how much (time wise) do you go off the kids SAME schedule?

our b/g twins are almost 20 months old, separate rooms since 3 months old and always have been on the same schedule. our son was always sleeping a bit less but it was never a huge difference.
until shortly, it looked like that:

6:30am wake up Kaden / 7:00 latest wake up Liana
breakfast 7:30am
lunch 11:00ish
nap from about Noon , Kaden about 1 1/2 hours, Liana 2 to 2 1/2 hours

bedtime 6:30pm

since about 2 months, and worse since we got back from an overseas trip, my son is sleeping wayyyy less than his sister.

I figured it's always easier to try something new when you get back from a trip, because you have to start new anyways.....so I let me daughter sleep longer in the am, she seems to need it

now it's like that:

between 5:30 and 6:15am wake up Kaden, 7:30am wake up Liana (sometimes she even still sleeps !!!!)
breakfast 8:00am
lunch 11ish
nap Noon, Kaden sleeps now between 40min and 1 hour (1 hour if I'm lucky), Liana still about 2 1/2 hours
bedtime still the same for both, 6:30pm

he is not cranky or anything, should I try to keep them closer together with the wake-ups? I would feel bad, my daughter is so well rested and happy with all the sleep she gets (13 hours at night plus 2-3 nap)...she also always wakes up happy and plays quietely...while he just starts complaining and crying right away.
is it that he does not need as much sleep? I tried earlier bedtime, it would not make him sleep longer...I tried earlier naptime than noon, doesn't change anything either.

I don't mind as long as I can put them down together at the same time....

just wish he would sleep 30min more in am and just 30min more at nap time......can you blame me??

I do understand they are all different, maybe he's still adjusting from trip? we were in switzerland for 2 weeks, they slept great over there, 12 hour nights and 3-4 hour naps! then I went to hawaii just with hubby without kids for a week and grand-parents watched them, but they did pretty much what we did...except that he would rarely get up before 6:30am...maybe he just wants attention and be busy....

any tips welcome, anybody in similar situation?
thanks!
alex

 

Have you tried putting them down later for a nap and bedtime? He may just not be that tired at noon.

Lately my boys have been getting up closer to 8:00 (instead of 7:30) and when I put them down for their naps at 1:00, Josh would not nap at all. I moved it up by 1/2 hour, putting them down at 1:30 and that did the trick. Even when they wake earlier (like today Josh woke at 7:00) I'm still going to put them down at 1:30.

You could put them both down at 1:00 or if you feel your DD can't handle the extra hour, put her down at noon and your DS down at 1:00.

 

I agree with this suggestion. My twosome are 22 months and my DS just needs less sleep then my DD. He is usually up 30 minutes to an hour earlier then her in the morning and naps about an hour less then she does. I have their schedules the same only because he seems do well with the less sleep (not cranky, etc.)

 

Mine are in the same room and going in and out wakes them up, and I need my break, so if one is crabby and looks tired, they both go to bed. Thankfully I haven't had to deal with crying at bedtime for a couple months now, if they're not tired they will just babble for a while. They also wake each other in the morning and after naps, so I guess it's a bit different... but I think even if they were in two rooms I would probably wake up the other one for my own sanity.

 

judy - I can try, I did try to put them down at 12:30 instead of noon and that still did not change anything for him. I can try to keep them up even a bit longer but I doubt it will change.
there is no way I move bedtime earlier, they are happily tired and actually make sleeping signs and walk towards stairs after brushing teeths after 6pm, so 6:30pm is the latest we can stretch. now and then it was a bit later, and that usually backfired, too tired, getting whiny and waking even earlier in the am because they weren't well rested.
when do yours go down at night?

nancy - yep, sounds about the same then here, in total hours, my daugther sleeps 3 hours more in the 24 hours, well, I bet she will be a knock-out with all that beauty sleep ! I agree on the same schedule, at least we put them always down together

fran - yes that's what we do to, they always go down together, keeps me insane...waking one when one is up won't help here, she needs longer sleeps so no way I can wake her, and him, I never have to wake as he's always up before her!

thank you all, well it could just be a phase, or he will just need less sleep now, as long as he's happy, fine with me...only thing is I get barely one hour of rest/without them.....I sure hope he won't turn into those "stop napping completely" anytime soon we sure were good so far, they always napped great and their early bedtime is really when I get alone or hubby time !

 

How long did you try putting them down at 12:30? I would stick with it for at least a week and if that does not work, try moving it back to 1:00 (again if your DD is ok with it).

My boys wake up between 7:30-8:00. They go down for a nap at 1:30 for a good 3 hours and bedtime is 7:30. Sometimes I will hear them playing for awhile before going to sleep and other times they go right down without a peep.

Josh is usually the one that will wake up early in the morning and at naptime. He's fine with entertaining himself until Jake wakes up, or when I go in there to start their day.

 

thanks Judy. I tried for about 5 days....so today he woke up at 5:30am....Liana slept as usual until 7:30am, I put both down at 12:30pm, never a problem, they fall right asleep. now he's up again, he slept one hour, I will try to let him complain for a bit, maybe he will fall back asleep.
I will keep trying, and even put him down later, at 1pm, maybe that will do the trick.

 

I have mine in different rooms for precisely the reasons you are describing.

One of mine needs less sleep.

Gabe wakes up and hour and 1/2 or so, earlier than Nic.

It doesn't change a thing about bedtime and naptime. I wouldn't make one baby who needs more sleep suffer to stay on the EXACT same schedule. Like I said, it doesn't have to affect meal time or bedtime or nap time. He just gets more sleep in the AM.

I see nothing wrong with it and it doesn't disrupt anything like it would have when they were tiny.

 

...thank you ! I think so too.....and you're right, meals, nap and bedtime (going down) is always the same...
my boy actually slept almost 2 hours nap yesterday, after one week of only 45 minutes, so hopefully it will be a trend! I went to Jungle Land (indoor playground) with them all morning and brought lunch, maybe that did the trick. we'll see !!!

 

just happy to give good news !

suddenly, or maybe the daylight savings helped, my son now naps 2 hours !!!! yeahhhhh !

 

mine are each on the schedule that his body needs. they go to sleep when they seem tired (usually the same time, but not always) and wake up when they wake up. they share a room and i try to get in there at the first sound so that one doesn't wake the other, but otherwise, i can't seem to force anything on them... when i do things according to what each of their bodies seems to need, i have a lot more success.

of course, if they were on completely different schedules every day of the week, that would make me nuts! i try to keep them together as much as i can, but if one wakes up significantly earlier than the other one, i know we're pretty much in for a "turn taking" day. imposing my schedule on them just doesn't work.

gl!