O-M-G!
For a few weeks now the boys have been waking early from their naps, & its driving me crazy. Not because i dont want them up, but because they get fussy, & cranky. They sleep 11 almost 12 hours straight @ night. They usually take 2, 2.5hour naps. Now, their morning nap has cut down to 2 hours(which is NOT that bad). & their afternoon nap is cut down to one hour! Meaning theyre up from 3pm to 8pm & by 645/7 they get super cranky & then get me super cranky cus i have 2 screaming/crying babies. when i try to lay them down around 7(which i dont like to because its a little too early) they cry bloody murder.
Their doctor advised me to lay them down 10-15 min earlier for their naps and it worked for a week & now im back where i started.
So my question here is, is this a phase? Or are my kiddos ready for me to re-adjust their nap schedule? I really dont feel they are ready for their naps to be cut down because they get sleepy WAY before their bedtime. Any suggestions?
Please help, this momma needs an evening with happy calm babies. TIA
Re: Naps
Our schedule looks like this:
8/8:15 p.m.: Bedtime
6:15-7:30 a.m.: Wake Up
3 hours after waking up (9:15-10:30 a.m.): First Nap (35 minutes - 3 hours)
3 hours after waking up: Second Nap (1-3 hours)
8/8:15 p.m. Bedtime
My kiddo usually will take one long nap and one short nap every day, around 1 hour for the short nap and 2.5-3 hours for the long nap. This usually means he wakes up from his last nap of the day between 3:30-5 p.m.
Maybe you can increase their wake time between naps a bit so they start their afternoon nap later and don't have as long of a stretch before bed? Are they really crabby before their nap times, or are they still in a good mood? The 3 hour wake time has been working great for us. If our little guy does get crabby before bed, we give him a bath which calms him down and occupies him for a bit.
My LO gets about 14 hours of sleep total a day, which is much less than the 17 hours of sleep your LOs were getting though, but he's always been on the lower end of the "sleep requirement" charts I've seen.
Hope you can find something that works!
Their "normal" sleep schedule goes like this
645/7 wake
9-1130 1st nap.
2pm-430pm 2nd nap
8pm bedtime
Now
645/7 wake
845\9-11 1st nap
145-3p 2nd nap
745/8pm bedtime
Once 630pm hits i know everything is gonna go down hill. & no they're not crabby when they go down for their naps, theyre usually pretty happy. They just wake up early & ill leave them because before they would just fall back asleep & now they just stay up.
Ill try putting them down for their 2nd nap a little later. Worth a shot. Thanks!
7am - wake
9am - nap (45min max - wake if needed)
1pm - nap (two hours - wake at 3:30 at the latest)
6:30 - sleep for the night
I spoke with a sleep consultant who said after sleeping such a long time over night, their morning sleep doesn't need to be long as they have enough in their sleep reserves to see them through. By giving a short morning nap, their afternoon nap should be long and will see them through until bedtime.
You could give it a go and see if the change results in well rested/happier babies!
& your LO will will adjust. & in the long run youll prefer him fslling asleep on his own rather than nursing him..i hope things get better for you as well! Thanks!