NW and problems with naps after dropping a catnap

[Asia P]

I need some help with getting my DD to nap properly. She has always been a great napper untill we have dropped the catnap at 9 months. Untill then she would go to sleep like a clock, 9am - 1,5 hour, 1.00pm - 2 hours and around 4.30 - 5.00pm for another hour. She would go to sleep at 7.30pm and wake up anytime between 7 and 8 am.
A couple of weeks before we dropped the last nap I have noticed that she would go for this nap later and later and as a result she would go to sleep for the night after 8pm. As she was almost 9 months so I thought that she may have been ready to drop the catnap.
However, since then her naps are a mess. I tried to extend her A time so she would go for naps at 9.30 and then 2.00 but doesn't seem to work. If she's awake longer than 2 hours she can't fall asleep. I thought maybe her biological clock was set for going for napps at 9 and then 1.00 so I thought i'd give her more time to adjust to a new routine.
No luck since though, since the drop she finds it very difficult to fall asleep even at her usual nap times, she seems tired much earlier as well, which I think may be due to NW that we now have.
I tried to go back to three naps as she may not be ready for two napps but can't break the vicious cycle that we got into
I know most babies dropp the last nap by her age but somehow she doesn't seem to be ready. I may add that she's a very small baby, underweighed and a very active during A time (her usual temperament ). In recent days her A time is very low key to avoid OS and OT but we still have no luck.

Let me also add that now it takes her really long time to fall asleep, sometimes even at 5.30pm. A few times I have allowed her to sleep till 7pm and moved bedtime to 8.30 and on those ocasions we didn't have NW, hence me thinking that she still needs a lot of daytime sleep

She doesn't have any props and was sleep trained at 5 months and can fall asleep on her own in her cot.

Any advice would be much appreciated as I thought that I know what I was doing but I don't think so anymore

Thank you in advance

[Aly Mac]

So how old is she now? Can you post what yesterday was? I know when we went through this, fixing sleep times and A times with early to bed on the short nap days was the only way to really get her back on track and to then get the magic time for naps.  Then we could see where to shorten sleep - naps or night time. Sorry, I know you have heaps of info in there, but I just can't get a grip on the most recent routine - not what you want to happen but what is happening.

thanks.  talk to you soon.

[Asia P]

Thank you Aleesa, how do you cope with so many posts on this board??

She's 9,5 month old now. Should be ready to drop that catnap, shouldn't she?

What is happening at the moment is that when she has NW she will wake up at 6.30 - 7.00 in the morning, and after 1,5 hour will be ready for a nap. I keep her up for at least 2 hours and then the problem starts as she is OT and it can take up to 1,5 hour to get her to sleep.
Depending how long it took her to fall asleep once she wakes up I keep her up for 2 hours if I know she will need a catnap or for 3 hours if I know it's too late for her to take a catnap.
The problem is that even though she could take her third nap her routine is so messed up that she hardly ever has one.
I think She needs more time to adjust to the new routine but I'm sorry it hasn't been easy and she is tired with this not being able to fall asleep business.

Today was much better, somehow she has managed to sleep through the night, went for the firts nap at 9.45 and for the second at 2.00pm and for night time at 7.00. in each case she has managed to fall asleep with  no problems at all. I hope she will get used to the new routine, please keep your fingers crossed for us

[Aly Mac]

fingers crossed!  if you can get out of the cycle, like you have, that's half the battle.  good luck, and I'm one of 4 mods on the naps board, so we share it all out. Also, other members reply to with help, so it's not all left to the mods