My boy/girl three year old twins have been in a large bed sleeping together for many months. Suddenly they fight going down for naps and especially nighttime bedtime. They sleep for two hours or more in the afternoon from about 1:30 on, and sleep from about 9:30 to - 7:30 am. We start getting ready for bed around 7:00 with bath some nights, potty, brushing teeth, story reading...
It seems the holidays messed with their scedule and made for some late nights & house guests certain,y changed things. We can separate their rooms, but will be living in Europe for six months starting next week and then they will need to share a room. We have shut the door... They stay up until 9:30 or ten playing whether together or alone. They will play under sheet, with hands... Is it time to drop a nap? How do i get them to go to bed without a battle.
Since you're moving next week (not only that, but across several time zones!) I'd just go with the flow until you get settled in the new place, until then trying to set a routine will just be beating your head into the wall....
If you plan on them attending pre-K or Kindergarten then I would fight giving up on the naps. I would keep them taking them for as long as possible. The must have rest time in Pre-K and in the first half of Kindergarten. So if they don't take a nap they will get sent home after lunch and miss out on all the parties and other afternoon activities that the other kids do after rest time.
They are older now and don't need to go to bed at 7pm. Yes, taking a bath and starting the end of the night routine early is not a bad thing. But going down in the bed around 8:30-9pm is pretty normal for kids that age. When I had my child care center I put kids down around 8pm so I could get them to sleep and have some quiet time before they started going home around 2-3 am. Hardly any of the kids would fall asleep until close to 9:30 0r 10pm.
It may not help but I would put them in separate beds. They can still chat but it cuts out a lot of the more active play. Tell them they are in bed and not to get out and it should help. I think maybe the nap could be cut to an hour and see how they do or maybe put them down for a two hour nap earlier, like 12:30 or so. They may be sleeping too close to bedtime. On the other hand, I had boys and two in a room and it just seems the only good way is separate rooms. It may take a battle but be firm and set the rules so they know and then enforce them.
If I remember correctly at 3 my daughter (only child) put up a small fight reguarding nap and bed time. Part of it is the change in schedule, the other part is learning their free will and being able to do/control a part of their life.
At about 3 1/2 nap time was hit or miss, usually only took one every other day or on the days most active (morning preschool twice a week, bounce house, lots of running around and so on). That helped a little because then at bedtime on the days she had no nap she was in bed and asleep within 30 minutes (started getting ready around 7pm, in bed between 8 and8:30pm). Once she got in the habit every other night pretty much being so warn out from a day without a nap she would got to sleep with little to no playing... this just became her norm and the battle ended.
We did not let her get out of bed to play, or come out of her room. She could read/look at a book with her flashlight or quietly play with her stuff animals. This gave her a little sense of her controling when she went to sleep yet we were still setting the boundries of you have to be in bed around this time... bed time.
With the big move coming up and coming up soon I really do not think there is much that you can change before the move. The move is going to throw everything up in the air scheudle wise anyway. May just try to remind the girls stay in bed, no playing out of bed, can quietly read/look at books or play with stuff animals. If you can deal with no naps while getting ready to move maybe try shortening or cutting down the naps, but otherwise do not stress yourself out while preparing for this move.
Well, my own dd gave up naps at 22 mos., but I watch several 4 year olds who all nap. I'd wait until after the move, but if it's an issue, I'd separate them. 3 of my daycare kids can nap fine in the playroom, but one has to be kept separate since she sleeps best on her own and in a more dark spot in the house.
My almost 3 year old is doing a number on me! Wow can he keep himself awake!!! We have a very nice bedtime routine, or at least I thought we did. Might be time to shake things up a bit. He shares a room with big brother, who goes down without a fight 90% of the time. I put big brother to bed and then work on getting the younger one to relax and go to sleep. It was working great before the holidays, but it is sure not working now! I'll be checking back to see more answer hear. Hopefully I'll find some suggestions that work for me :-)
When I was watching my nieces, I would put my son down for a nap in his bed and put my niece down for a nap in my bed. You could do that for nap time if you think separating them might help. You could even do that for bedtime if you don't mind moving a sleeping 3 year old so that you can go to bed. It might be worth a try.
Good luck! And please take comfort in knowing you are not alone!
My 2 year old grandsons sleep in separate beds and the one tries to go to sleep fast and the other one bothers him and wants to play. That can go on for 2 hours sometimes. They get a 2 hour nap but go to bed at 8:00pm but get up at 5:30am or 6:00am. I don't know, I think when there are two there is just more trouble. Too bad people couldn't afford separate rooms for both.
