Help with nap schedule for our 4 month old please!

[irishmary]

Hi there,

We have been trying to get our son into a more solid daily routine now that he is learning how to self soothe and take longer naps... He is now 16 weeks old. 

The nap routine we are trying to stick to at the moment is:

7am - Wake up

EA: 7am - 8:45am
Sleep: 8:45 - 10:15am (1.5hrs)

EA: 10:15 - 12:15
Sleep: 12:15 - 13:45 (1.5hrs)

EA: 13:45 - 15:15
Sleep: 15:15 - 16:45 (1.5hrs)

EA: 16:45 - 18:45
Bedtime: 18:45

Dream Feed at 10pm


At the moment we are finding that he falls off to sleep easily and on his own for the morning and lunchtime naps and at bedtime.

The problem is although he seems knackered by mid-afternoon, he is really fighting sleep for his afternoon nap.  Like he may take 30 - 45 mins to settle down and fall asleep... And he will always wake up at the 45 minute mark and is often not able to transition and  sleep through... Then he starts getting really cranky about 6pm and  is totally zonked by 7pm and goes straight to sleep no problem.   After his feed at 10pm he tends to  sleep through till 6:30 - 7am.

Is it normal for a baby just to be fighting sleep for one of the naps? 
Any ideas on how we can tweak the schedule to help improve things?  Maybe the lunchtime nap should be longer and we let him just take a 45 min nap in the afternoon?  Any ideas greatly appreciated!

[irishmary]

BUMP! Any advice or sharing of your own nap schedules?  Thanks!

[becj86]

Are you waking him after 1.5hr? If so, just let him sleep and only wake if he sleeps to the 2hr mark - that should help

The 45min nap can be developmental at this age too but since he's sleeping full 1.5hr naps, I'm thinking that's maybe not the case here.

[irishmary]

Thanks bec.  No he tends to only want to do 45 min naps and is always waking at 45 mins but in the morning time he can usually soothe himself back into another sleep cycle for a further 30-45 mins.   I never wake him from his naps as he doesn't ever reach that point...
The problem I am having is he is really fighting going to sleep for his afternoon nap at 3pm and won't fall asleep for ages... I am not sure if maybe I am asking him to sleep too much in the day or should I be encouraging him to go back for a nap earlier on...

[becj86]

You may find increasing your A time a little (average at 4 months is 2hr) will help.

Is there anything different happening in that A time before his PM nap that he fights? Overstimulation, something he doesn't want to miss?