4 months won't nap after 4pm

[Aimi]

My dd has just turned 4 months. The problem we have is that we can't get her to nap after 4pm. This makes her super tired at bt and it usually takes an hour to get her to sleep. Have started letting her sleep in my arms just to avoid ot but I don't want to create bad habits and I also have an older sibling needing attention.Today our easy was as follows:

E (05.50)
Wu 07.02
E 08.10
A 07.02
S 08.50-10.37 1,45min

E 10.41
A 10.37
S 12.24-13.57 1,30h

E 14.00
A 13.57
15.37 Tried to get her to sleep for half an hour
E 16.37
S 17.04-17.33 30min sleeps in my arms after trying to put down for 20min

A 17.33
E 18.52
S 19.40-

We start wind down at 1,40 and keep it short. Can anyone see anything with our easy I could try to change? Sometimes she just does 40min naps and then we need 4 but it seems comoletely impossible after 4pm. The other naps it's super easy and she falls asleep on her own.

It's been like this more or less since she was born, need some advice please!

TIA

[Katet]

Honestly best suggestion I had when my second was that age ...naps in a sling or a stroller while taking the older child to a park or the like. They often have witching hours at that time and they just don't settle in a crib, so rather than work out how to 'fix' it it's better to work out something that works for other members of the family... I loved the 'freebee nap.

[Aimi]

I thought the witching hours were over at this age. She was really unhappy and cried late afternoons up until about 10 weeks..now she's calm and actually tries to sleep but can't. When do they "grow out of" this stage then? 🙄

[deb]

That first A time might be a bit on the short side, setting you up for a shorter or earlier nap than would work for a true 4-hour EASY. Can you try to stretch it to closer to 2 full hours? You've got more of a 3 to 3.5-hour EASY going on there now, so she may not be properly tired by the last naptime, making it a catnap if she naps at all.

I'm also noticing that early waking before she wakes for the day; does she eat at all then, or just a habitual waking? Wake-to-Sleep might help break that cycle, of a dream feed if she's waking hungry.

Finally, I'd be sure to give her plenty of tummy time, which would be her physical activity at this age; start small and increase the time she's spending on her tummy so she has a stretch at each A time, and hopefully eventually the exercise should help to wear her out.

[Aimi]

Deb, thank you for your reply! Do you mean just increase the first A or all of them?

She doesn't wake up at the same time at night (or early morning) and is really hungry so I'm fine with that

Thank you for the tip about tummy-time! she doesn't get alot cause it makes her throw up but we could certanly try more with that!

She can go 4 hours between meals if she's sleeping but if she's awake she likes (demands) to eat with around 3 hour intervals. Since her naps are short alot she eats even more frequently sometimes to make it work..it's a bit of a mess right now with feeds but it sort of works anyway 🙂