Sam is no where near ready for one nap. The other times we dropped a nap, Sam was pretty close behind his sister. Going from 3-2 naps we only had a few days when Sam got an extra 30 minuter in the evening, but it didn't disrupt the synchronizing of the other two naps during the day. I'm a little clueless how to do naps if Anna's only taking one, and Sam still needs two. Their naps would be at completely opposite times. Right now this is what's happening:
- Up at 6:30 am
- Ready for naps signs at about 9:30 am.
- Put both down, Sam falls asleep fairly quickly, Anna plays and then fusses for almost a half hour and finally falls asleep at around 10 am. (I'm taking this as a sign that although she shows sleepy signs, she needs more awake time. But if we push it too late, that messes up the afternoon nap even more.)
- Both want to keep sleeping until 11:30/12, but getting too close to noon delays the afternoon nap.
- Afternoon nap at around 2 depending on when they woke from the first nap.
- While at home Anna fights and fights the second nap and sometimes falls asleep around 3:00- or sometimes stubbornly evades sleep completely until Sam is ready to be up, so we give up. Sam sleeps fine. Both up at around 4:00 pm.
- Put down Sam at 9:30 am, get him up at 12
- Put down Anna around 12, she gets up around 3 (hypothetically)
- Put Sam down around 2, He gets up at 4
See how that just isn't a great plan? In theory we'd get an hour of them both sleeping- but in reality, Anna would probably wake up at 2 when Sam got put down... and then we'd get zero time all day with both babies napping. My bet would be that Anna would be cranky by our usual bedtime and need to go to bed earlier too, if she got up at 2 pm.
Two things are also happening that are posing a problem during naps at home:
2.) Although Sam is now pacifier free, Anna is not. We gave up trying to get rid of hers when her nighttime sleep was destroyed without it and resigned to trying sometime in the future. After all, at the time a month ago, we were just working on getting rid of the pacifiers because we wanted to, not because they were causing any problems. But now Anna's pacifier is causing a problem. During naps, if she's fighting sleep, she will throw them over the side of the crib... and then can't go to sleep without it. This doesn't happen at daycare because they don't use them at daycare. I wish I understood why she can sleep just fine without a pacifier at daycare, but not at home. I'm sooooo not looking forward to trying to wean her from the pacifier again.
Daycare has a different problem though- this week Sam climbed out of the pack n play during his nap. Twice. She caught him in the act the second time: He used his arms to pull up and pushed against the mesh with his feet to climb the side. Once he got to the top, he swung his foot over the top. The first time, he let her know he was done with his nap by knocking on the door.
I'm not sure how we are going to solve this problem. I am also afraid that means my not-even-one-year-old baby is going to be climbing out of his crib in the very near future. This scares the sh*t out of me- I cannot imagine trying to get him to sleep on a mattress on the floor, and I can't imagine a crib tent successfully containing my little monkey either.
10 comments:
Actually, try putting her down about 10-15 minutes EARLIER than 9:30 am. Not falling asleep well can be a sign of OVER tiredness, not UNDER.
Alyssa- we used to put them down at 9 am for the nap, but extended it little by little over the last few months. She isn't tired before 9:30, and the playing before falling asleep is just that much more worse if we put her down before 9:30 am.
Yeah, I think the whole putting them down earlier trick works better at a younger age. Anna probably genuinely is capable and ready to have longer wake periods at this point. It's not like she's not a good night sleeper who might be exhausted in the morning.
Honestly, Camden started showing those same signs around 12-13 months of age. He pushed his "morning" nap all the way back to 10:30 or even 11 on some days. You can imagine what that did to the afternoon nap. But this dragged on for a month or 2...he didn't completely drop the morning nap until 14 months or so.
I will say that, while I was a little worried about only having a one nap a day baby, I actually enjoy it. Sure, it's less free time, but I like that we can get lots done in the morning, get home for lunch and a nap, and then have our whole late afternoon free again. It's nice. BUT obviously I only have one child, so when he's sleeping, I do have free time. If Sam & Anna are on different nap schedules, hopefully it will only be for a brief while so that you can go back to having your much-needed relaxation time when they're both napping.
Good luck. It's a tough transition, but they'll both get there eventually.
The 2 to 1 nap transistion is the hardest transition I believe! At least it was for her! I can only imagine transitioning 2 babies!
