Hi,

I have 8 month old twins. Our son Dylan is a good sleeper and settles well. Our daughter Chelsea sleeps well at night but during the day I have problems settling her. I put her down when she is showing tired signs and she may have been up for anywhere between 2 and 6 hours, so clearly in need of a sleep. She seems to get into her cot and become re-energised and I end up after half an hour going in and getting her back up to play to wear her out more before putting her back down again and trying to get her to sleep.
I've been told at this age they may start to resist being put to sleep and if I've made the decision its nap time then I shoudl stick to my guns and leave her in her cot whether she goes to sleep or not?
I want to know at what age do we follow through on our decisions? I am concerned about Chelsea realising if she does not settle I will eventually go and get her back up.
Can anyone give me some advice?

Jodie (31)
Andrew (33)
Dylan and Chelsea 8 months (born 7/9/04)

Jodie,
I look forward to getting some responses on this question.

I have the same problem with Jake but I do leave him in his cot the entire time Tayla is sleeping and he just plays and does not go to sleep.

Ali

Hi Jodie,

I have 8 month old twins too and had a similar problem to what you are experiencing - Ella is a fantastic sleeper day & night whereas Liam tended to resist daytime sleeping - he goes off to sleep well at night but still occasionally wakes in the early hours of the morning. When my bubs were about 5 and a half months old I spent a week at a sleep centre - their advice was if your baby sleeps well at night, don't try to push them too much with their day sleeps ........
I'm not sure if I really agree with them though!!
I practised a moderated version (i.e my version ;p ) of controlled crying to get Liam to sleep through the night - he was a shocking night sleeper, now thankfully he goes down at 7pm & sleeps until at least 5am, although every now & again he still wakes once or twice and needs resettling. The nurses told me it's not much use doing cc during the day because a baby is less likely to settle & you will just end up with 2 hours of solid crying!
Before he slept through the night I was lucky if he had 2x 30 min sleeps during the day - now that he sleeps well at night he can generally have 2 naps of around 1 to 1 and a half hrs during the day. Not every day though! He tends to be on a 3 day cycle - day 1 & day 2 he will have 2 shorter naps (maybe an hour each) & on day 3 he will have two longer naps (closer to 1 and a half hours), then back to the start..... iykwim.... :quest:

so in my very round about long winded way , I guess I am saying your decision is the decision only when you are comfortable with that decision! As you said, if Chelsea is showing tired signs and has been up for over 2 hrs, chances are she's ready for a sleep - the trick I find is to adopt a business like manner & put them directly into bed at that stage - don't stop to change their nappy or wash their face or anything, go straight to bed! We use darkening their room as their sleep signal - it's quite amusing, they could be making noises or moving around the cot but as soon as the curtains are closed they assume their sleep positions (Liam twists to his side & Ella settles onto her tummy). Apart from my probably useless waffle, I can't really offer you much advice LOL! I hope you glean something from it though ..... I think I need to wash the monday morning cobwebs away with another coffee!!

hope you had a lovely mother's day..........

Jane
Jackson&Riley 16/11/01 Ella&Liam 26/08/04