Toddler Twins and Nap Issues

Hi A....

I have 14 month old twins and we are having nap issues as well. At the moment we are going through the 2 naps are too many and 1 nap isn't enough phase, so i've had some frustrating days recently myself! But I also have gone through a phase about 4 months back when suddenly my twins (also boy/girl) decided it was "play time" when they were put down for a nap (they also share a room). Just like your twins, they would eventually fall asleep but it would take about 20 - 30 minutes. We also had glass shattered (a snow glob), a lamp pulled off a dresser, blinds pulled from a window, etc! In order to put an end to this destructive behavior (which they don't do normal playtimes) I had to move their cribs. For quite a while their room looked really strange with the cribs in funny places in their rooms but it was what made it safe for them. You mentioned that your twins room is rather small so hopefully moving their cribs a bit is an option for you. Also, seeing that you are moving soon I'd clear anything out of the room that you'd be afraid they could get to and hurt themselves with (pics from wall etc.) Its nice to have the babies rooms all decoratd nicely and the furniture just so, but as i'm sure you've learned, as have I, when it comes to babies - especially when there are two of them! - we just need to do whatever works for the time being!! Also, in one of my twin books the author has suggested putting a bit of duct tape on the diaper to make it difficult if not impossible for your toddler to get into their diaper. Best wishes, and remember everything is just a phase!

S.

I can't advise on the naps but you need to get them in a safer enviroment. The older they get the more trouble they are going to get into. You need to look around the room from their prespective and remove any potential hazards! Do you have a baby monitor? The broken glass is scary! They could have cut themselves or worse yet - ate it and caused bigger issues internally. Did you even hear it break? The window shade - Can you move them away from the window so they can't reach it? I know you said the room is small. Does the shade have a drawstring ... a known strangling issue with kids who get a hold of it and get wrapped up. Can they fall out the window. I'm not being a jerk. I'm sure you would be devastated if any thing happened to either one of your children. It's scary what they do and how quickly they can get into trouble.

Separating them for naps might be helpful or try putting them down earlier you might be missing the sleep window. I wish my 2 year old still napped.

Hi there. Funny - as soon as my daughter was about to turn 2, she started acting up for her nap. I too leave her in her room and she eventually falls asleep.
I wake her at her usual time - not letting her sleep in longer even though her nap was pushed to a later time, and bed time is the same. I keep her on schedule and after a few days she was tired enough to get back on track.

I also moved her nap a half hour later. Now she does not have someone to egg her on, so moving it later made her more tired, and less likely to play, and instead goes right to sleep.
You can try that, or you might have to move nap time earlier to let them get it out of their system, and by time they fall asleep, it will be closer to their regular time.

Put them to sleep with full one piece pajamas so they can't get into their diapers, and keep the room dark (some room darkening shades) and tape them down. I put plastic cellophane over my daughter's shade to keep the room warmer, so maybe that would help. She is still in her crib which helps too.

Lastly, you might have to separate them for a while during naps. Do you have a travel bed or a pack & play? Use that in your room or another room in the house for one of the twins for a while.

Good luck! I know that nap time is sacred!!!!!

I went through a really long, really difficult phase with getting my twins to nap too! I used to move their cribs around, but sometimes I unwittingly moved them closer to other hazards... or at least other "trouble" (like close enough to their dresser to pull out drawers worth of clothes!). My twins used to push their cribs together & climb back & forth for hours. Also take all their clothes off. So frustrating!

I think if you CAN move them to 2 separate rooms, that might solve your problem. It didn't work for me - or maybe I just gave up too soon - but it did for other moms of twins I know.

The best thing that helped me was moving their naptime to later in the day. They went from napping 12:30 to 2:30, to napping 3 to 5. (My older daughter was in preschool from 12 to 3, so that affected the timing!) Amazingly, the late-in-the-day nap didn't affect their bedtime at all.

Finally, one day I just gave up on the nap completely. Some days they still fall asleep, but other days they don't nap and they're FINE. Saves us all a lot of aggravation!