catnap or early bedtime?

[chirojaz]

So my DS, 4 months old as of yesterday, seems to sort of be at that point of transitioning from 3 naps + catnap to just 3 naps.  Yesterday I woke him up from his 3rd nap of the day to make sure that we had enough time in the day for his next A time and a catnap before bed.  I'm wondering if I should not wake him and not give him a catnap and just put him to bed early? But this means bed at like 6pm.  If I do, I'm worried he is going to wake for the day at 6am or earlier and then the next day we would be back to taking 3 naps + catnap.  What is the suggested way to get through this point of transition?  Also curious if on a day that he takes a 2hr nap when he normally takes 1.5 hr nap should I increase that next A time or keep it the same? 

[Layla]

Usually by 4 months, they start to transition out of the 4th nap and its up to you how you do it... you could start adding a little more A to stretch out his 3 naps throughout the day so that the last A before bedtime isn't so long or you could wake him up from 3rd nap to make sure there is enough time for the catnap. With us, there came a time when the 4th catnap was getting too close to bedtime (bedtime was between 7-7.30pm) and she would not take her catnap until 6pm and/or she was fighting it so I started adding a little more A between her other naps and we did a very early bedtime (like 6pm some days) rather than a late catnap. In general, when you are getting rid of a nap/transitioning period, you would do an earlier bedtime to avoid overtiredness and they tend to sleep more at night to make up for the missed nap (the one they are transitioning out of), if that makes sense.

I would probably keep the A the same, regardless of whether he took 1.5 or 2 hr nap.

At 4 months, you would start moving towards 4hr EASY - 2hrs awake and 2x1.5-2hr naps and a catnap 

[chirojaz]

ok so I kept his A time the same after his last two hour nap, he went down easy but woke up after 40 minutes and would not go back to sleep.  It's so strange to me if he wasn't tired enough why would he fall asleep so easy?

[Layla]

If he is doing 2x1.5-2hr naps, the 3rd nap will end up being a catnap, which is a good amount of sleep for the day, in my opinion. That is the routine you would be aiming for on the 4hr EASY and until he is ready to drop the 3rd nap/catnap 

[chirojaz]

he has been doing three 1.5 hour naps plus a catnap for a long time now. These days it is strange for him to do a 2 hour nap but he did today.

[Layla]

I understand what you're saying but he is growing and maybe he doesn't need 3x1.5hr naps and a catnap anymore... so as you start to transition him to the 4hr EASY, he will be on 2x1.5-2hr naps and a catnap.  You could try to wake him 1.5hr into the 2nd nap so that he takes a longer 3rd nap but I probably wouldn't do that as he's coming close to the 4-3 nap transition and by 5 months he will only need 3 naps (2 longer ones and a catnap). Sounds like he's one awesome sleeper.... my LO was only taking a decent morning nap and the rest of the day consisted of 2 catnaps .

Here is the link to the 3-4EASY transition. Let me know how you go Time to Transition - 3hr, 3.5hr or 4hr EASY

 

[lauradj]

Just to add on to what Layla said, my DS had no issues when the catnap was removed.  For a while we were putting him to bed earlier, 6:30 instead of 7 but then I guess he just got older and didn't have any issues staying up a smidge longer.  Either that or he just knew as soon as bath began, he was in the home stretch so he pushed through. 
Just so you have a reference point, my DS has high sleep needs so I started transitioning him from 3-2 + a catnap around 5 months.  We eased into a 3.5 hr EASY and then sllloooowwwly moved into the 4 hr easy.  Once he was on the 4 hour EASY his naps were golden!   

[chirojaz]

thanks for the advice, I do feel like we need to make the move towards the transition.  It is just hard because he seems to be very susceptible to getting OT and I'm scared his naps are going to go to crap 

[Layla]

I think if you do the transition slowly (as per link I gave you, in 5 min increments), you should hopefully avoid OT. How are you going?