45 Min. Nap King is back

[micah'smom]

sigh.
ds is now 8 months old and has been having 45 min naps on and off for a loooong time.
his morning nap has gone back to 45 mins, his second nap is 1.5 hrs....but that necessitates the catnap again  :evil:
can anyone suggest how to lengthen his morning nap? when i put him down after 2 hrs, he sleeps 45. when i put him down for 2.5, he's EXHAUSTED and sleeps 45. so i'm afraid of extending A time more than 2.5hrs in the morning. he's also a spirited one.

here's our schedule
6:30-wake and 7 oz bottle
7:30 - 2-3 oz solids
8:30 or 9:00 - 45 min nap
9:15 or 9:45 wake
10:45 - 3 oz. solids
11:30 - 6 oz bottle
12:15 or 12:45 - 1.5hrs
if waking around 1:45, i give a short catnap at 4:45 and bed at 6:30
   2:00 - snack of cheerios and water
   4:00 - 3 oz solids
  6:00 - 8 oz bottle
if waking after 2:00, i give him an early bedtime around 5:30 (read this in HSHHC)
   3:30 - 3 oz solids
   5:00 - 8 oz bottle

he usually sleeps 12 hrs straight, but lately waking up 2-3 times.

[Taylor's Mommy]

Hi There,

Thanks for posting your schedule.  My dd who will be 8 months tomorrow and just recently went through this a couple of weeks ago.  For 2 weeks straight her am nap was 30-45 minutes and it was driving me crazy!  What I had to do was increase her A time over the course of a few days so her system doesn't get too jolted from the extra A time.  She is now at 3 hours A time in the morning and 3.25-3.5 hours of A time in the afternoon.  my dd has a touch of spirited to her but is more textbook.  Even still, I had to do very mellow activities with the extra awake time and do a 5 minute windown until she got used to it.

When you say he is exhausted after 2.5 hours, what exactly does he do?  Is he so exhausted that he won't even go down for a nap and fights it?
My gut tells me that he may be ready to go a little extra longer than 2.5 hours, but slowly.  Maybe that is why he is still taking a 45 minute nap even with 2.5 hours A time.  Because he is spirited though I don't want to steer you in the wrong direction and get you a very overtired miserable baby.  Soooo, any extra info. you could give as to his demeanor with the extra A time would be so helpful.  Does that make sense?

Sorry, it is late here so hope I haven't confused you too much!