When to extend and when to get them up

[moken]

Hi, my lo is a 45 minute napper but things are slowly getting better.  He became a 45 minute napper around 10 weeks and now at 18 weeks I can extend most naps, yeah!  The morning nap he wakes up after 45 minutes and I give him his pacifier and he mumbles for around 5 minutes and then goes back to sleep for another 45 minutes to an hour.  The afternoon nap he wakes up after around 1hr 10 minutes and I'm not sure if that's enough or I should be extending it.  I'm so happy that he's making it past 45 minutes and he seems to be in an okay mood afterwards but then his next nap (on a 4 hr EASY) shouldn't be for almost 3 hours.  He can't make it 3 hours so he ends up sleeping after 2 and has his early night cat nap but that doesn't last him till bed time which is around 3 hours away.  I'm just wondering if I should be extending his afternoon nap.  All the sample schedules say on a 4 hr EASY the afternoon nap should be between 1.5 and 2 hours so should I extend all naps under 1.5hrs?

[malialeanne]

Some moms will say "if they're crying the need more sleep, if they're happy get them up." My baby wakes from nearly all naps exactly the same way, so I couldn't go by her mood. At 18 weeks we were extending all naps to 2 hours or as close to 2 hours as possible. Now our naps have settled around 1 hour 40 minutes without intervention and I'm happy with that. Not all babies will do 2 2-hour naps, some are fine with 1.5 hours. Keep in mind the longer he sleeps before waking, the more difficult it might be to extend as he's had more sleep and is less inclined to go back down.

If he sleeps for less than 1.5 hours, you can adjust your routine by moving bedtime up 1/2 hour or so to compensate. Or he may do fine with a longer A time right before bed.

You're doing a great job! The schedules in the book are only for guidance, you know your lo best.

[moken]

Thanks, I have noticed it's harder to extend his naps the longer he naps.  Today his 2nd nap was 1 hr 45 minutes so I'm really happy with that.  I think anything longer than 1hr 30min I'll try to extend.  He's in an okay mood afterwards but holding him off from eating can be a little tricky.