how to coordinate naps?

[verycozy]

Any thoughts about how to get the babies (now four months old) to nap at the same time in the morning so I can spend time alone with my 2yo?

Right now it's a free for all--one of the twins takes a two hour nap in the morning, the other sleeps for 15-20 minutes at a time and then takes a big nap in the afternoon. I usually wear whoever's crankiest and then the other one sleeps in the swing or bouncy chair.

Is it too early to be thinking about this?

I've heard good things about the no cry sleep solution, but I don't know how well it translates to multiples (and I don't have the brains or time right now to figure it out for myself).

[dividedsky]

are they on the same schedule otherwise?

[verycozy]

They both sleep long stretches at night, but other than that I wouldn't say there's any schedule to speak of. I feed on demand and bounce/rock/nurse them to sleep when they seem sleepy. It's still kind of chaotic.

[GoodUserNamesTaken]

[CalaRei]

When you find out, let me know. Mine are 4.5 months and I do the same thing. Generally I find they're sleepy around 10am-ish, then again at 2-3pm-ish. But I might have to start moving them upstairs for the nursing session before then, because as it stands, I just put them in bouncers and hope they nap with some rocking.

[JenChaffee]

Mine are 2.5 mos. I was noticing that their mode of operating was always opposite one another. And they tended to be awake for a little bit then doze for a little bit. This made it hard for me to eat, bathe, make a phone call, etc. I finally decided to try something, and most days, it works nicely.

I have picked a nap-time in the afternoon. I now swaddle them and set them in the crib. Usually, one sleeps soundly and the other doesn't, but the one that doesn't sleep dozes some and seems content to lie there and chat with the motionless ceiling fan (they love the ceiling fan!). This way, I usually have 1.5 to 2 hrs before someone cries needing to eat or be changed.

For the rest of the day, I let them sleep and eat as they want. I have been enjoying my daily hour of alone time for about 3 weeks, now.

[cdahlgrd]

I used swings. But at 4 months, I had mine on opposite schedules. So 1 up and 1 napping most of the day. I could hold 1 and play with my older child fine, but 2 was hard. I put them on the same schedule around 5 months old.

I used the swing to get them to nap. When necessary, I would put them both in the swings, put on some good dance music, and me and my oldest would dance and sing to the babies until they went to sleep, then we would go play/read/etc. I also would drive them to sleep, park, then have ds1 come up front with me to play.

But mostly, you have to get used to dealing with kids all over you all the time.

IF I were to do it again, I would get them used to being laid down for a nap at naptimes and bedtime. It isn't the easiest thing to do, but it is invaluable for later. Especially if you have more than 1 child. I like the methods in No Cry Sleep solutions book.

[bekahlily]

With my girls, I started them early. Whenever one woke up, I would wake the other. When one nursed, I nursed the other. We didn't ever have a set "schedule," but they were pretty much always synced. Every now and then one would start to drift away from the other a little, but as long as I stayed consistent with doing everything together they would stay on the same timeline.

[verycozy]

[QUOTE=cdahlgrd;15226075]
But mostly, you have to get used to dealing with kids all over you all the time.

Yep, this was kind of what i was figuring.

I really like the swing-sing-dance suggestion. That's brilliant.

Thanks everybody for the suggestions.

I'm daydreaming about the incredible things I could accomplish if everybody napped at the same time for 45 minutes...

[Tigerchild]

I really never got anyone on a coordinated schedule. I pretty much relied on "Daddy time" to give me a chance to steal away with DD. Though she gave up napping when she was 20 months and the boys were 3 months old, so we did get some time when both boys happened to be down.

It was a lot harder to do things together once the boys got mobile. Until that point, I could do puzzles/painting/ect. with her with the boys nearby watching us on their blanket with their toys (and for some reason the cat always wanted to be near them, so they would be entertained by chewing on his tail and ears and pulling his fur for awhile).

[overseasmomma]

Around that time, my twins woke up around the same time and took their morning nap at the same time. Afternoon naps were less predictable. So,I either wore them down seperately and put them to sleep in different rooms so the early riser wouldnt disturb the sleepyhead (this gave me and dd1 more playtime). Or, I pooped them in the stroller and went for a walk to the park while dd1 rode her bike next to me. Once the twins were asleep, Dd1 and I would play in the sandbox or the slides until they woke up.

i wake up all the kids at the same time and put them to sleep at the same time, but I never messed with nap times because ds1 needs way more sleep than his sister.