shifting LOs sleep schedule

ballygirl

For most of the last several months, LOs have had a really good sleep schedule.  They go down around 7:30ish and wake up around 7:00, give or take 15 minutes or so on either end.  Lately, for some reason, the whole cycle has shifted earlier and they've been waking up for the day between 5:30 - 6 which is not cool. Its really messing up their eating and napping schedule.  Their first nap ends up being around 8am-9am and then their second nap is around 12:30 - 1:30.  I try to keep them up until their normal bedtime but they are so exhausted, they pass out around 7 and then wake up early again.  I've tried spacing out their naps a little bit so they'll be able to stay up later and then hopefully sleep later, but it didn't really work, they still got tired by 6:30 pm and I couldn't keep them up past 7. Has anyone been able to shift LOs sleep schedule? With daylight savings time ending next week, I really need it to shift otherwise I'll be getting up with them at 4:30 - 5 am.

Chrisanna0508

We have sort of been dealing with the same thing. DS used to wake at 4:30-5am to nurse and then back down til 7. Now he is waking at 5:45-6am. I have still been nursing and putting him back down until 7 and he doesn't fuss, but doesn't really go back to sleep before I get him up. I guess he is just getting closer to sleeping through? Sorry I have no advice, but I am interested to hear what others have to say about how to deal with this.

mancila60

I would try to do it little by little. Keep them up an extra 5 min before their morning nap, 5 min for the afternoon nap, 5 min for bedtime, etc. I know it seems like a lot but over the course of a few days it should work out to back to normal time. This is what worked for us with DS. It did take a few days to get back to normal but eventually it worked out.

muffyvonmuff

Sometimes Hudson wakes up an 1 to 2 hours early.  I give him his breakfast bottle at that time put a toy in his crib and leave him to play.  99% of the time he goes back to sleep in 20 minutes on his own.   Sometimes he just wakes up plays with a the toys attached to the crib rail, then falls back to sleep no bottle.  

dovetail223

We were running into the same issue a month ago. What really helped us was going to one nap a day instead of two. Dd still goes to bed at 7, but she sleeps until 7 instead of getting up at 5:30. Oddly enough she still naps for 1.5-2 hours total, but they are just not broken up.

acethebase

I don't really have any advice, our sleep schedule is all messed up as well. The only time I interfere with a nap though is if it's going too late and too close to bedtime. Other than that if he's tired I let him nap when he wants. Good luck, I hope your babies will get back on a schedule for you!

sleepy33

dovetail223 said:

We were running into the same issue a month ago. What really helped us was going to one nap a day instead of two. Dd still goes to bed at 7, but she sleeps until 7 instead of getting up at 5:30. Oddly enough she still naps for 1.5-2 hours total, but they are just not broken up.

I was just going to say, it may be that they are ready to transition to one nap. We have been on one nap here for a couple of months. I would gradually start moving their morning nap later by half an hour (or more if you can without them having a melt down) each day until they are at one nap sometime around 11/12/1.

ballygirl

I would love it if they would take one long nap but I'm not sure it will happen.  We just barely got out of our 4 half hour naps per day about a month ago.  I  have tried to space out their first nap several times.  It gets really excruciating.  They are just so tired and cranky, it t is meltdown city.  The most I can manage to push it back is about a half hour but they still never sleep more than an hour. I guess I'll keep trying. 

 

 

 

sleepy33

I truly can't fathom how hard it must be to manage stuff like this with two. Cam also loooooved the morning nap at 9 am, and then the afternoon nap was pretty iffy, usually he was kinda cranky but not tired enough to easily just plop down and sleep well. It took a good week or two to gradually shift his morning nap later and later. I usually tried taking him somewhere pretty close by to distract him during the morning hours so he wasn't as cranky, then zip home quickly so he didn't fall asleep in the car and put him down in the crib. Cheerios in one of those munchkin cups helped to keep him distracted and awake in the car. After about a day or so of getting him to take one nap at around 11 am, his one nap lengthened from about 45 min to 2.5 hours as he adjusted to being awake longer, and now I'm able to be a lot more flexible and put him down really any time between 11 and 1 and he will be fine (although 1 is really too late for my liking, but in a pinch if our schedule gets crazy, it will work).

ballygirl

I definitely think this would be much easier with one.  I am really strict about keeping them on the same nap schedule because it just gets too confusing when their naps get staggered.  Because then their hunger patterns get staggered and then I can't remember who ate what, when, and its impossible to leave the house because someone is always on the verge of a hunger or exhaustion-related meltdown -  so we stick to one-up-both-up schedule which is a twins mom mantra. 

 

But, it makes it hard because right now I feel like their natural schedules just aren't quite in synch. Whoever wakes up first determines how long the nap is, I just wake the other one up too, even if she isn't quite ready to wake up yet. Last week Lizzy was the early riser and I had to wake Haley up and I think she would have slept a lot longer if I had let her.  She was really out.  This week Haley seems to be the early riser.  I feel like if I could let them both just sleep as long as they wanted to, when they wanted to, I might get some better and more consistent sleeping patterns, but its really hard to do that when I'm by myself.  It just gets to complicated.

Carmen101613

Hello,
I know it sounds counterintuitive, but make bedtime a little earlier for at least 4 days. They are getting so overtired by the evening they are waking ealier.

dovetail223

ballygirl said:

I definitely think this would be much easier with one.  I am really strict about keeping them on the same nap schedule because it just gets too confusing when their naps get staggered.  Because then their hunger patterns get staggered and then I can't remember who ate what, when, and its impossible to leave the house because someone is always on the verge of a hunger or exhaustion-related meltdown -  so we stick to one-up-both-up schedule which is a twins mom mantra. 

 

But, it makes it hard because right now I feel like their natural schedules just aren't quite in synch. Whoever wakes up first determines how long the nap is, I just wake the other one up too, even if she isn't quite ready to wake up yet. Last week Lizzy was the early riser and I had to wake Haley up and I think she would have slept a lot longer if I had let her.  She was really out.  This week Haley seems to be the early riser.  I feel like if I could let them both just sleep as long as they wanted to, when they wanted to, I might get some better and more consistent sleeping patterns, but its really hard to do that when I'm by myself.  It just gets to complicated.

I fortunately didn't have to actually switch her to one nap. I asked daycare and they did it for me. But I know the first two weeks...she did okay with one nap for a couple days, then needed one day with two naps. She still takes two naps on Sunday's for some reason.

Have you tried putting the girls down at the same time for a nap, but in different rooms? That way if one sleeps longer she doesn't wake the other one up?

ballygirl

They don't generally wake each other up, I wake the one who is still sleeping. I actually want them to wake up at the same time, even if one didn't get as good a nap. I know it probably sounds nuts to wake a baby if you don't have twins but it is really important for my sanity to have them both on the same schedule. Generally if they wake at the and time, they get hungry and tired at the same time.

ballygirl

You all may be right about the 1 nap thing. Lizzy took a 2 hr morning nap at. DC today and then didn't take a second one in the afternoon. Luckily she had a catnap in the car at 5 on the way home, otherwise she never would have made it to bedtime!

@Carmen101613‌ they have been going to bed about 30 minutes earlier than usual. I generally follow their sleep cues, so I don't think they're really overtired. The whole cycle seems to have shifted, so they're getting the same amount of sleep, it's just earlier.

Anyway, I'm sure it will work itself out. I had a talk with them tonight and told them mommy doesn't get up before 6 am. They agreed to keep a lid on it until 6:30 tomorrow. At least I think that's what "dadaaadaaa baaaaaah" means.