Our babies are growing up! The last month or so the triplets have been showing signs of dropping a nap and going to just one. I have been excited about this because I am ready to do some longer fun outings and so are they! 2 naps also limit the amount of activities they can do, like music, library reading etc. But I have been hesitant to start because every time I think it's time they have a day where the two naps are very necessary!
Anyways, it's finally time and we have started the process. They have been fighting both naps and sleeping for less time totaling at most 3 hours. So if we aim for one 3 hour nap they won't lose any sleep! The way we have started is we are pushing their morning nap back later from what it was before at 9 or 9:30. They have actually been able to make it to about 11. That isn't an ideal time because they wake up starving and I think that is really what is preventing a longer stretch. Then they have taken another cat nap but I don't let it go longer than an hour because it's closer to dinner. I think in another week they should adjust a bit more and make it another hour in the morning. Then I can give them lunch before they go down and hopefully that will fix it! I am aiming for a nap from about 12:30 to 3:30 or so. We really aren't too far off and they have adjusted well!
After we get this routine down, we are going to do some breastfeeding training. My supply has dropped a bit with the pregnancy so the babies have been asking to nurse more often that before. I had no problem nursing on-demand before but now I am a bit more tender (and emotional!) and I want to get a set routine for then established well before the new baby arrives. I'm hoping that if we practice limiting and waiting now, they won't get upset when I am feeding the new baby and make them wait. There is going to be a lot of changes for them and hopefully this will help with jealousy issues from me nursing the new baby. I still want to nurse them, but I want them to have set times so I dont have 4 babies screaming for food!
I want to get to just nursing them in the morning, before naps, in the late afternoon/before dinner, and before bed. I am going to start the process by telling them to wait a few minutes when they ask and slowly increase the time to making them wait all the way to the next session. We have been doing a lot of talking about the new baby and I think they are starting to notice something is different and they can say baby and point to my belly. But they have no idea what is really coming and what is going to change!
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