To nap or not to nap?

[MarsMomma]

That is the question. You never had a kid, Hamlet.

I'm having a bit of a challenge with my 4-month-old's routine. He's been waking up around 7:45 am, and we aim for about an 8:00 bedtime. He tends to take short naps, or a combination of two short and one long. He typically wakes up from his third nap of the day at about 4:30, and doesn't get tired again until around 7:00. (If I try to get him down for a fourth short nap any earlier than that, he refuses). At that point, I'm faced with a choice:

A) Let him have a late nap at 7, meaning he probably won't go to bed until close to 10, or
B) Keep him up another hour until his bedtime at 8, making him exhausted and miserable

I've generally been opting for option B, because a 14-hour day just seems too long to me. But I hate pushing him to stay awake when he's so tired. Would option A be better?

We've tried different wake up and bedtimes, but the problem remains -- his naps just never seem to be timed right. I'm sure this is something that will resolve as he gets older and his awake times extend. But right now it's frustrating, and I'm tired of stressing about what to do almost every night.

[Nickie18]

Unfortunately dealing with this with my 6 mo. We have been opting for an earlier bedtime when she short naps and seems to help. She usually refuses a nap so late at night anyways... I would chose making his bedtime 7pm and then seeing when he wakes... You may get an earlier day but maybe a happier baby?

[MarsMomma]

Thanks for your reply. The problem with putting him to bed at 7 is he thinks it's a nap -- just wakes up about an hour later bright-eyed and alert and stays up another couple hours. And I'm afraid if I moved his wake-up time earlier, we'd just have the same problem moved back by about an hour, i.e. he'd wake up from his last nap around 3:30 and not get tired again until 6.

The timings are just wonky. His naps do not align very well with a 12 or 13 hour day.