 1.5 - 2 hrs and cut out catnap, but how would that affect feeding times and I would have to disturb the pm one at some point for nursery pick-up (which can take up to an hour). They're big boys have slept through a couple of times, but when one wakes so does the other. I think I'll tackle one thing at a time though...

I'd be grateful for any help on this one!

Helen

[txaggiemama]

Hi! I definitely don't have all the answers, just wanted to comment since I'm in the same boat with my 6 mo DD right now! We finally got down to just one feed at night then she started doing short naps again. What seemed to help today was tweaking her A times. What I've heard on other posts is that 30min naps are OT and 45min naps are UT and 1.5 are restorative (the goal). So maybe the first A time they're ready for more around 2 hr 45 min? (Somebody correct me if I'm wrong!)

Just some ideas from a mom going through the same thing! Hope it helps 

[Helen25]

Thanks for this. I did wonder about trying to extend that first a time, but I'm not sure if they're doing 30mins or 45! I'll have to set up the monitor again and time it properly.

Completely messed everything up today though as for some completely unknown reason, my bedside clock said that it was 6:30 when in fact it was only 4:30. I ended up waking the boys at 7:30 (really 5:30) giving them a full feed, getting my husband up, making tea, then my 3 year old woke up too. It was only when everyone was downstairs that I saw that the 'real' time was only 6:30! It's going to be a long day...

But maybe it'll trigger a change - ironically the boys were on their way to sleeping through the night.

What routine are you on?

H

[txaggiemama]

Oh wow, that stinks about the clock messing up! But maybe it will help in some way

Just an observation I've made with my DD, anytime I adjust her A time it usually takes a day or two for me to see the effects. This was frustrating to me at first because of course you want instant results, but now it helps if I go into it with the mind set that it will take a bit!

Our ideal easy:
E 8
A
S 10:30 (tried to stretch this A time out but she didn't do well)
E 12
A
S 2:45
E 4
A
S 6 (30 min cat nap)
E 7:30
BT 8
Dream feed 11
Sometimes E at 3 depending on the night...

This varies day by day depending on what time she wakes up. Let me know how your boys do with the a time changes!

[Helen25]

I did try to look on the positive side, but no evidence that anything has changed yet! I also forgot to put them to bed later this morning so we had only 30mins sleep again. We'll try again tomorrow.

Your timings are very similar to ours, but we're an hour behind you and because they're only sleeping for about 30mins in the morning, their next S is at 1pm, which is about 3 hours after their last wake time. Just had to resettle them both after 1 hour in their afternoon nap to try and stretch it to 3. Don't think it's worked!

Are you weaning too? I thought things would be much easier second time around, but they're not! How much do you feed in the night?

[txaggiemama]

Sorry for a late reply! It's been a busy past two days. Have things improved any on your end?

We just started solids last week and she's doing really well on them. She's been EBF up until now, but still primarily BF. At night if she wakes to nurse it's usually only for 10-15 mins, so I know it's not a full feed. Last night I tried to substitute the feed with the paci and she went back down, but woke an hour later so I fed and she went back down for another 5 hrs. She's started early wakings over the past few days along with shorter naps  So I think she's showing signs of being ready to drop her cat nap. Not really looking forward to that since she's typically fussy in the evenings.

I've heard every baby is different and what works the first time doesn't always work the next. I guess that's to keep us mamas humble, huh? Haha. I hope things start to improve for y'all!

[Helen25]

Hi again and sorry for not posting sooner - parents visiting etc.

Every baby is different and that's the problem!! Especially when they're twins. It drives me nuts!

Boys are doing OK. We've stuck to the nap time of around 9:30 as quite often one will wake between 6 and 6:30, so 3 hours is about all they can manage. They seem to be sleeping for longer now and go for at least 45 mins to an hour so i think we're heading in the right direction. They're still back in bed by 1:30 for an hour to an hour and a half, then they're pretty exhausted still by 5, so they still have a catnap, but I think they've been in quite a deep sleep, so I've had to wake them.

That could be causing the early waking... but we have had some nights of sleeping through (from dream feed), but of course both caught colds and have conjunctivitis, so not firing on all cylinders anyway. And sometimes one sleeps through and not the other. And so on.

Still not big fans of food.

I'm going to stop moaning about them now and of course I love them dearly.

Just wish they'd eat properly, sleep consistently well and be happy ALL the time.
And not yell so much. Or so loudly.