Late PM catnap doesn't seem enough

[MMoo]

Help!

My 4 1/2 mo DS will take a 30-45 min catnap in the late PM but this just doesn't seem like enough to get him through to bed time and basically he's tired and grumpy pretty much from about 4.30pm onwards! He needs constant attention/holding and just won't be left to play on his own, to sit anywhere on his own etc.  It can make the lead up to bedtime quite stressful, tiring and long for either me or DH and there are days when bath and bedtime routine is then far from a calm and quiet experience, although once he's actually in bed he generally quietens and settles fairly well, almost as if he was just desperate to get there!

He generally naps really well for his 2 main naps of the day, anything up to 2 1/2 hours if we've not been out and eaten into tired time. His A time is still only max 2 hours, generally only 1.5.

We're on a 4 hour EASY (starting at 7) and have been for several weeks, but it almost seems like I need to bring his bedtime forward to 6pm.

He's also started waking earlier for an early AM feed, which we had got to around 5 to 5.30 from an 11pm dreamfeed. The last few days its been anything between 3.30 and 5.00! Argghh!!

Is there a growth spurt at this age? I've tried a cluster feed at 9pm tonight, so we'll see whether that and the 11pm dreamfeed take him through.

I'm not quite so worried about the early AM feed but the grumpy/tired afternoon thing has been going on for a few weeks and I would really like to understand it and improve things if poss!  Please can anyone help?!

Thanks

[lilac83]

I don't really have any advice, just jumping in to say my daughter is also 4 1/2 months and we have the same issue going on here. I wonder if it's a developmental thing? She wants an 11-12 hour night, but then only seems to be able to tolerate an 11 hour day! Apparently nobody has told her the day is 24 hours long not 22/23!

There is a growth spurt at the 4 month mark, so that's a possibility for you LO. Mine has already accomplished this growth spurt, so I'm not sure what to attribute her crabbiness to. Teeth I suppose could also be an issue right around now. I gave my daughter some Tylenol tonight because she was crying for no apparent reason. It did seem to settle her a bit, so who knows.

Hopefully someone will jump in with more info!

[marensmama]

Mmoo, is your LO awake from 4:30 until 7?  If so, I would move bedtime closer, to 6:30 at the latest.  Maybe he'll do a 13 hr night, and if not, then you could try adding some A time in through the day to make that catnap happen later.  My DD 2 usually catnapped from 4:45 to 5:30 and then was in bed for 7.

HTH!