Sorry if this is showing up in your feed readers a million times. I'd scheduled it but it's suddenly not working and I am determined to get it right :)
I remember when "my friend with the twins" used to tell me about her girls not sleeping during the day, I really didn't take it all that seriously.
I think I even glibly said something like, "yes, I read (in one of my many baby books) that they drop a nap at age 1"
C then said, "but what if they've never napped well" or something like that.
Well, C's girls must have transmitted something to our (previously) good nappers as they've now decided that "sleep is for babies".
The multiples blog had a napping prompt a couple of weeks ago and I visited about 3 blogs before I got despondent. ALL these kids were sleeping 2 - 3 hours during the day!
Do you know what we could do with 2 - 3 hours????
I filed it all away in my mental rolodex to ask Dr S at their check-up.
And he said babies this age (Deanna, I decided that I'll do as you do and call them babies til they're 12 :)) need about 12 - 14 hours' sleep a day.
Since mine are sleeping 12 hours at night and then another hour afterwards before V arrives, Dr S said if I get another hour of napping out of them every day, we should count ourselves lucky.
Notice how I just glossed over this MOMENTOUS event that is called STTN???
I don't want to jinx it. As a Christian I know that's hogwash but really, can the babies read my mind?!
So we get one SHORT 30 - 45-minute nap in the mornings and that's it. I keep telling them they're from DNA where we LOVE OUR SLEEP but they're not having any of it. Maybe it's the grannies... both our mothers get up at the crack of dawn and are not really fond of sleep like their offspring.
How can anyone not love sleep?!
Kendra, however, loves sleeping in the car. She pops off the minute we're out of our suburb (2 minutes from home) so on the weekends she gets more sleep - on Sundays when we go to church, at least 2 X 25-minute sessions . Yesterday she had 3 because we went somewhere on the way home.
Connor slept for 40 minutes during church (until 11:35) and that was it until he fell asleep for the night at about 6:30.
Now you know why we're knackered.
How do your kids nap doing the day?
P.S. I still would not change this stage for that newborn stage EVER!
P.P.S. I'll be 36 next week. So is it 37 things you're supposed to do for the next year or 36?
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Happy birthday if I don't catch you while I'm on vacation! Yes, our boys do nap, but it's changing. They nap about 1 hour around 10 AM and then about 2 hours at 2 PM. We put them down for bed about 7 PM and get them in the morning at 7 AM, but we know they are not sleeping that full 12 hours. They like to talk to each other before they sleep and when they wake up. It so cute to hear them chattering with each other.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter (7 months) sleeps about 9 hours at night non stop and then she'll do another 4 or so half hour naps during the day. If she doesn't hit those naps she becomes mighty cranky!
ReplyDeleteOk, my princess stopped napping at 2. Now at 5 if we get 2 naps a week, we are lucky.
ReplyDeleteThe twins - still about and hour and a half to two in the day - but then they only go to sleep at 8 and wake up at about 6 - so that's 10 hours. We recently moved their bedtime an hour later and lo and behold - they are sleeping through. So what about making night times shorter?
Oh yes you are in good company...we've always had issues with henry's naps. There was a week or two where he was sleeping great but now we are back to more of the same!!
ReplyDeleteIt took me a minute to get your "STTN" acronym, but my ears did perk up when you said your troupe is sleeping 12 hours at night...CONGRATS (said while knocking on wood, of course!)! (I still knock on wood when I talk about sleep, and our babies have been sleeping through the night since they were 3 months old! HA!)
ReplyDeleteFor the past 2 or 3 months, I had been pushing our girls to continue with 2 naps a day, their main nap in the morning, with a shorter nap in the afternoon. They got where they were barely sleeping, if at all, in the afternoons. I reluctantly decided it was time to transition to one nap.
Although we've only gotten the schedule down over the past week, it's been really good so far. Ours are up around 6:30, breakfast, play, snack at 9:30, play, lunch at 11:15 or so, down for a nap at 12:15. It feels like a stretch for them to make it this long, but the snack seems to help. They've been sleeping 2.5 - 3 hours each day (KNOCK ON WOOD!). They're up around 3:00, snack, play, supper around 5:00, play, then milk at 6:45 and down for bed at 7:30.
