Friday, March 13, 2015

One Nap vs. Two

Nap time has been a challenge around here for quite some time now.  I'd say last week was actually a pretty successful nap week, except for the part where they wake up so extremely GRUMPY after their afternoon nap.  Ayden especially.  He wakes up crying, crying, crying, and then that turns into a whine.  A lot of the time though, one or the other refuses a nap altogether.

Yesterday, they both were happily playing together but it was getting pretty late in the day. Finally, at 3:45 I decided I'd better put them down for their afternoon nap or it was going to get too late.  I hated to interrupt them playing because they were so content at that moment, but I also knew that they needed sleep too.  Usually I put them down in the afternoon around 2:30 or 3:00, but we took a long walk with a pit stop at a park to play, so we were a bit behind schedule.

I should have went with my gut instinct and just let them keep playing because they wanted absolutely nothing to do with taking a nap.  At 4:15 I decided to just go in and save them from their I-don't-want-to-nap misery because at that point, if they finally fell asleep I'd just have to go in and wake them up shortly anyway!

Sooooo....... I've decided that it was time to make the switch.  Even if they do end up taking an afternoon nap, it's usually not worth the extreme grumpiness that happens when they wake up from said nap.

Today is our first (purposeful) attempt at taking only one nap a day.  They have been asleep now for almost an hour now.  My fear and resistance of making the switch is that I don't want their one naps to turn into being short, 45-60 minute naps.  I hope that they will transition to taking 2-3 hour naps.  They need the sleep, especially since our night time sleeping has been a struggle lately too, and I need it for my sanity!

We'll see how this goes...

7 comments:

  1. Izzy switched over to one nap around 9 or 10 months....and never sleeps less than 90 minutes. Usually it is a solid two hour nap. I hope that the twins are the same way!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I feel your pain! I sincerely hope that you can figure out what works for them, one nap, two naps and maybe no naps! As they get older it's easy to transition into "quiet time"! Even with grandkids, we have quiet time which sometimes means Grandma needs to have quiet time and they can watch a movie!!! Oldest son always liked naps, 2nd one wasn't a nap taker but at times would be crashed out in the strangest places! I hope your problem is solved quickly so that HOPEFULLY they start to learn to sleep ALL NIGHT so that you can start to get some much needed rest!!!!! GOOD LUCK!! Sending lots of love and hugs!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Best of luck!! I totally feel your pain around baby sleep...

    ReplyDelete
  4. We've been transitioning to one nap too. I've heard the magic time is 1:00 so we try our best to make it to that point before putting them down. The first few days they took a 3 hr nap but it's been more like 2 hrs since. Good luck!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Long time stalker but I think this is my first time commenting �� I have 13 month old twin girls and our struggles were similar. We gave up our morning nap and now take a 2 hour nap after lunch (12:30 or so). So much better for us! Hope you find a solution!

    ReplyDelete
  6. As an avid napper myself, I don't understand why ANYONE would refuse the opportunity to nap. No advice - just wishing you good luck that you can get new schedules figured out that work for everyone!

    ReplyDelete
  7. We made the switch to one nap about a week or two ago. We really should have done it much sooner, but we were procrastinating. We were so used to our schedule and it seemed so daunting to change it. It's rough at first to keep them awake in the morning when they really want to go to sleep, but it does get a little easier. We moved them about a half hour each day. Right now they are going down around noon, but I think the goal is a nap at 1:00. The nap has been gradually getting longer, too. 2 1/2 hours now! I'm actually feeling like it will be easier to get out and about with just one nap to work around even though I do miss that downtime of the morning nap. So good luck!

    ReplyDelete