Looking for suggestions about nap time. I care for a set of twins. Every day they go down for nap at noon as they are tired. They fall asleep on their own. They sleep for 40 minutes, wake up still tired and screaming and will only be settled by being held until they fall asleep again within 10 minutes. Then sleep for another 30 to 40 minutes. I've never seen anything like it and mom and I are trying to break the 10 minutes of holding habit. Any suggestions on how to do this? Has anyone experienced anything like this? - Anonymous
I'm surprised you haven't seen anything like it before! A sleep cycle is about 35-45 mins long so it's very normal for babies to wake up after 35-45 mins of sleep. I've seen this in MANY babies. You could try not going to them when they wake up...leave them for 10 mins or so and they may fall back to sleep on their own. If not, then you can go in and pat them/shush them but don't pick them up. Soon they should be able to go back to sleep on their own after they wake and eventually they won't wake at all in the middle of naps. My charge learned to put himself back to sleep after waking in the middle of a nap (which he did 60-70% of the time) around 9 months. He almost never wakes mid-way through a nap now (13 months). Good luck!
ReplyDeleteExactly what the above poster said!
ReplyDeleteI am also surprised you've never seen this before, it is very common. My charge is 9 months and she's always been an awful napper. What I do when she wakes up and I can tell she's not done sleeping, is I will go in her room and leave the lights off, not say a word to her and change her diaper. I will pat her back for a minute or so, shushing her. I'll be honest, sometimes it works and she's back to sleep within a few minutes and sometimes she just screams her head off. On those days, I will get her up and let her play more, but only for about an hour, and then put her right back to bed. You didn't say how old your charges are, but I'm assuming they are older babies that should be able to fuss a little and then put themselves back to sleep.
ReplyDeleteTo add to above posters, something that has worked for me.
ReplyDeleteI know baby is going to wake up 30 minutes into nap. Instead of waiting for him to wake, I go into his room a few minutes beforehand. I know that jiggling his crib helps soothe him to sleep, so I do that gently and shuh him while he's still sleeping. I can usually see him start to come out of his sleep cycle and ease right back to sleep.
Being that step ahead of him keeps him from totally waking himself by screaming.
And on the plus side, this helps him to learn how to soothe himself into the next cycle on his own, so after a bit it's no longer necessary.
I would try using music to transition them, keeping music on the entire time they're asleep. I would hold them for less time each day until they no longer need or expect it. Going from holding for ten, to nine, eight, seven, six minutes to rubbing their back, to not being involved. It just seems like they would benefit from learning how to get themselves back to sleep. I've found music to help babies fall asleep. I know this is frustrating. But its a normal part of early childhood development. Best of luck with this.
ReplyDeleteDC, that is a fantastic idea! I wish it would work for me and my charge but she is such a light sleeper, if I set foot in her room, she'll stand straight up and start begging to be picked up. Hopefully OP can try it with the twins.
ReplyDeleteGypsy, weaning the twins off rocking gradually is also a really good idea. Much easier for them than just leaving them to cry...which I also have no problem with. Some kids do fine with CIO.
My munchkin twins had a fit with this for the longest time. I finally realized that they were waking each other up for naps (they did okay with night sleeping) so we created a nap room with a pack and play for one twin. Worked wonders!
ReplyDelete