So the boys haven't napped now since Thursday. They have definitely been sleeping better at night, which is a blessing, but they seem to be missing their naps. Mindy called today at 10am to ask if she could put the boys down for a nap because they seemed exhausted. I really didn't know what to tell her but I expressed concern that they would not go to sleep well tonight. They were practically asleep when we got home from work this afternoon (she didn't even attempt "quiet time" because she thought they would sleep) so we hurried up dinner and had them in bed by 6:30. I came up to check on Theo, who was whimpering, about five minutes later, and Beckett was already asleep. Theo kept whimpering for another five or ten minutes and then fell asleep, by about 7:10.
Not sure what the next step is. Beck fell asleep Sunday afternoon on our walk. When Mindy was with them yesterday she put them down for quiet time and they fell asleep. (Of course they fell asleep when Mindy told them to have quiet time.) But last night after they had napped with Mindy in the afternoon, they ran around and resisted going to bed for a little while. I think they clearly need more sleep, but the question is HOW?!? They have been waking up between 6:30 and 7 in the morning. I wonder if there is a limit on how long they can sleep at night. I also wonder if they could nap only once or twice a week when Mindy is with them (who seems to be the only one who can get them to nap), and still go to sleep at a normal time (7:30)? Will changing the routine depending on who is with them screw with them, or does it simply acknowledge that they do different things with different caregivers? Do we just do a walk every afternoon after lunch, and if Beck wants to sleep, he can? It is really hard not to know what to do and not to know how to figure it out. It's easy to make conclusions based on one particular day, but it's really hard to know what's causing what. Any thoughts from the crowd?
Sounds like you are figuring out from them that some days they need a nap when they have quiet time and some days they don't. If the quiet time is early in the afternoon, it won't disturb their bedtime too much. Or, maybe on the days they nap, they go to bed later than on the days they don't nap. We don't think their schedule has to be too rigid. They will benefit from your encouraging them to learn from themselves when they need to sleep.
ReplyDeletexoxo Gramma Joanie and Grampa Stu