Naps for 6.5month old?

[Evgenia]

Hey everyone,
My dd is 6.5 months old and recently went from having 2 long naps and a cat nat to 1 long nap and 2 cat naps. I know that aroung 6 months the ammount of time they sleep during the day decreeses, but I was wondering whether they do it themselvs r do I need to guide her throught it?
What I'm trying to say is do I let her go on the way she is at the moment and wait untill she consolidates the 2 cat naps into one long nap; or do I try and consolidate them myself? Her cat naps are around the time she's in day care and they tried to exstend her nap back to 2 hours but with no luck.
Heres her routine at the moment
E 7.00 Bottle
A 7.20
E 8.00 Breakfast Cereal
A 8.30
S 9.00 2 Hours

E 11.00 Bottle
A 11.20
E 12.00 Lunch solids
A 12.30
S 1.20 For about 35-50 mins

E 3.00 Bottle
A 3.20
S 4.30 30-45 min cat nap

E 5.15 Bottle
A 5.35
E 6.00 Dinner solids
A 6.30 Bath
S 7.00 bottle, bed time
E 10.30 DF

From what I've seen on sample routines here I thought I might try and move her second nap to 2 o'clock and extend it to 2 hours and cut out the cat nap so that her routine in the afternoon will look like this:

E 12.00 Lunch solids
A 12.30
S 2.00 For 2 hours

E 4.00 Bottle
A 4.20
E 6.00 Dinner
A 6.30 Bath
S 7.00 bed time

Am I pushing her too far with that? I'm just not sure whether her reducing her nap to a cat nap is her way of letting me know she's ready for her routine to chage. R should I leave it the way it is? Its just I personally would think one long nap is better and more beneficial for her than 2 cat naps?

Any advice or ideas r welcome!!! Thank u!

[marensmama]

Hi there.  Usually LOs aren't ready to drop the catnap until they can handle 3 hours of A time.  It looks like maybe your DD is getting about 2 hours 20 minutes for her longest A time of the day.  And after a short nap, the next A time should be shortened to compensate so she won't get OT.  I wonder if she's OT or UT after that short nap mid-day?  Is she happy upon awakening or crabby?

Most LOs her age can handle 2.5 hours of A time or so.  So what I would do is actually increase that first morning A time a bit, maybe by 10-15 minutes.   If she gets a good nap, then the next A time could be a little over 2 hours and then again, if she has a good nap, the catnap would be 2 hours later.

What do you think? 

I agree that if her naps are changing, she's trying to tell you that her sleep needs have changed and 2 short naps are not as good as one long nap.  But if you just skip the catnap then you'll have a really early bedtime and potentially a problem with OT. 

[Evgenia]

She seems happy enough after her second nap, and she's full of smiles when she wakes up. On the other hand she's always smiling when she wakes up even if its after 15 mins of sleep
I'll increase her morning activity time by 15 mins tommorow like u said, and see how she gets on.
If she has a good nap in the morning do u think I should try and increase her second activity time to see how that affects her second nap? Or increasing both A times in one day could be too much for her?
Thanks

[marensmama]

No, I think just take it slow so as to prevent OT from becoming an issue. 

[Evgenia]

I pushed her A time by 15mins this mornin, and all seems well so far, she wasn't OT and settled fairly quick. I'll see what she's like when she's up from her nap. I'll keep doing that for a few days and then ettempt increasing her second A time.
Thanks a mill.