"set" nap times vs. flexible?

[Sarah O]

Hi guys,

I'm wondering what you all do regarding nap times.  I've always just followed the babies' cues before, regardless of what hour it is since there seems to be so much variation all the time.  But we're still battling the 45 minute monster and they're now 6 months old!!!  I'm wondering how long this can possibly go on for, and thinking that maybe if I tried set nap times it would make a difference?  We've been on EASY since 3 months, but it's never been a schedule, just an order of things...wakeup time used to be consistent at 7 am and bedtime at 7pm but there have always been phases where suddenly it's 6am wakeup and 630 bedtime, last night 7:30 bedtime and 7:30 wakeup today.  Just wondering if set nap times still work when there's an hour or so of variance.  By the way, I've got twins.  I'm so tired of basically spending my entire day doing sleep training with both babies.  I haven't even showered for three days now (eew!!) because there's just not a single bit of time when they're both in a solid sleep and I can't do it while they're having playtime because they're both rolling over and getting stuck.

Anyway, sorry for the sob story, love to hear from you.

Thanks!

Sarah

[Caroline-Charlies Mummy]

Hi Sarah, {{{{{hugs}}}}}, I'm with you on the not having time for yourself thing, and I've only got the one 

From what you say, it might be worth thinking about putting them on the 4-hour EASY. This means that nap times would be pretty consistent (but never rigid though). With consistency often come good sleep habits, and I think it's really worth you trying it. I think especially important for you is a consistent bedtime. From what you say, it would probably lead to consistent wake-up times, which is a good foundation for the day.

BTW, what is your typical A time for the los? Do you think that it may need a tweak to help with those 45min nap monsters? What sleep training and wind-down are you using (pat/sssh / pu/pd / etc?). Can you give us a bit more info, and we'll see if we can help you?

[Sarah O]

Hi Charlie's Mummy,

Thanks for your reply.  They are on 4 hour EASY, sorry if I didn't say so.  It's so engrained in my life I just assume everyone knows, LOL!!  We had consistent bedtime (7pm) for months, but it's had to vary a bit because the babies were all of a sudden too tired & needed to go down earlier, etc..  I'm trying to follow Tracy's main point which seems to be to follow your baby's cues.  If they're tired, put them to bed, etc.

"A" time has always been a bit weak for my two...ie they've been a bit behind the norm when it comes to staying awake, but lately it's been increasing.  They can go about 2 hours now.  I've tried tweaking it - a bit less here, a bit more here...it doesn't seem to make any difference other than overtired =  worse naps. 

We have been using Tracy's methods for sleep training, especially shh/pat and to a lesser extent p/u/p/d.  Our wind down is slightly different for each baby, but in general it's: zipped up in their sleep bags, lights turned low, sit on mum's/dad's lap with soother for cuddles and pats, a bit of rocking and a lullabye or two, go up to nursery, put on wave sounds CD, cuddle til drowsy, put to bed.

Thanks!
Sarah

[Caroline-Charlies Mummy]

Hi Sarah,

Well, your wind-down sounds great, so I can't see any problems there. Maybe you could try increasing the A time in increments, gradually but consistently, ie add on 5 mins every day.

Have you tried wake-to-sleep at all? If you have Tracy's 2nd book, BW solves all your problems, it's on p191, or there are a few links at the top of this forum which may help:

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php/topic,43311.0.html
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php/topic,34567.0.html
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php/topic,649.0.html

If you haven't tried it already, I think it might be useful to you. The most important thing with it is consistency. It's easy to think that it hasn't worked so we'll give up, or it worked that one time so we don't need to do it any more. Tracy recommended that you do it for 3 days straight, and this should help them get through their 45 mins sleep transition, and eventually teach them to do it on their own.

HTH, let us know if you need any more help.

(Sorry about the slow reply, btw, these bloomin topic notifications aren't working    )