Broken naps

[osren]

I have a question concerning broken naps. In the mornings, I bundle up my twin 16 week old boys and we head over to my mum's house. They fall asleep in the car (oops) for about a half hour, and when I get to my mother's house, we take them out of their carriers, swaddle them, and put them down to continue their naps. They always wake up at this point, and although we do our best to make the transition smooth (dark room, avoiding eye contact, white noise machine, etc), they do indeed wake up and it may take between 5 and 20 minutes for them to fall back asleep. Are these broken naps a big problem? They are sometimes cranky, sometimes not when they wake up from this morning nap. Then again, that it the case with most of their naps, whether they are broken and we need to shush pat them back to sleep, or if they had a nice long stretch.

We are on a 3 hour EASY and transitioning to 3.5 EASY, with clusterfeeds, a dreamfeed at 10, and bedtime at 6:30-7.
Thanks for any info!!

[Mom to M&M]

The broken nap is not as restful as a long stretch. It's good that they'll fall back asleep but it would be better for a straight nap of one hour or more. Can you choose a different time to go to your mom's? Not go every day? Keep them awake in the car with special car toys? Or if they fall asleep in the car can you keep them in their infant carriers and let them finish their nap that way?

[osren]

Thanks for the feedback. I would go at any time it would be best suited for them, but their A times are max 1.5 hours and by the time they wake in the morning and we go through the whole process of feeding, changing and getting ready, we are already at the 1 hour mark. I have tried keeping them awake in the car, but they get too overtired. Once we get to my mum's, we do try to get them to sleep a minimum of 1 hour (and this usually works). They've also never really been able to finish their naps in their carriers. Once the car stops, they usually wake up.

As for not going to my mother's house on most days, it's either going there or losing my sanity! Besides, my husband works overnight and the mornings when we are gone he is able to sleep and see to the housework.

So, if I can get them to sleep a straight hour, then that is at least restorative to a certain extent? I usually try really hard to keep them asleep for their other naps, so that they can be better refreshed over the day. I find that less than 90 min and they are total crabasses.

[Mom to M&M]

Yes, a straight hour or more is considered restorative and then just focus on making the other naps as good as possible!