Question about late afternoon/evening nap

[mom2william]

Hi,

I have a 10 week old and we follow EASY although not rigidly (for example, if he's asleep and it's been 3 hours since he fed I don't wake him up since he doesn't always have great naps!)  Anyway, I have been confused about the later catnap before bedtime.  For instance, today he fed around 3:00pm and went to sleep at 4:15pm.  He slept until 5:00pm, only 45 min.  I didn't try to extend it because my 3 year old was acting up and I needed to get dinner started.  He needed to eat again at 6:00pm which was when he probably needed to go back down for sleep.  I am just confused as to if I should be feeding him at 6:00pm and then putting him down for a nap at this time or just get him ready for night sleep.  He is also difficult to get down for night sleep a lot of times and fights it.  I ended up feeding him at 6:00 and trying to get him to go down for the night but he fought it until 8:00pm! 

He did have good naps today (hurray!).  Here was our schedule for today:

E  6:15am (went back to sleep)
E  7:45am
A
S  8:50am-10:55am (resettled with shh/pat at 40 min. mark so he was awake about 20 or so min. during nap)
E  11:00am
A
S  12:15pm-2:50pm (resettled again with shh/pat at 40 min. mark)
E  3:00pm
A
S  4:15pm-5:00pm
E  6:00pm (tried to get down from about 6:45 on...it was a no go so he was up 3 hours  )
S  8:00pm

Anyway, just wondering what to do...if I should have tried more for a nap at 6:00pm or is that too late to be napping?? 

[brenda2]

hi!
well you did get a good day of naps in but on a 3 hour EASY he should be having 4 naps.  3 long and a catnap, so  you're missing a nap in there.  i think it's because you're spending some time in the middle of each nap with him awake, so your nap looks long but it really isn't .

does he fall asleep independently?  do you always have to go in at 40 min or was today different?  props?

i wonder if you'd get a longer nap without having to intervene if you stretched his A time a little bit.  he should be getting near to being able to tolerate 1.5 hours of A time.  i would start with his first A time, just extend by 5 min every few days.

if he's up at 7:30 i would aim for:
7:30 E
9-10:30 - S
10:30 E
12-1:30 S
1:30 E
3-4:30 S
4:30 E
5:45-6:15 catnap
bath
7 E
7:30 bed

to answer your question about the late catnap, i think you were right to go for an early bedtime, but i think you missed the window.  he was too tired by the time you tried as he'd already been up an hour 45 min which is longer than all of his other A times.  after a catnap he's not going to be able to tolerate as long as usual, maybe only an hour.  so if he woke from a catnap at 5 you'd have to put him down for the night at 6.  or you could have done catnap 6-6:30, bedtime at 7:30 or something like that.  when you get a short nap you always have to shorten the following A time.

HTH

[mom2william]

I wanted to say thanks, Brenda.  I think you are right, we need more day sleep around here!  I am still struggling to get him to get 5 hours of napping in a day (that's what he needs at this age, right?)  You asked me if he falls asleep independently.  Well, for the most part.  I calm him and get him sleepy in my arms and then lay him in his crib.  I con't with shh/pat in the crib if needed.  He has no props (no paci, not nursed to sleep, etc.)  He is swaddled.  He almost always wakes at the 40 min. mark and sometimes it's not a problem.  Like the day I gave you in my pp, he resettled with help.  However, today was a nightmare of two 45 min. naps and three 30 min. ones!!  He was so OT and it worsened as the day progressed.  If I can't resettle him after a 45 min. nap, I get him up but then I've spent time trying to extend the nap and sometimes we are running into 30 min. or closer to feeding time.  I am fine with offering another nap before a feed (and having a EASAE routine) but just can't seem to get him down in time before the next feed.  I don't know if that makes sense but I seem to run out of time to fit in 2 naps before the next feed is due.  He wasn't settling today either because he was so OT.  HELP!