Nap time placement

Does anyone else feel like they are playing chess with nap time placement? :blink:

3 out of 5 days per week, I have 5 napping children here. Trying to find a way to nap each sleeping personality work is quite tiring. My daycare is full home, so nap time occurs upstairs. Here is my breakdown on the sleeping personalities and where they are currently sleeping:

1) My son (27 months); sleeps in his own bed in a room by himself. Because lets face it, at then end of the day, it will be I that needs to deal with a grumpy bum. He passes out about 10 minutes of being down and sleeps for a good 2 hours with no waking.

2) DCG (23 months); sleeps in a playpen in a room by herself. She plays or screams for 15 minutes, will sleep for 20 minutes, plays or screams for 15 minutes, sleep for 20 minutes ect

3) DCB (30 months); in a playpen in the sleep room. He does not sleep. He has Williams Syndrome and his mother has told me that he will sit quietly downstairs during nap time, but that is NOT the case. He lays in his playpen and jumps up and down (part of his syndrome) and talks the full nap period

4) DCG (21 months+#3's sister); in a playpen in the sleep room. She sleeps for about an hour and will get up and talk to her brother

5) DCB (15 months); in a playpen in the sleep room. He is similar to #2, except his patterns are shorter (15 minute intervals) and he only cries between 'sleeps'. His sleep has gotten worse since #3 and 4 came along as he seems to be a lighter sleeper, although the was a horrible napper to begin with.

Which brings me to my dilemma. Do I just leave it and hope that everyone adjusts to each other? Do I separate the boy who does not sleep, into his own room and move screamer #2 to the sleep room with the other children?

See, it is like a game of chess, which I suck at, so what would be your next move?

ps. I rock at checkers though :p

How long have they been like this? I would give it a couple weeks or more to see if they will adjust to each other. If not, I would have the children who sleep the best and the longest in one room and separate the others into other rooms until they are better sleepers and can be re-introduced to the sleep room.

I am lucky that for the most part, I have always had good nappers. I have a sleep room and usually 3-4 are in there. If I have a napper that is disruptive, they get a playpen in the hallway that connects my kitchen and my playroom. It is 5 feet from the sleep room too. Right now I have 3 in the sleep room and one in the hallway. He used to be in the sleep room too but he ALWAYS poops about an hour into nap so I go down and change him and than he sits quietly in his playpen for the last hour. I am hoping that he will eventually be able to go back into the sleep room as I just prefer to have them all in one room in case there is ever an emergency.

I would try to put #4 who sleeps for an hour into your son's room. Maybe she wakes up because of her brother and would sleep longer with another good sleeper. Put #3 in his own room with a noise maker (waves, heartbeat, rain) to help him relax, put #2 and #5 together in the sleep room. They might be able to get into the same sleep pattern and comfort each other and maybe would stop waking up all together.

I know your son is nice by himself but maybe if you put the other best sleeper out of all of them with him with no one waking her up she might sleep even better. I would try like 5LM for a week or two to see if you see any improvements. If not you can then remove the second child from your son's room and try something else. Not sure if this makes sense. Good luck and keep us posted.

Adding the hour sleeper to my sons room was a consideration as well. I figure that if she waked up and my son is still asleep, she may not play. They have been in this arrangement for 2 days (as that is when the brother/sister duo started) but I can see that it is taking its toll on the 15 month old already. I am going to try to keep it the same for the next couple of weeks (since they are only part time) as see if it makes a difference. I just wanted to see what everyones 'next move' would have been!

Wow !!! I think I would def not mess with your own sons room , how many rooms do you have ? I would put the two with bad sleep patterns together , break up the siblings and put the 30 month old and 3 yr together ( I think )
I use three rooms and with the doors shut , I use the hallway with a camping cot as well . It makes like a private area . I use noise machines and fans and have gotten better with letting them cry . Eventually they get used to it,

Honestly aside from the boy with Williams and your son, I would put everyone in the same room, tuck them in, say goodnight, turn the sound machine on and close the door and hope for the best. I don't really care if they are a good/ bad sleeper...they will get used to each other and pretty much all of my kids can actually sleep through another child being awake and crying now because they are just used to it. You are trying too hard IMO. Put them down and don't pick them back up and preferably don't even go in there again until naptime is over. They will get bored eventually and fall asleep.

Also, a lot of your kids sleep in "intervals" just wanted to throw it out there that I find kids get worse if I actually go in and tell them to go back to sleep. So make sure you do NOT go back in and make contact lol. It sounds funny but really it's true. Of course you can check on them just make sure they don't see you.

Oh, for my 'interval' sleepers, they do not know that I am checking on them, because the second they realize that I am there...it is back to square one. But I think that you are right, I need to put the boy with Williams into his own room and keep my son in his own and the other four need to tough it out together.

But let me tell you! My 2 'interval' sleepers (who are my only fulltimers) slept AMAZING today as their nap time buddies are not here on Wednesdays.