7 month old baby naps and routine?

[ConfusedBiscuit]

I have 7 month old twins who sleep reasonably well at night but at the moment are basically refusing to nap during the day at all. They'll sometimes nod off for half an hour in their pushchair or the car but getting them to sleep for any longer or at home is a bit of a nightmare.

I think partly the reason is that they're getting overtired. I'm not really a fan of CC etc but I've decided for their good and my sanity I need to encourage them to nap at regular times and before they get too tired. I don't really know where to start though.

They wake between 7 and 7.30 so I think that means they should have their first nap about 9.30/10, but they feed at 10 so how would that work?. They also have two solid meals a day so how would that fit in? I'm really confused!

I would be brilliant if any one with a baby about this age could post how their day works as regards to feed, meal and nap times. I really never saw myself having a strict routine but I think I need some idea of what to aim for

my dd is 9 months now and after i put her into a routine ive never looked back. i did controlled crying for naps during the day, leaving her for 3 mins then 5 then 7. i have never had to leave her loner than that five minutes. imo while admittedly the 3 mins and occasionally the 5 mins of crying did break my heart, after a month she doesnt cry at all.
she gets up at around the same time as yours with a milk feed, has her solid breakfast at 8-8.30, then we give her another milk feed around 9-9.30, ten minutes before her morning nap. the milk feed for me is an indicator for her that she'll be put down. i give her cuddles and keep noise down while she has that feed, then take her up to bed (whether or not she acts tired, because i know after two hours awake she IS tired, however much cooing and laughing shes doing)
she naps for about an hour maybe a bit longer. shes up by 11.30.
Midday to 12.30 she has her solid dinner, with water or juice. then at 2.30-3 her milk feed again ten mins before nap. Her afternoon nap is the longer nap always about an hour and a half. shes up by 4-4.30 tea (solid) at five with water, and then at 6 milk bed by 6.30.
it works very well for me. i did have some trouble in houses other mine, MILs house for instance, but shes even started napping there no aswell.
we will have some bad days when she wont nap longer than 40 mins or she gets off her routine but for the most part she gets her sleep and shes a happier baby for it. but don't get bogged down with timescales keep it loose and flexible. good luck darling.

Thanks so much for your reply, that's really helpful.

I'd been trying to put them down for a nap before their 2nd feed at 10 which hadn't been working very well. Maybe I should do what you do and feed them a bit earlier and see if they'll go down. Hard with 2 as I'll have to feed the second one after I've put the first down, but my DH is home so he could visit him if he gets upset. I'm feeding him and typing one handed, so we'll see soon!

Do you put your DD down for naps in the dark, or use any music/white noise?

i have a 6.5 month old and i also never planned on a routine....but all of a sudden we're in one and it's working - for now

the main things that worked for me were switching to slightly longer between feeds about 2-3 weeks ago. i'd been sticking to 3 hourly, but for most feeds he's happier now going 4 hours, and i think this helped with napping longer. but he's a big boy, so might not work for you if your twins need more feeds.

i also learnt that putting him down for a nap about 2 hours after he woke from the last one worked, he's not always looking that tired, but he always goes to sleep.

here's what we do:

wake 7ish and bf
nap 9ish (hour or 90 mins)
10.30ish bf
he has a bit of puree food at 12ish now
nap time again 12-12.30ish (about 2 hours)
2.30ish bf
nap again about 4.30ish (about 30 mins)
has some more puree food about 5.30/6ish
bath 6.30
last bf about 6.45
bed at 7

it doesn't always go to plan but roughly it's the same, and at least aiming for similar each day helps to know where you are!

good luck

oh and ps - 3 weeks ago, my ds would not nap anywhere but his pushchair...and he too only went 30 mins at a time. so it does get better

OK, a small amount of success. BFed Little twin just before ten and then put him straight down and he napped for just over an hour Put Small twin down just after and he was quiet for about 30 mins in his cot but not sure if he slept or not (madly tidying while I had the chance) he did sleep for about half an hour in the pushchair before lunch though

Different story this afternoon though. They both went down quite quietly but neither would sleep and ended up with both of them screaming at once! Gave up with Little but did PU/PD with Small for another half an hour but got nowhere and hated him being so upset

Hi just a thought about routine have you looked at any of the several parenting books that advocate strict routine? Although it might be the last way you want to parent you could just look at nap times/duration and how the author suggests you fit it around meal and feed times and ignore the rest. Just a thought

you poor thing. i remember very well when i was trying things to make ds sleep longer, and it went wrong, and it was so depressing.

i never did cc during the day, but after trying everything i could think of, and geting to the end of my tether, i did do it at night for a couple of nights, and that was what worked for us in the end as it straight away helped with daytime naps as well.

as evans did - left him for x3 3 min intervals, then x3 5 min intervals, then x3 7 min intervals - but we never had to go beyond the 5 min bit. it was nowhere near as bad as i had thought it would be.

pu/pd didn't work for us as it just seemed to make things worse. but of course it's whatever you think will work for you.

the other thing i found was that as soon as i got consistent, it did start making a difference. i was so tired and so willing to try anything, that i literally did try everything, one day after another and looking back it's no wonder ds didn't know what to do.

it must be incredibly difficult with twins to fit everything in! i love your names for them btw hope these thoughts might be useful...

