Need some nap time help

[Anonymous]

so I care for twins. They just started doing a one nap thing. But that's not the issue.

One twin literally will sleep for 30 mins than wake up screaming, I have tried letting her cry, going in putting her back down, going down earlier, going down later. If I go in to help soothe her the other twin wakes up (but not while her sister is screaming). Than Im stuck with two cranky toddlers.


I suggested putting a porta crib up in another room, but mom gave away the crib already. I am at my wits end. This kid is tired every afternoon.

Please any advice!! She is also doing this with her mom on weekends.

Sorry for typos Im on my stupid tablet I hate

[Anonymous]

Op here sorry had to go calm her down.

I just kept putting her back down and prayed the other one wouldn't wake up. I'm sure her screams were heard down the block! She finally gave in and stayed laying down, unfortunately I had to rub her head til she fell asleep. She's never had patience at all and has always struggled getting herself calm where her twin is just go with the flow. We say one twin got in line twice for the patience and the other got none.

[Anonymous]

How old are they?

[Anonymous]

Oh sorry 15 months

[Anonymous]

I don't have any solutions for you but DS went through a similar phase around that age, woke himself up screaming long before he was done sleeping. It was a couple of weeks where he was overtired but then things settled back to normal - hopefully your little one settles down soon too!

[Anonymous]

I went through the exact same thing with twins, right around that age. Like PP said, there were a few over tired and rough weeks but they passed. It's just a very weird (stressful) phase that will pass soon. Comfort her the best you can but don't worry just yet that it is anything serious.

[Anonymous]

Another twin nanny with similar experience. Try to put them down a little earlier for bedtimes, and try not to get into any crazy habits during this phase (the head-rubbing might be a problem later on). Also, the usual dim, quiet room with white noise can help. Does she have a lovey? Inteoducing one can help with high strung babies. Really helps with self-soothing.

[Anonymous]

Good suggestions you've received already. I don't have twins but I would just like to add that when you try adjusting the schedule like putting her to sleep earlier, you have to try it for a couple of weeks to see if it helps. We went through something similar with my DS and we started putting him to sleep earlier and at first I thought it didn't work but after 2 weeks he started sleeping longer.

[Anonymous]

Thank you all!!!

After I soothed her today she slept another 1 hour and 15 mins. Her sister slept the whole time!!!

Both of them have had loveys for about 10 months-they both went through a phase they threw lovey out of their cribs (of course lovey or lala as they both call lovey-doesn't come back).

I will keep trying and I talked to MB when she got home. So we can both do the same things. We will keep trying to let her soothe herself and cry it out, than hopefully with out waking up sister, putting her back down (again and again). Luckily it's only a nap problem and they both sleep 12 hours at night with no wake ups.

Thanks again everyone!!! I really miss their two long naps

[Anonymous]

I have twins and know exactly what you're dealing with. Sounds like you're handling it as well as possible and it's great that you and the MB are in sync on this.

It's a shame you don't have a pack-n-play option in another room because I swear by that. My kids nap longer and more reliably when they're separated (though they are fabulous overnight sleepers and are in the same room).

Also, the period of transition from 2 naps a day down to one was pretty rough - it took several weeks for it really to settle into a routine but we're on the other side of it now and things are back to normal. We went through all of that right around 18months so pretty similar to where you are now.

Hang in there!