Oh no! They stopped napping!

My girls just turned 8 months today and as of yesterday both girls have stopped napping... at all!!!!!!! At around 4 months we did the CIO method and it worked.... they have been sleeping through the night and taking naps ever since... I'm guessing it's just that it's more fun for them to be awake than to nap.. they are in the same room and they chatter and talk.... they fall asleep for about 20 minutes toward what would be the end of their normal nap time.. I can't let them stay in there any longer!!!! Whenever they lose naps we end up putting them to bed very early.. like around 6pm... So, the question is.. what do I do? How long to I let them stay up there and play/talk?? Do I seperate them?? Has anyone else had this problem???

Oh... and just to complicate matters... I just got a very big surprise BFP... I'm 5 weeks and very tired.. so I'm not sure I can deal with them not taking some downtime in the day!!!!

Thanks!!!!!!

 

You need to either let them sleep once they finally sleep (are you waking them up after 20 minutes?). Or put them in their crib earlier to offset that play time. But once they go to sleep, I'd let them sleep for at least 90 minutes. If it throws your schedule off, well, this is the first of many times your schedule will have to be changed.

 

Thanks for your reply. I would love to let them sleep but they wake themselves up after 20 minutes. I'd be happy to change my schedule, but they are doing a sleep/wake/sleep/wake thing. I tried putting them down a half hour earlier this morning and I'm hoping they will eventually fall asleep.

 

At this age, I'd guess it's a phase. Keep trying naps. Make the room darker if you can. Use a white noise machine. Maybe try a half hour later? But ultimately, I think time will fix it. Everything is a phase. At 8 months, they are unlikely to give up naps.

 

Its a phase. My kids were like that around 6 months. Now they still naps 3 long naps/day and my son has 1 extra 5 min cat nap before bed. His system works like clock work lol.

 

I agree with PPs that they are very unlikely to give up naps at that age. They need a break during the day as much as you do.

I remember a phase when they resisted naps too and I enforced quiet time at their nap time: we all snuggled up on the big bed, curtains drawn, the same soft music playing every day, and they would drift off to sleep nearly every time. That helped us to keep the rhythm for the week or two when they resisted naps and we would all be pretty well rested even if they did not sleep. Maybe this would help you too for a while until you get them back on track with their naps.

Do you have a nap ritual which helps them wind down, a bit like a short bedtime ritual?

Are they on one nap only? Some babies resist naps because they are overtired/overstimulated. At that age two or three naps mights work better, so you can put them down before they are too tired. I do not know if that is the case for your babies. Alternatively, they might not be tired enough - maybe they are getting less fresh air and exercise with the winter weather and the fact that you are not feeling as active as before? Crawling around on a blanket in the garden exploring leaves, twigs, grass, following a ball etc. worked wonders for us at that age to have happy and tired babies ready for sleep but winter weather might make that difficult depending on where you are.

You might also have to experiment with different nap times for a few days. You will need to try a new schedule for a week or so to see if it is working.

GL!

 

Thank you for all of your replies! My girls do get 2-3 naps and have been like clockwork since they were 4 months.. I have thought a lot not having as much stimulation as they need during their awake time. We've always followed HSHHC to the letter... but there is nothing said about when they just want to play/pull themselves up! That is one thing that I wonder about.. .they really seem into babbling and grossmotor movement right now (A. is pulling herself up in the crib), so I'm wondering if they are just not wanting to sleep... we have toyed with the idea of seperating them for naps and we still may if this doesn't get better... we've tried experimenting with the time of the naps... nothing really seems to work... the problem right now for me is how long to let them play before going in to them... sometimes they fall asleep and sometimes they don't... so if they do we just let them sleep for a reasonable amount of time, but not so long that it ruins the next naptime... so, hopefully this is just a phase and it will get better! They are a wreck in the early evening, so the poor babies end up going to bed for the night so early! Thanks guys!

 

Did I read your last sentence right? I am a little tired and not great on acronyms but I think you said you were 5 weeks along? CONGRATULATIONS!!!

As far as naps, at 8 months they stayed in their cribs 90 mins to 2 hours no matter what. I needed the break. If they didn't sleep they had downtime to play. As long as they are safely in their cribs. They may protest at first but after a couple of days they will get it. This is the time we go to sleep...if we don't want to sleep we may have quiet time.