Remember I nannied for twins b4 LB? If I remember correcly, she had this same issue at one point right around their 1st bday. She kept their schedules the same and the one that didn't sleep when laid down just played until they finally did fall asleep and then she had to get up when it was wake up time even if she had only been asleep 30 mins! Eventually she just learned that that was naptime and it was time to sleep then!
I do agree with you that it is not an issue of being overtired and needing to lay down earlier (although that is very true!) However, if a baby is overtired they usually cry when laid down, not play in the crib. That is how I would determine if LB needed to lay down earlier or if I needed to extend wake time. I found, after she turned a yr, when she didn't go to sleep right away when laid down it was almost always because I needed to extend wake time. Which is why afternoon naptime moved from 1 to 1:30 to 2 and now, at 21 months, I think I am going to have to move naptime to 2:30 because she has been playing/talking for half an hour before going to sleep and only sleeping 1 to 1.5 hrs most days! I am hoping moving naptime to 2:30 will get us back to nice 2-2.5hr naps!
The twins I nannied for got crib tents at 18 months old! It kept them in their cribs with no problems!!
You will figure all this out!!! There are just going to be some rocky months ahead as both transition, but eventually they will be back to napping at the same time again. Hang in there! This too shall pass...just like every other bump along the way has!
I cannot believe Sam and Anna are almost ONE!!! I cannot believe my LB is almost TWO!!!
You are very luck that your kids have slept so many hours in a day for this long! Most days Noah takes two half hour naps. Try that one on for size! lol. He has even had several days that he's only had ONE 40 minute nap all day long. He just wouldn't fall asleep for a second nap. The kid just doesn't need much sleep.
I only know one other kid who sleeps close to as much as Sam and Anna, and he sleeps about 3 hours a day (in two naps). Sounds like yours are close to 4 hours a day, plus 12 hours of sleep.... crazy!
I get how you would like to have time in the day where they're both sleeping, but keep in mind, if Anna does transition down to 1 nap and Sam is still at 2, this will be temporary. Sam will go down to 1 nap eventually.
As for the climbing thing... I can't believe he climbs out of a pack and play! If the crib tent wont work, I don't know what else you're supposed to do. THAT is definitely a serious problem!
Wow! First of all where have the last 11 months gone??? I cannot believe they are almost one year old! I wish I had some words of wisdom, but seeing as how I always stalk YOUR blog for wisdom I have nothing for you. :-) I'll be thinking about you, though, and I really do hope the transition goes well. I have no doubt you will master this phase too because you are truly a supermom!!
I agree that dropping the morning nap is the absolute HARDEST transition. Lexi has been ready to drop that morning nap for months now but do to her sensory issues we have "rest" time in the morning were she just rests in her crib for an hour without sleeping (recommended by her therapist) so she's technically not getting a nap, just calming herself down, playing in her crib and getting some down time. It's been really good for her and she takes a nice long 3 hour nap in the afternoon from about 1:45 - 4:45 but it was rough at first. Obviously since Anna doesn't have the same issues Lexi does, I don't think she needs a rest time like Lexi, but we still had the same problem because we dealt with overtiredness for awhile when were getting over the hump. I don't envy your position. It would be whole different ball game with twins! And one that is already climbing out of a pak n play? Ayayay! I don't even know what to say about that.
My baby is definitely not much of a sleeper so your naps sound heavenly to me! He is 3 months and sleeps for about 10 hours at night with one feed around 4 or 5 am. Most mornings he doesn't nap and I can count on a 1-2 hour nap in the afternoon. I don't know why but he just doesn't require much sleep - and he's not cranky or tired. Babies are so funny - they will let you know what they need. I am also completely with you on the pacifier thing. Mine is a necessity for naps and I'm not sure what we'll do when it's time to get rid of it. Good luck on that and let us k now how it goes!
I agree that newborns and early babies area the put-to-bed-earlier kind, but I think our twins are getting to an age where that is no longer the case. Especially, as someone pointed out above, Anna is playing happily until drowsy, not cranky and fighting sleep.
I was just reading in my Parenting magazine the other night about 12-18 month olds dropping their morning nap, and how the transition is difficult, and I wanted to CRY!!!!!
Good luck to you =)
Looks like I am in the same boat as you. My boy just is not too interested in 2 naps. And I wonder how long its going to take for both to be on 1 nap. Reading about how a singleton transitions just doesn't help. Plus they both are so used to each others company that they get very easily bored if one is asleep and the other is awake. Yikes!
I was hoping to read some helpful comments on your blog post - but not to successful with that! :)
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