overtired with only two naps

[lilatov]

Hello  - I have an almost 7 month old DD with very inconsistent napping patterns! Her schedule is all over the place b/c the length of her naps varies so much from day to day. The problem I'm running into, however, has to do with the long stretch between her afternoon nap and bedtime. I've managed to increase her A time between her morning nap and her afternoon nap to about 2.5 hours, but I haven't been able to do the same with her first A time. She still tends to need a nap about 1.75 to 2 hours after she wakes up. As a result, she is finished her afternoon nap by 2:00 or 2:30, and then winds up staying awake until her 6:45 or 7:00 bedtime. She ends up being quite cranky by bedtime, and has been having some NWs, which I'm assuming are related to being OT when going to bed. I've tried making her bedtime earlier, but then she just wakes up earlier, and we still have the same problem, except everything is bumped earlier. I've tried giving her a catnap around 4:00 or 4:30, but she almost always fights it and won't sleep. Any suggestions for me? Is my only option to try to wait it out until she can lengthen her morning and afternoon A times, which will then put her afternoon nap closer to bedtime?

This is a somewhat typical day:
7:00 wake, eat, play
8:45-10:15/10:30 nap
10:15-12:45 eat, play
12:45-2:15/2:30 nap
6:45/7:00 bed

[mommy2mason]

Hello!
My DS just turned 7 months and we have recently gone down to 2 naps. He can be unpredictable with his naps as well which is very frustrating! We went through the exact same thing you're going through. DS would be so tired by the end of the day and sometimes he would be in bed at 6pm. We pretty much just waited it out and worked on increasing his morning A time to stretch everything out. I really thought it would be harder than it actually was but all of a sudden his A time increased from 2, to 2.5, then to just about 3 hours in a matter of a week or two. DS would also get OT at times from being up for too long before bed and he also did not sleep as well at night. He didn't wake, but I could tell he was more restless than usual.
So I guess it's not the best advice....just to let you know that we went through the same thing and it didn't take long to straighten itself out!

[rozza]

Hi - I'm also trying to drop the third nap as he always fights it and it tends to be so late in the day now that he's not tired for bed at 7.  Sometimes we end up with bed at 6 if he doesnt have the late nap because he's so tired by then (can only really manage 2.5 hrs A time). 

I havent managed it today (he's having a snooze now) so I think we'll have a late bedtime around 7.30 / 8.00.  For us it's meant lots of e/w and unsettled night sleep and I'm not sure what to do about it either.... eagerly awaiting to hear if you get any good advice and just wanted to say that you arent the only one.. i am feeling your pain, hope that helps.

Zx

[deckchariot]

lilatov - have you tried putting in a little catnap around 4:30 or so (just for 45 min)?  That may help your lo make it to bedtime.

the transition when lo's give up their catnap can be rough - sometimes my dd would take one and sometimes not.  When she did, bedtime was a bit later, when she didn't it was a bit earlier....until I could get her A times all sorted out.  It's not unusual for the morning A time to be shorter than the others.  Abby's A times equalized around 7.5/8 mos.  Hang in there!!