2 to 1 nap transition x2

tovarena

Sun, Jan 04 2009, 10:05 am

I think my 16 month old DS may be starting the 2-1 nap transition. He doesn't seem ready for his usual first nap and is sleeping less for it. Problem is, DD still seems to still need hers. Right now, they both wake up at the same time and both go down for both naps and bedtime together. I'm not sure exactly how she'll react if I try to put her in by herself, but I'm guessing it won't be pretty.

Any suggestions from the other twin mommies for how you made this transition with two? Did they both seem ready at the same time? Did you let one go down for a nap earlier than the other (meaning zero break during the day because one is always up)? Did you force them both to adapt to one a day? If so, how quickly did they both seem to accept a new schedule?

TIA!

RachelEve14

Sun, Jan 04 2009, 11:43 am

Well honestly I never had a bread during the day because my twins did (and still do) have different sleeping needs. So I was never able to do the "nap them together, wake one to eat when the other does, etc" successfully.

When they still took 2 naps, I put one in my room in a pack n play and the other in her room. So if they went down at different times, it didn't make so much of a difference. I usually got some break anyway. When they went to 1 nap I already had Rivka so the twins went in after lunch in their room. What time are they napping now? Can you push your dd's nap later or is she falling apart by 10 am? Maybe try giving lunch at 11:00 and putting htem both down around 11:30? What does their schedule look like now?

tovarena

Sun, Jan 04 2009, 8:10 pm

RachelEve14 wrote:

What time are they napping now? Can you push your dd's nap later or is she falling apart by 10 am? Maybe try giving lunch at 11:00 and putting htem both down around 11:30? What does their schedule look like now?

Their schedule right now is basically:
Wake sometime between 6:30 and 7
Bottles and small breakfast immediately
Playtime for about 1 or 1.5 hours
Naps two hours after waking - so roughly 9:00
Sleep for about 1 hour. Every so often we get lucky with 1.5 hours
Another breakfast/snack after waking
Lunch around 12:30 or 1:00
Naps after lunch (1:30 or 2:00ish)
Generally, afternoon naps are NO more than an hour - more like 45 minutes
After naps, playing then dinner between 5:15 and 5:30
Bathtime around 6:15-6:30
Bedtime at 7:30

I could probably push naptime back to like 9:30 or 10, but usually by 9ish, she's a mess. Maybe I'll try pushing both of them another half hour later to see what happens.

RachelEve14

Mon, Jan 05 2009, 1:17 am

It looks like their naps are pretty short and their bedtime relatively late. I might try gradulally working towards a schedule like this:

Wakeup 6:30 or 7:00
Breakfast / snack / play
Nap 11:30 (I'd start it at 10 and work it back)
When you get them to one nap they should sleep about 2 hours.
Move up supper & bath & bedtime at least 30 min.

I think eventually you can get them to 12 - 2 (or even 3!!) and then as they get older and aren't as tired in the morning, you push lunch back a bit (giving them more of a mid morning snack) and get the nap to the typical 1pm - 3pm afternoon nap.

If you can while transitioning them, try to get them out in the morning.

Good luck. The two naps to one nap transistion is no fun with one kid, let alone two. I won't scare you now with stories of the "one nap is too many but I can't make it with no nap" time to come Smile

tovarena

Tue, Jan 13 2009, 9:17 am

RachelEve14 wrote:

Thanks for the ideas, Rachel!
It's funny - they're at day care 2 days a week and I mentioned that I thought DS might be in the midst of the 2-1 transition. So they just automatically started keeping them both up to 11:30 ish (I have no idea how cranky they may have been, but since they're with other kids, they probably just keep playing through it). They seem fine with it, though DS dropped off to a quick nap in the car on the way home yesterday. We'll see how the weekends hold up with the new routine.
The only thing I can't really do is move dinner and all earlier. I'm out of work at 4:30 and pick them up at 5:00. So by the time we're home and I put dinner together, it's in that 5:15-5:30 range.

RachelEve14 wrote:

Good luck. The two naps to one nap transistion is no fun with one kid, let alone two. I won't scare you now with stories of the "one nap is too many but I can't make it with no nap" time to come Smile

Hopefully they'll at least be able to figure out how to play independently for a few minutes when they get to that age.

mummy-bh

Tue, Jan 13 2009, 9:25 am

tovarena wrote:

RachelEve14 wrote:

t;]Good luck. The two naps to one nap transistion is no fun with one kid, let alone two. I won't scare you now with stories of the "one nap is too many but I can't make it with no nap" time to come Smile

Hopefully they'll at least be able to figure out how to play independently for a few minutes when they get to that age.

This is where we are right now. I put them down fro a nap and they spend 2 hours playing in the crib (they have two pushed together and can climb between them, but generally end up only in one of them). Then, just when I think I'd better go in and get them up, they fall asleep Banging head

Right now they are in the middle of 'nap time' (it's nearly 2.30pm) and I can hear the most beautiful singing from upstairs! Music

Aaargh! I so badly need them to go to bed for a little while! At least they do play nicely together for a couple of hours (bli ayin hora!!)