Won't have late afternoon catnap. What to do?

[fc12]

Hi there

My 11 week lo won't take a catnap late in the afternoon anymore which means that his nights have deteriorated badly as he's going to bed very OT.

We have a mostly typical BW day beginning at 7am (or sometimes earlier). The first two naps tend to go for about 2 hours (and I often have to extend beyond 45min sleep cycle). Third nap is more difficult. he always wakes early and it's hard to extend this nap. Then the last nap (which he definitely needs) just doesn't happen. He used to always have this nap in the sling but now he won't do that either.

The only thing I can think is that I'm often letting him sleep longer during his day naps especially if I've had to extend and I want him to catch up on the time it's taken to extend the nap. We never go more than 20mins beyond the next feed time.

Any suggestions about how to tweak routine or get lo to take this late afternoon catnap again? As I said, it's ruining his nights as he's so OT having been up from 4pm - 7pm (bedtime). Should we put him down earlier for bed at night if he hasn't had cat nap? If so, what happens to late afternoon feeds?

Many thanks in advance
fc12

[brenda2]

can you post your routine?

he is almost 3 mo so may be ready for a bit more A time.  with 2 hour naps is he doing 1.5 hours A time or still doing really short A time with 2 hour naps to stay on the 3 hour EASY?  hard to think about what your routine looks like.

he should be doing about 1.5 hours A time with 1.5 hours nap.  if you switch him to this kind of routine (extend A time a bit and shorten the naps a bit) he may take the catnap more easily for you as he will be more tired without being OT.  he definitely still needs that 4th nap so not OT by bedtime.

[fc12]

His routine is
E7am
A
S 820 (he usually sleeps for 2 hours here)

E 1015am
A
S1135=1140 (usually sleeps for 1 hours 45 or wakes after 45 and have to get him back to sleep)

E130
A
S 245ish (he usually wakes after 45 mins here an can't get back to sleep)

This is quite loose as every day seems to change. Today he woke from first sleep after 1 hour (but I got him back to sleep) that's after waking at 7am and going down for a sleep at 830. So I think he was overtired???

I tend to put him down in his cot 1h 15 - 1h 20 and he takes between 3 and 10 minutes to fall asleep. So basically we're doing about 3h 15-20 min EASY which may not be such a great idea.

Anyway, I hope this information helps. LO has never been a good sleeper. His day sleeps were getting better with 2 sizeable ones for about a week but we've now gone back to 45 min wakings. I used to be able to pat him back to sleep but he seems so resistant to it. I wonder if he's going through a growth spurt as he seems to be eating more and be more hungry.

He did manage a catnap last night before bed time because his previous two naps had been 45 mins long. This meant the night was better. He went from 7pm - 12am (feed) rather than waking at 10pm. He then woke again at 3am for a feed (I think due to growth spurt) as he can usually last til about 4am. He does wake at least once during the night and needs to be patted back to sleep. They are what kill me. I don't mind the feeds!

Any thoughts? HTH
fc12

[brenda2]

waking after an hour means he was UT for the nap.  waking after 45 min can mean UT or OT...if you can't get him back down it may have been UT.

i would try to extend the a times to 1.5 hours (aim to have him asleep by 1.5 hours) and then limit his naps to 1.5 hours and feed at the 3 hourly mark.  if he is having a gs this will help that too as he'll get in more calories during the day.