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Thursday, May 13, 2010

Toddler Sleep Success

Yes, I think I have finally profected the naptime sleeping for the triplets.  I've had I'd say a 78.8% of successful naps over the last three weeks.  You may be thinking, that's not that impressive...well you have never met Gabbi, the girl doesn't believe in napping!  If it was just the boys I'd be upto 98% success rate, but Gabbi throws a damper into my success!  So now you make ask, "how do you do it?", and today only I'm willing to share my success with all of you - nice huh!
Step 1: Run the kids: I suppose I have Brandi to thank for this idea.  What a concept, the more you run the kids the sleepier they get!  That's easier said then done in the wintertime especially in Seattle with all the rain we get.  But amazingly, if I take the kids outside even 15-20 minutes and just let them RUN (whether at a park or up and down the driveway) they get more tired.  Rocket Science isn't this!
Step 2: Split Up the Triplets: This is harder then you would think, since only the triplets bedroom is truly "triplet proof" (they can break get in and out of anything).  All three climb out of pack 'n plays and of course their toddler beds. 
We started out with them all in their bedroom with me sitting there until they all fell asleep.  Tourture for me, especially because it could take up to 90minutes for all three to sleep!  Poor Nate would fall asleep right away but would be awoken by the other two shortly.  I started moving Nate into another room in a pack 'n play (I figured he would stay in, he is a good listener when it comes to this!  Plus he hadn't climbed out that much).  Success there. 
Now we had Jack & Gabbi running wild in their room.  Before we moved them to toddler beds, Gabbi had been sleeping in the playroom, so I once again moved her into the playroom....yes, you see where this is going, she didn't sleep she just played.  I then realized if I move Jack into another room I could contain Gabbi in their room with no toys.  But where to put Jack?  I'd already learned the playroom was out, because playroom + toys = no nap, figured Sophia's room was a REALLY bad idea, that left Kim & Mark's bedroom. 
I worried about putting him their because he is known for climbing out of the pack 'n play, and I can only imagine what he would get into in there.  So I had a plan....this took me 4 days to finally get success, but I shut Kim's door partly so I could still see him IN the pack 'n play and would sit out in the alcove outside the room.  Everytime (and yes he did many times) he climbed out I would put him back in and tell him "I'm sitting right here, and I will put you back in bed eachtime you get up".  Eachtime it would take between 10-20minutes before he'd get the picture and was out cold.  I now just put Jack in the pack 'n play in Kim's room, leave the door open and tell him "I'm sitting right here, if you get up I will put you back in", I don't even have to sit outside the door anymore.  I check on him like 10minutes later to ensure he's in the pack 'n play still and if he's asleep I then shut the door.  Success x 3...well assuming Gabbi will fall asleep, which brings me to my final step.
Step 3: FANS: Yes, I use fans to block out any other noise (whether from outside or one of the triplets still talking).  I turn on ALL bathroom fans upstairs and move the big fan from Kim & Mark's room to outside the triplets room and turn that on high to block out Gabbi, who normally yells for me and bangs on the door before she falls asleep.  But that way Nate & Jack can't hear her...as well.
The last two days, I got ALL THREE to sleep THREE HOUR naps!  Granted Jaime worked yesterday, and they didn't nap so I'm sure that worked into my favor, but regaurdless I've had success!  I'm proud of my work, because after running nonstop with them all morning, I'm ready for a break myself!  What do I do?  Watch The Price is Right that I had recorded a few hours earlier and maybe take a rest myself!

Well now naptime is over, and I have three kids waiting for my attention.  Back outside to play, I love the nice weather makes for a happy nanny!!

1 comment:

Cluttered Brain said...

YAY!! For your kids napping. More time to blog and tweet!!
My toddler does not nap when anything exciting is going on around her. It started when my other girls were home for the summer.
*sigh*
i miss naptime.

Your ideas sound good though!

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