Is it time to transition from 3 to 2? Please help!!

[slammie]

Hello Ladies =)

I posted in the easy forum but thinking it may be more appropriate here so please excuse the double post. My spirited baby has finally starting sleeping through the night 3 or 4 times a week which is a god send considering the months of rocking, crying and 2/3 hour night wakenings.
I also had issues with his naps but now he's doing pretty well and faliing asleep completely on his own wide awake using a binkie for naps and at nightime most of the time.

I noticed that in the last couple of days, he has started screaming bloody murder when I put him down for his catnap which he has always taken till now. Plus, he's waking up at 6am..usually he wakes at 6:30...so what I've read here, it seems my DS needs to transition from 3 to 2 naps. I'm totally at a loss as to how to tweek his feed times though.  His A times are pretty long but he usually wakes up from his second nap at 2/2:15 and since the last couple of days he wouldn't go take his catnap, he's been awake for about 4.5 hours and really grumpy.

Right now, he takes his afternoon nap around 1 or 1:15. In order to get rid of his catnap, I'm thinking I need to put him down later so he's not up for so long until bedtime. However, I give him a bottle at three, so I don't know quite how to make his nap later and change his feed times. Here is his typical day:

Wake: 6:00 or 6:30 - he stays in his crib until about 10 minutes to 7
E: 7am - 7 oz. then 3 oz of solids at 8am
S: 9am..sometimes 9:30 depending on when he wakes (he usually needs 2.45 hours of morning A time, otherwise he takes a 45 minute nap
W: 10am - 10:15. He almost always naps for an hour to hour and 10 minutes
E: 11am - 7 oz. then 4 oz of solids at 12:30
S: 1pm (sometimes 1:15 if he sleeps a bit longer in am). His A time is 3 hours since am nap
W: 2pm/2:15pm. Almost always naps for hour and 10 minutes..sometimes 1.5 hours. Sometimes, he's grumpy after he wakes up.
E: 3pm - 8oz
S: 4:30 (usually 30 minutes)
E: 5:30 solids - 3oz
A: bath, eat 8oz at 6:30 then off to bed by 7pm

Okay, so I know I should push his pm nap to a little later so that he wakes up later. But what do I do with his 3pm feed? Do I feed him at 3:30 or 4am? If so, that's only about 2.5 to 3 hours before his bedtime bottle..isn't that too close?
He's drinking at 7am, 11am, 3pm and 6:30 with a dreamfeed at 10/10:30. How can I change his feeds so that he can sleep longer or take a later pm nap so that the time between his pm nap and bedtime isn't too long? Also, when do you know to reduce the number of daytimes liquid feeds from 4 to 3? Geez, I hope I'm making sense here. Thanks so much for your help!!

[Mom to M&M]

Hi Slammie. How old is your DS? Let me know and I'll help you tweak. We're currently in the process of transitioning out of the catnap ourselves!

[slammie]

Thanks Marisa! DS is 6 months old. 

[Mom to M&M]

Actually, my name is Karen  Marisa is my DD.

OK, at 6 months, it MAY be a good time to start transitioning out of the catnap. However, spritied babies often take longer with this - so I'd caution you to go slowly and realize that you may go in and out of the catnap for weeks - some days yes, some days no.

That said, here is what you could work toward as an ideal schedule:

Wake: 6:30 am
E: 7am (bottle), 8:30 solids
S: 9:30-11 am

E: 11:30 am bottle (no need to stick with strict 4-hourly feeds now that you've established solids); 1pm solids
S: 2pm-3:30 or 4pm

E: 4pm bottle; 5:30 solids
Bath, bottle at 6:30 (this one may just be a few ounces, which is OK) and bed by 7pm

As said, expect it will take some time to get here. If the first two naps don't go well, you should try for a catnap and/or make his bedtime earlier so he's not too overtired.

Let me know if you think this will work for you and if you have any other questions! I probably wouldn't worry about dropping a bottle until you see he's refusing one or more of them. Usually the middle two bottles get merged - so eventually (maybe around 9 months?) you could give lunch first and then a bottle around 1 instead of having a bottle at 11ish and 3ish...

[slammie]

Thanks so much Karen! Duh!! Marisa's mom...sorry about that. Your suggestions are sooo helpful. I'll try them and see how it works out although I don't think he will nap more than the 1.15hr..that is why he's always going down around 1..wish I could extend his am nap so he could go down closer to 2pm but he won't have any of that.
Just wanted to ask if the amount of solids sound okay..he actually wants more than that but am afraid to give him more since he leaving a couple of ounces in the morning..he usually drinks every last drop.
Anyway, today at the 1pm nap, he started SCREAMING and would not go down at all which is very unusual because I never really have problems with the am/pm nap. It was 2 hours since he last woke, but at 12:40 he started to doze off in my baby carrier. Maybe I put him down too late? He finally fell asleep at 1:30..so we'll see how the rest of the day goes. If he wakes around 2:45/3pm..then I guess no catnap today as he usually catnaps much earlier around 4/4:30pm.

[slammie]

I forgot to add Karen that I really appreciate the point about not having to feed every 4 hours now. I was obessesing about feeding him at those times because I thought feeding him sooner would cause nightwakenings. I don't remember seeing that info in the BW book and I could never find info on it on the web and my ped isn't super detailed about stuff like this. Thanks!!

[Mom to M&M]

About feeing - sometimes we go more than 4 hours between bottles, sometimes less. Usually during the day it's more like 4.5 and before bed it's often only been 3 or 3.5 - just see what works with that and the main thing is not to feed to sleep.

As your DS starts to stay awake for longer periods, he may gradually learn to take longer naps. I think reasonable A times for his age are 2.5 hours in the morning and between 2-3 hours in the afternoon (counting from the end of first nap), depending on activity level and length/quality of first nap. Of course, some of that depends on night sleep - how long does he sleep for at night? Is it peaceful or restless? Does he have a night feed or sleep straight through?