The trio turns 1 this weekend and have started to wake up too early and sleep restlessly. I don't know if they are overly tired from crawling and cruising or, which I predict, they are ready to reduce from 3 to 2 naps during the day.

Please share your 2 nap schedule with me...Thanks

Ours goes like this:

Wake-up/dress/breakfast: 8-9:30 (if I'm lucky we get up a little later and are done by 9:30, sometimes we are up at 8 or earlier and done by 9).

1st nap: 10:30, anywhere from 1 - 1 1/2 hours (the girls sometimes sleep for different lengths of time, and I let them). Occasionally one will sleep for 2 hours, usually when they were up in the middle of the night for an extended period.

Lunch: 12:30-1

2nd nap: 3:30, anywhere from 45 minutes to 1 1/4 hours. I won't let them sleep past 5.

Dinner: 5:30

Change/bath/bedtime bottle: 7:15-7:45.

Bedtime: 8

I have a feeling my afternoon naps go a little later than most people's, but that is just kind of the way it worked out for them. They can usually stay awake for 3 hours, sometimes 3 1/2 without being cranky, if necessary I can get them a little longer (well one would be happy regardless of how long I kept her awake, the other is a bugger).

Hope that helps.

Amy

Mom to Julia, ^Caitlin^ & Gabrielle



http://onealaskanmom.wordpress.com

I read somewhere that if they fight the third nap for a straight week, that's when you know they're ready to drop it. For us, it was only a half hour long at the end and my two girls would cry for 15 minutes before finally falling asleep.

After we implemented the following schedule I heard the 2-3-4 theory from someone else, and that's pretty much what we ended up with ourselves. It just means that at this age they're capable of being awake for two hours, then nap, then three hours awake, then nap, then four hours awake and then down for the night.

Our schedule is as follows:
6:00am Get them out of their cribs (they're often already awake and jabbering), bottle followed by a solid meal
8:00am Nap - they'll usually sleep about 1.5 hours, but sometimes longer - I don't let them sleep later than 10:30, but that's rarely a possibility.
10:00am Solid food meal
11:00am Play time
12:15am Bottle
1:00pm Nap - again, it's usually 1.5 hours but sometimes longer and I don't let them sleep later than 3:30. This nap is more likely to be longer, especially if I've taken them outside during their last playtime.
3:00pm Bottle and smaller solid food meal
4:00pm Playtime
5:30pm Pajamas and bottle
6:30pm Bedtime

During the week when it's just me the solid food meals take longer so the playtime is shortened, but I try to stick to the meal and nap times as closely as I can. We've been on this schedule for almost two months now and it's going really well. The only disadvantage is the limited amount of time between feedings/naps to get out of the house and do anything, but I'm not sure how to avoid that with three babies regardless of the schedule.

Mom to GBG born in July 2009 at 30w6d: 3#10oz, 3#12oz, 3#2oz

This would fit nicely because I'd be able to drop my last nap...I really like it and will try it out.

The girls sleep fine for every nap but have been waking up in the middle of the night which is not good at all.