Change in Sleeping Habits

Wow! You sure have your hands full. Everyone says each child is unique and you are certainly experiencing that firsthand. It seems that, though they were born together, they do not require the same care. I would start by reducing her naptimes by 15-30 minutes for the first week. observe her behavior and adjust. You could also try pushing back her bedtime. A shift of only 15 minutes could do the trick. My adorable daughter had virtually given up her naps by this age, so count your blessings.

When she does get out of bed, get her back to bed with the least interaction possible. Don't let her play with toys. Put a special lightswitch cover on the lightswitch to keep her from turning it on. Use a reward system that encourages her going to bed and staying there. Don't leave out little man, though; if he's staying in bed, you don't want him to alter HIS behavior. Use him as an example (without saying so) by announcing his reward for staying in bed. It could be a special treat or toy. Whatever your kids covet should be their motivation.

Sleep is not always a simple thing to figure out, but you'll find the balance. Best of luck to you!

What a bright, smart little girl you have! It sounds like you and your husband are doing your evenings just right. It could be that shortening her naps would help. If she sleeps at care, suggest that they wake her after no more than an hour. I found that some kids, who were harder to wake after an hour, did well with shorter naps. Studies say that 20-30 minutes of eyes-closed is enough for a power nap...I'd say try reducing nap for a week or so and see if you notice a difference.

Also, tv viewing and computers emit a special sort of light that has been linked to sleep issues, so most sleep experts recommend no tv or computers in the hours before bedtime. Just a note!

As your children get older, their needs are changing. At 2 1/2, they now only need about 12-13 hours of sleep. If they take a 3 hour nap, then they only need 9-10 hours at night. If they are going to bed at 7:30, that means getting up at 4:30-5:30. My guess is that they are sleeping past then. My son is 3 and is going through the same thing. He would stay up late playing in his bed and then wake up at 6am. We tried adjusting the time he went to bed (because I really needed that 3 hour nap for homeschooling my daughter), but nothing worked. We ended up changing his naps instead, and that worked great. We were not able to cut out naps cold turkey because he falls apart, but we shortened them to only an hour. He is horrible if we wake him up, so we just open his door and be really loud right outside his door. We talk about getting ready to do something he likes, or whatever. Then he wakes up happy. After a while, their body makes the adjustment, and they will only sleep for an hour on their own. This is when you can peacefully start to cut out a nap every few days.
Good luck!

By the way... since needs are different for each child, the other twin may not be ready to shorten his nap just because his sister is.

My daughter did this at 18 months--decided to sleep for only 5 hours a day..you can imagine her moods and my distress. Then she slept for a week-20 hours a day, replenishing herself. Then it was three week without sleep. I went to the ped. and we tried knock out drops for her and sherry at 5 and 8 for me. It didn't work. The pattern repeated itself 3 x and finally the ped. said no more naps ever--even in the car. I cried--but it worked. Even if she fall asleep in her dinner plate.

So the no nap thing worked for me. Boys need more sleep.

Good luck and if you drink, the sherry thing helps, if you like sherry.

M.,
I am 36 also with boy/girl twins who are about the same age as yours. Mine will be 3 in January. I have recently been fighting their sleep issues too. I had to reduce their naptime. With mine, they never took 3 hour naps so my time is much less than yours would be. I had to drop my twins down to 30 minutes so that they would go to sleep on time. You, however, could try reducing the nap to 1 1/2 to 2 hours and see how that works. I would recommend doing it for at least two weeks to see if it really works. I don't think one week is enough time to change a child's schedule and get the complete results out of it. If that works, then great! If not, then try taking half hour increments off the nap for another two weeks and so on until you get the results you want. It is not going to change overnight, but stick in there, you will get the results you want if you keep with it. Mine also are able to take gates off, get out of bed, turn lights on, so you are not alone with the frustration of them growing and learning and being so smart! Feel free to message me! I would love to talk with someone who has twins!

We are going through some of the same things with our daughter and have found that if she sleeps longer than about an hour and 15 minutes that we have more trouble getting her to sleep on time (usually about 7:30 as well). This is what we're doing that you may or may not find helpful.
7 am is when she normally wakes up
1-2:15 ish is naptime
then bedtime at 7:30 pm

I would cut back her nap time to 1-2 hours. My daughter is up by 630 am, takes a 1-2 hour nap each day and goes to bed at 8. Not to say that is enough for your daughter, but just an example. Also, what about getting them one large bed instead of two beds so that maybe if one twin is asleep, the other will go to sleep to? Maybe they can talk and play and hold hands in bed and fall asleep together. I would also suggest shutting the door and cutting out any lights (unless they want night lights) or using a gate on the door. We don't have a problem with our daughter (2 and 3 months) getting out of her bed and leaving the room because when it's bedtime, it's dark in there!!