All Three Go from Two to One
How many ways can I foul up the boys’ sleep routine?
New house? Check.
New beds? Check.
Drop a nap? We’re working on it.
It’s time for the boys to drop down to one nap a day. They’re sending all the right cues. They’re the right age to drop to one nap. They’re fighting too hard to stay awake at second naptime. They’re waking up from that second nap too early, before I’m ready to end my break.
Abbie was about their age when she dropped down to one nap. I remember it being a painless transition for both of us, which probably means I’ve repressed the difficult memories. The way I remember it, after weeks of preparing by progressively shortening one nap, I took the plunge into one-nap territory by placing her new nap in the middle of her day, creating two even wake times. Abbie took to her schedule for a few days, then the boys came home from the hospital and the next several months are a blur. I know that she never dropped back into two-nap territory unless illness was involved.
If only life were that easy with the boys. We now have three times as many children. That’s three times the scheduling conflicts, three times the naptime routine, and three times the miracles needed for everyone to fall asleep at once.
When the boys dropped to a two-nap schedule, I pushed Abbie’s one nap back to coincide with the boys’ second nap. 3:30pm was the farthest back I could push her nap without suffering disastrous, ear-splitting consequences. Everyone adjusted to this new time, and I rearranged our schedule around it. I scheduled visitors to leave by 3pm so everyone could sleep peacefully, especially me. I scheduled appointments for mornings when I knew everyone would be awake. I reserved 1pm for Abbie’s twice-a-week speech therapy appointments, which was the other time I knew everyone would be awake.
Now that we’re down to one nap, our mornings are free, but that speech therapy appointment sucks up the afternoon. I’d like to change the appointments to mornings, but that’s the only time the therapist can see Abbie. I need to give the boys a consistent nap time everyday, meaning their entire sleep schedule revolves Abbie’s appointment. So instead of splitting the difference for the boys’ nap and setting them down around 1:30pm, I have to keep them awake until I can put them down after speech therapy. That means they go from 8am to 3pm without a nap. Six hours is a long time for 19-month-olds to stay awake. Sometimes I have trouble staying awake for six straight hours.
They’re adjusting to the change as well as could be expected, which means they scream a lot after lunch. We’re finding ways to cope until their bodies can adjust. I give them extra snacks to keep their energy up. Ian sneaks in a nap during the drive to the speech therapist. Tory falls asleep on the drive back home.
Upon returning home, I rush everyone to bed. The past few days, the boys have been so overtired that they fight hard to stay awake at naptime. As I listen to their struggles, I wonder why I decided it was time to drop to one nap. When they sleep for two-and-a-half hours, I remember why.
New house? Check.
New beds? Check.
Drop a nap? We’re working on it.
It’s time for the boys to drop down to one nap a day. They’re sending all the right cues. They’re the right age to drop to one nap. They’re fighting too hard to stay awake at second naptime. They’re waking up from that second nap too early, before I’m ready to end my break.
Abbie was about their age when she dropped down to one nap. I remember it being a painless transition for both of us, which probably means I’ve repressed the difficult memories. The way I remember it, after weeks of preparing by progressively shortening one nap, I took the plunge into one-nap territory by placing her new nap in the middle of her day, creating two even wake times. Abbie took to her schedule for a few days, then the boys came home from the hospital and the next several months are a blur. I know that she never dropped back into two-nap territory unless illness was involved.
If only life were that easy with the boys. We now have three times as many children. That’s three times the scheduling conflicts, three times the naptime routine, and three times the miracles needed for everyone to fall asleep at once.
When the boys dropped to a two-nap schedule, I pushed Abbie’s one nap back to coincide with the boys’ second nap. 3:30pm was the farthest back I could push her nap without suffering disastrous, ear-splitting consequences. Everyone adjusted to this new time, and I rearranged our schedule around it. I scheduled visitors to leave by 3pm so everyone could sleep peacefully, especially me. I scheduled appointments for mornings when I knew everyone would be awake. I reserved 1pm for Abbie’s twice-a-week speech therapy appointments, which was the other time I knew everyone would be awake.
Now that we’re down to one nap, our mornings are free, but that speech therapy appointment sucks up the afternoon. I’d like to change the appointments to mornings, but that’s the only time the therapist can see Abbie. I need to give the boys a consistent nap time everyday, meaning their entire sleep schedule revolves Abbie’s appointment. So instead of splitting the difference for the boys’ nap and setting them down around 1:30pm, I have to keep them awake until I can put them down after speech therapy. That means they go from 8am to 3pm without a nap. Six hours is a long time for 19-month-olds to stay awake. Sometimes I have trouble staying awake for six straight hours.
They’re adjusting to the change as well as could be expected, which means they scream a lot after lunch. We’re finding ways to cope until their bodies can adjust. I give them extra snacks to keep their energy up. Ian sneaks in a nap during the drive to the speech therapist. Tory falls asleep on the drive back home.
Upon returning home, I rush everyone to bed. The past few days, the boys have been so overtired that they fight hard to stay awake at naptime. As I listen to their struggles, I wonder why I decided it was time to drop to one nap. When they sleep for two-and-a-half hours, I remember why.
posted by Matt at
11:52 PM
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