latest cat nap?

[lilapple]

Hi, My dd is 8 mos. and she has not dropped the catnap yet  (we still have overtired issues to deal with) and i was wondering what is the latest catnap that she should have if she goes to bed at 7:30?  I was reading in BW 2 that 4-6 mos old can have one between 5-6, no problem, but I don't know if that applies to this old?
Thanks

[*Natasha*]

My 7 month old DD has her PM sleep at 2pm and i won't let her sleep past 4pm to save her bedtime at 7pm.

[Sylvia.]

lilapple if it works i would go with it, is it starting to interfer with the night time bed time? if so then that is when i would start looking at getting rid of it, my dd got rid of the nap herself just did not need it anymore but that meant the night time nap had to be on time and sometime a tiny bit earlier, all the best

[lilapple]

Thanks all!  A couple of questions:  What are signs that "she doesn't need it anymore"?  and How does she refuse a night time nap?  How do you know that she is refusing it because she doesn't need it as opposed to not being able to get to sleep for it?  (My lo often takes the catnap in the stroller at the park or maybe even on the subway but today for example, she was up straight from when pm nap ended (2 pm) to 7:30, we were out and about in the park, a few stores and the subway---I think more she didn't take it b/c there was too much stimulation around but...?

[lilapple]

And one final big question!!!:  Say it turns out that somehow I figure out that she doesn't need that catnap, then how do we "get rid of it" and how do we adjust the other naps to ensure that she gets enough daytime sleep at other times, cause right now she's a shakey one hour napper in the am (depending on wake time --say 9:30 or :45 if she wakes at 7:30, or 8:30 or :45 if she wakes at 6:30, etc.) and the same or maybe 1 hour fifteen in the pm (another 2 hrs, 2 hours 15min after waking from the am nap.)  Night time sleep hasn't been more than 11 hours--more like 10 1/2.  Her catnap has tended to be anywhere from 20 min to 35.

[*Natasha*]

Ok the reason we dropped the catnap was DD was fussing at nap times and bedtime (hardly ever does this) and her naps were getting shorter until she wouldn't resettle if i tried to when waking at 45mins. She was sleeping at 9,1 & 4.30 (catnap) then bed at 7pm. So i slowly extended awake time by 15 mins every few days until her nap times were 9.30am and 2pm (struggled with PM nap a little but i got some great advice from Meg's Mum and we found a good time). DD did this at 5 months even though i though she wouldn't so this until at least 6-7 months. In saying that i think she will soon be ready to extend awake time again as her naps are getting a little shorter.