2,3,4 schedule

[GreenShades]

Hi,

I started the 2,3,4 schedule when my twin girls started having 2 naps instead of 3. This was around a month ago.

Normally they would fall asleep in 10 minutes by 7pm. Now its been nearly a week and they are awake until 715-730pm. I still bring them to bed at 645pm but they take as long as 40 minutes to fall asleep.

The 2,3,4 schedule was working really well but now I'm not sure what I should be doing to get them to sleep again by 7pm.

They take two naps during the day each one and half hour at 9am and 130pm.

Any suggestions on what I can be doing differently?

Forgot to mention they are 9 1/2 months old.

Thank you.

Shorter second nap? That sounds like a lot of daytime sleep, mine is only 6.5 months and naps less than that!

Although, if they still sleep well at night I’d also question whether you could just shift bedtime later and let them go to bed at 7.30.

@GinnyBee oh I just assumed on the 2,3,4 schedule that they take x2 1.5hr naps. I always wake them from naps though.

I have just been with them settling them down now after they woke up, they took 35 minutes to go back to sleep.

Should I move the naps a bit later on too?

How long do you suggest for afternoon nap?

I have found this week after putting to bed I can be settling them back down quite a few times until I come to bed around 10pm and then after that they will wake maybe 2-3 times.

I don’t know tbh, I’ve seen people mentioning cutting naps by 15 minutes to begin with. I’m no authority on this though, mine isn’t on any reliable schedule and just naps when he’s tired, and tends to take 2 hours of daytime sleep no matter the circumstances. His nighttime sleep is a mess though, but that’s due to some unexplained tummy aches rather than sleep scheduling 🤷🏼‍♀️ if he’s not gassy then he sleeps ok.

Why do they need to be asleep at 7pm? If they sleep well but don't want to sleep til 7.30pm just put their bedtime routine a bit further back to accomodate this?

@WeightoftheWorld its just that when I usually take them to bed at 645pm they are asleep within 10 mins but now when i do and they are showing signs of being tired all of sudden they seem to not want to sleep and take upto 40 mins to sleep.

I thought being awake for 4.5hours will cause over-tiredness?

Babies change all the time, this includes their sleeping needs and sleeping patterns. It sounds to me like your baby would be quite happy going to sleep around 7.30 and indeed is doing that anyway? So why make life hard for you both spending ages trying to get them to sleep earlier? They won't necessarily be overtired no, all babies are different. Both mine have tended to go asleep around 7.30 at that age. I'm not saying that means yours should necessarily but it's a perfectly 'ordinary' bed time. My youngest is 13 months and usually goes to sleep around 7.30 and has kept that rough bedtime/bed time routine from being around 4 or 5 months old if I remember correctly. He still has 2 naps a day with us too.

@WeightoftheWorld okay thank you for the information. I will see how it goes tonight and push bedtime back then.