DS2 is coming up on 7 months and whilst I don't have a strict routine I would say that our days average out roughtly as follows:
6am bf
7.30 breakfast
9am 1/2 hour nap
10am bf
11.30 1/2 hour nap
12.30 lunch
14.00 1/2 hour nap
14.30 bf
16.30 1/2 nap
17.00 dinner (sometimes small bf before dinner to settle him if he wakes up grumpy after his nap)
18.45 bf
19.00 bedtime

Not sure how you've gone with this or whether your question is still relevant, but I also have 7 month old twins and I find that they tend to need a sleep roughly every 2 - 2.5 hours (not saying all twins are the same!). I look for their sleep cues (rubbing eyes, yawning, sleepy eyes etc)and then put them in their cot for a nap - if I've missed the cues and they are overtired then they take longer to settle down.

I agree with getting them in to a routine. Early days were mad without any structure but mine now seem to have fallen in to the routine below. I know they have a regular nap before and after brekky but after that I don't know the times that they sleep, but they always get tired so that their nap fits into the routine below...not sure how that happens or they may be more regular than I have noticed!

6ish bottle
7.30ish one of them will be napping
7.30 - 8 brekky
8ish other one naps after brekky
10ish bottle
12ish lunch
2ish bottle
4ish dinner
6ish bottle
7ish bedtime

They usually nap for 20 - 40 mins each time, which I'm happy with as they then sleep through the night unless they haven't eaten enough in the day...then they wake each other up and wake my 2yo up aswell!!

Also, the times do change as sometimes they may be napping at lunchtime, so they just start lunch late and then have bottles and dinner a bit later. They seem to always want a bottle at 6ish though and bedtime isn't ever much later than 7ish. I don't think you can fixate on a strict routine with any baby as it would drive you mad!

DS is 8 months, since about 7 months he's been doing more or less this

7am get up and dress, then BF
8ish brekkie
9ish nap (short nap in cot, he never naps more than 40 mins), then get up and have a snack (toast)
1145ish lunch
1230 - go for a walk, he naps in pram, I keep him out till about 2 to get a long nap
1400 BF
1500ish snack (banana)
1645ish tea
1745 bath
1815 BF and bed

If the longish middle of the day nap fails he sometimes has a little kip mid-afternoon. He's another rubbish napper hence the daily walk.

Didn't plan to have a routine as strong as this but he seems to really need it. Basically having meals and naps at predictable times seems to really help.

i do exactly as 'evans' does, and when timings go wrong, it tends to be like 'waytoomuchchocolate''s schedule. in other words it depends when she wakes, if she wakes early she doesnt have her milk morning snack before going down for a nap, which she'll have around 9.
lately she has started waking at 6, i listen to her babbling (doing a poo I think!) never crying then she falls asleep again til 8. (we preferred it when she cried for us at 7.15 then partner got 1/2hr in our bed with her before going to work!)
anyway she breakfasts on solids at 8 (porridge and fruit and rest of the day's solids has helped her sleep patterns enormously) and 150ml milk
9.30/10 milk snack 120ml - nap for 1hr+
12 lunch solids with water
2.30/3 milk snack 120ml - nap 1hr+
5 solids with water
6.30 bath then full milk bottle 210ml
7 fast asleep

we've been very lucky so far, she's been easy and we've been super relaxed, but i found that being quite authorative early on 'no, you will have a nice nap now, then we'll play again later' has always worked - as in, it's a battle you know you're going to win, they seem to accept that in the end!! i did controlled crying, sometimes still do - if you get on the internet and block out hearing the crying then 7mins flies by and you can go back to give an authoritive kind squeeze as they are lying down. i think longest i've donwe this for is 12/12 mins - but never if really upset/sobbing/tears so I don't know what that might be like.... good luck, you'll be there in no time!

Hi,

I have bay 7,5 moth. I try to follow his routine. He will have rice carrel between 17-18 then bath time , at 18.30 breastfeed and he is asleep by 19.00 . The problem is every time he wakes up between 22 or 23 so then I have to breastfeed him again. I tried to increase his carrel but it doesn?t help anyway.
Another problem is when I give him oatmeal or porridge he refuses. He is active and districted. I have to push even try to calm environment for him but it doesn?t help anyway

Could anyone help me with advice please?