First Nap of the Day and Correct A time?

[blessedbear]

Can someone please advise me on this.  When my LO was a newborn I was told that the first A time of the day preceeding the first AM nap is generally SHORTER than the rest of the A times.  I also read that the first AM nap is almost like a continuation of the night sleep...When does this end?  My LO is 6 months (5 mos adjusted) and the AM nap used to be amazing and always consistent now It is so crazy sometimes 1.5 hour others 30 mins.  I need help with this!  We are aiming for 2.25 of A time but should the A time before this first nap be shorter???  If soo how much?  She wakes at 7:10 am after STTN 12 hours.  What time should I aim for this first nap to be?  9 am, 9:15, 9:30am?  Please help!
TIA. 

[Tweakster]

Hi there, yes some LO's have shorter morning A's but some at around this age can be pushed out a bit longer to get better naps.  Finn is 6.5 months and we are going through this.  He started having crazy short naps again at 5 months which I thought were OT but turns out they were UT and causing OT.  With the help of the gals on EASY I have been pushing the morning A to get better nap results - some days he has slept for 2 hours!  We are at around 2 hr 30 or 2 hr 45 most days, depending on his wake time and night sleep.

The idea is to push out the morning A and/or second A depending on your LO to get you better naps and longer A's so that you can work towards the dropping of the dreaded CN.  After a good night like your LO has at 12 hours I would not hesitate to push the morning A a bit to see if that is the culprit.  But you may have to go slowly otherwise you get some OT - we had a bit of a mess to clean up a couple of days ago.  Try 10 mins for 3 days and see how it goes. 

[blessedbear]

Ok so another odd thing is her catnaps have been 1-1.5 hours in lenght.  It doesn't seem to effect bedtime but how do i get her to do longer naps during her first two naps especially when the goal is to eventually drop the catnap.  Usually the first nap is around 9:30 am.  When actually sleeping by this time naps turn out decent at least an hour but if she takes too long to settle and it's 9:40 nap is a short 30 mins if we are lucky....I will try starting wind down at 9 am to insure she is sleep by 9:30 am and see how it goes.  If it's still short I will start to push by 10 mins.   Thank you for your advice!