Twins, naps and EASY

[crawte00]

Anyone out there with twins who is using EASY?  I am running into some hurdles, especially around naps and would love some advice.

Here is our situation.  Henry and Corinne are 6.5 months old but were born 10 weeks premature so developmentally more like 4 month olds.  They sleep through the night and eat on a schedule.  We are struggling with day time naps and melt downs as bed time nears.  Here is our typical schedule.

6:15am wake up (if they are still sleeping then we stretch this out until about 6:30)
6:30 feeding
7-7:30 time with dad before he goes to work, play in bouncy seats with toys
7:30 - 7:45 wind down
7:45 - 8:45 nap (sometimes this stretches to 9am and other times only 8:30)
8:45 - 10:15 play on tummy, learning to roll around
10:15 change diapers
10:30 feeding
11 more bouncy seat time to keep them both upright for a little bit (Henry has reflux and is on medication, Corinne is not bad)  But they are usually really tired right now
11:30 - 12:15 nap (if we are lucky it lasts this long)
12:15 1:45 play
1:45 - 2:15 nap (difficult for them to take this one)
2:15 change diapers
2:30 feeding
3 - 3:45 play
3:45 - 4:15 struggle over taking a nap, often just take them for a long walk and they sleep another 45 minutes in the stroller
5:45 start getting ready for bed, bath, change clothes, melt down
6:15 feeding
6:45 bed time

Where things break down are the following:  going down too early in the morning so that they have to go to sleep right after the 10:30 feeding, short second/third naps, no later afternoon nap because it is such a struggle.

Any suggestions on how to stretch the first nap to happen around 8:15 - 9:30?  How to get them to combine the second and third naps into one longer nap?

How are other twin moms giving them the individual wind down time they need?

Any suggestions on communicating EASY to a nanny?  We have a nanny now who thinks Americans over schedule their kids.  I am trying to communicate the difference between schedule and routinue.  We are about to start over new with an au pair so I want to communicate this all clearly and help her implement it also.

Any suggestions with preemies?  We are definitely trying not to overstimulate them but still encourage them.  Once we toned down their play/environment the meltdowns in the evenings happen alot later.  We are also doing an earlier bed time which seems to be helping.

Thoughts appreciated.

Thanks

Teresa

[HeatherC]

Hi, Teresa.  It's great that they are eating on such a good routine and sleeping well at night.  I'm sure the evenings are tough since they are having naps on the short side.  Are they absolutely tired for the first nap at 7:30?  While many babies will sleep very well soon after waking from the night, it certainly isn't always the case.  I would venture to guess that they might need just a bit more A time then, even just 10-15 mins might help unless they are close to becoming overtired.  And since they wake and have more A time before the next E, you have to take that into consideration when sorting out the next S time.  After that first nap, they are up for 2.75 hrs, and that can be alot at 6 mos.  That could be why they are only sleeping 45 mins for the next nap, and then are overtired and find it hard to sleep for the following naps.  If we could just tackle getting the first nap back on track, I'd say the rest of them would be better since sleep begets sleep.  You are doing the right thing by putting them to bed early to let them catch up on sleep.
As for the nanny, I would just simply state that this is their routine for the day, and such and such happens at this time and that time, etc.  I wouldn't leave it open to interpretation, just state it as a fact.  Explain that this method is what you have choosen to raise your children and it is in their best interests that certain things are done certain ways.  Let her know that BW is a celebrated method of learning about and responding to a child's needs, and is a great tool for keeping stability and familiarity in the child's life.

I'm going to ask for help under the Multiples and Naps Forums and see if we can get some more repsonses.

[Judy]

My girls weren't preemies and didn't have reflux so I can't help on those fronts and my comments will of course not be considering those things really very well.

As for the nanny - glad you are getting rid of someone who even considers to comment negatively on what you choose for your children.  As for the new gal -I would just tell her what you've found that works well for your children.  What I love about EASY is that my children learned how to go to sleep without having to be nursed/fed to sleep so my biggest communication on that would be eat upon waking!

I think you'll just see them in time switch to 2 naps and extend that morning waking time.  It took a long long time for my girls to go beyond 2hours of wake time.

[woopster]

Hi Teresa, A couple of questions...
Do they share the same cot?  Are they swaddled?
 My 2 were 12 weeks early, so are now 5/6 months corrected.  We have a huge struggle trying to get them past 1 1/2 hours awake time.  They are STILL  on a 3 hourly routine and so are up for 1 1/2 hours and asleep for 1 1/2 hours.
Do they go down easily for their first nap?

[crawte00]

Well things are looking up on the nap front.  Thanks for all the advice.

Putting them down earlier at night has been a big help.  They are catching up on their sleep.  I also slept a few nights with a lovey blanket for Henry and now he holds it to him while he sucks his thumb to settle.

Still not having much luck in the later afternoon.  They get a bit overtired and then cannot settle in.  But progress all around.  They even stayed up about 1hr 45 min today and are still napping 1.5 hours later.

All this is reminding me to take a deep breath, know this is one stage of their development and not the only stage, and enjoy the smiles I get when I go pick them up after a nap. 

About the nanny...we have taken a decision to have women from different cultures help us with the kids.  I am really enjoying the discussion about different parenting styles and techniques.  Although our current nanny can be a bit abrupt I have learned alot from her already.  She previously took care of triplets so anything the twins throw at her seems easy.  Our new au pair will be from Peru so that will be another adventure.

Off to see the cherry blossoms today.