How to get a 10 month old and an almost 3 yr old on a similar napping sched???

[mamika]

I have an almost 3 yr old that naps regularly from about 1pm-3pm and a 10 month old that naps twice daily. The naps are now in the pattern that the LO's are NEVER sleeping at the same time. That was always my precious time. Both kids asleep...mommy can close her eyes or read a book. Now that quiet time is gone and I am dragging. Any advice on getting LOs this age to overlap with naps? Am i stuck like this until the 10 month old drops the second nap?

[Jayray]

What times is the 10 mo napping?  The classic two nap schedule is 9:00 am and 1:00 pm.  It seems totally possible that the 10 mo could get on a routine with a 1:00 nap.

[mamika]

If only that was my 10 mo old! DS naps at about 10:30 or 11am and then again at 5pm. DS usually wakes up between 6:30 - 7:30am.

[ms sig]

Ooh, I wish my kids would nap, period. They the exact same age as yours. The 10 month old doesn't nap for more than 30 minutes (about 3 times a day) and the almost 3 year old doesn't nap, period. She stopped about a month ago and I haven't had any luck trying to reintroduce it.  I'm lucky if I can enforce a 45 minute quiet time. So, yeah, no down time for me either. Kinda sucks.

That said, it sounds like your younger one goes to be pretty late if that's when he gets up from his nap. The advice I read is to try gradually moving things back (about 15 min / day) so that he goes to bed for the night around 7:30. Wake him up earlier too. SUBMIT

[mamika]

Ms Sig. Sounds like you are living the same glorious period of child raising! Thanks for your advice. DS2 (10 month old) goes to bed about 8:30 - 9pm. It seems like while kids are on the two nap schedule it will be almost impossible to get him to go down during the time of 1-3. I was able to get my two year old down today at 11:30am for nap so the two overlapped for 30 min. It's better than nothing. At this point I'm assuming that it won't be until my youngest drops the second nap that I will really get some down time. However, by then the older son may lose his nap all together! :(

[ms sig]

Originally Posted by mamika 

At this point I'm assuming that it won't be until my youngest drops the second nap that I will really get some down time. However, by then the older son may lose his nap all together! :(

In all probability, yes :) For me, a success with one presages a difficult period with the other ;) Right when the baby started sleeping through the night, the toddler started crawling out of her crib and not wanting to go to bed at night. Hopefully you'll have better sleep luck :)

[mamika]

LOL! I'm pretty sure that will be my future as well! Just remember...they grow up so fast so savor it while their young...right :)

[JudiAU]

Sadly, this is common. I would try and move the 10m schedule up incrementally. So at least there is a partial overlap.

Otherwise look at as an opportunity to spend qualtiy (tired) time with one of your children. My three year old really needed that time with me, especially to do art/cutting/reading.