I say all this to say, you might consider trying just an afternoon nap. Maybe your babies will be more tired after being up all morning and they'll sleep for a longer stretch.
Good luck!!! :)
I'm glad you found out the average sleep recommendation for 1-year-olds...I was actually going to look that up myself today! Since we've gone to a later bedtime, I worried A & M weren't getting enough sleep at night (10ish hours instead of 11), but I guess they make it up with naps.
ReplyDeleteOur Sundays have been 1-nap days for awhile, and I'm thinking that will be the routine when they start Mother's Day Out in a couple of weeks. On those days, they get a nap around 12:00, for about 2 hours. My kids are averse to sleeping any longer than that!
Someone told me that this age is a time of transition, and I really believe it. But I'm with you...I love it for the most part! (Don't want to jinx it, but yay for nighttime sleep!!)
Ryan isn't a big sleeper or napper. He often goes all day with no naps. He's hard to get to sleep at night... often doesn't go until hours after Dylan. Dylan on the other hand is a fabulous napper and sleeper.
ReplyDeleteI get 3 hours during the day if I am lucky - 2 naps. But there have been a few days where 30 minutes is all I get. He seems to fight afternoon naps more, whereas the morning nap is easier - he goes down pretty easy, the only question is for how long... At night he does pretty well - about 11 hours I would say on average. 9 months today. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteKeeping in mind, we co-sleep and nurse until age 2ish. So often the babies latch on and take a nip 2 - 4 times in a night. (I get up 2- 4 times a night to get water, so don't find this strange). If they are sick, they may nurse half the night.
ReplyDeleteKendra was always up between 6 and 7. I think she was around 6 -7 months old when she dropped to one nap a day. Often, I would nap with her, since I would lay down to nurse her. She usually did a nappy nurse in the morning late. She completely gave up naps before she was 19 months old. She usually slept around 12 hours a night then, occasionally I got another 2 hour nap in the afternoon. I think she would have napped longer, but I quit nursing her at that time because I was pregnant with Vannan and was having too strong Braxton Hicks. Since I had had a miscarriage a few months before, we erred on the side of caution, and I reluctantly gave up nursing. Kendra slept 12 hours a night until she was nearly 4, and dropped to 10 hours.
Vannan was my worst infant sleeper - often up and down multiple times a night screaming/nursing. (Kendra was a very active child and often I had to interrupt nursing to deal with her). I don't think she slept much more than 14 hours of 24 most days until after she was 4 months old. Some time after 2 months, I found she would go to sleep in her swing, and I kept it running a lot. She kept up 2 naps a day past her first birthday, slept a short 9 hour night though. Sometime after her first birthday, her night time sleep stretched over to 11 hours a night, and by 18 months, she was down to 11 hour nights and a 3 hour nap right after lunch. She slowly shortened the nap until she was nearly 5, by then, it was a 20 minute nap.
Joel was a great sleeper. Maybe my best. I could easily lay him down after nursing to sleep. Usually slept 10 hours a night by age 1, and a 2 - 3 hour nap after lunch. He dropped the nap at age 3, and began sleeping close to 12 hours a night instead. At 5, he sleeps close to 10 hours a night, but I have a hard time getting him to bed at night, so he often sleeps until past 8 or 9am.
Marriana was a poor sleeper when we got her - she's a very light sleeper. So, at 2 1/2, my mom taught her to sleep properly - took about a month. Then she was down for 10 - 11 hours a night, and up about 7am. We put her down now (almost 4) at 9pm, she sings usually for 30 minutes or so, then out. Her naps are around 2 hours (I NEED IT). But she isn't asleep the full 2 hours usually. I'll soon have to face reality and drop her to a single hour or no nap, or maybe get myself together to get us all up earlier.
LaRue is 9 months now. She goes down for the night between 11 and midnight, and then sleeps 12 hours straight. Tim does too. If Tim gets up, she is usually up within 30 minutes of both of us up and going. Depending on time she wakes, she will have a morning nip and nap (about 15 minutes). Otherwise, she nurses about 20 minutes then is off to see the world or beg siblings for cheerios. She is usually ready for sleep by 2pm - and either does the nip/nap for 20 - 30 mins or sometimes a full hour. Then she sleeps again around 5-7 pm for 30-90 mins.
Guess we're just too laid back about the sleep stuff. :)