Need help tweaking naps

[Bouncer]

My LO is a week shy of 8 months and has been struggling with the afternoon nap for the past few weeks. Her morning naps were starting to be a struggle to get her settled so I pushed the A time longer and that helped that, but the afternoon nap is now routinely very difficult to settle and lasts 20 minutes, which makes her super cranky for the rest of the day and harder to settle at night and keep settled. Routine is generally:
6:30 wake (this was about 7:30, but since the afternoon nap problem it moved earlier)
7:00 BF followed by A
8:00 solids followed by A
9:15-9:30 Nap
10:30-10:45 Awake
11:00 BF followed by A
12:00 solids followed by A
1:15-1:30 Nap (have tried to put her down sooner, but this doesn't seem to make a difference)
Awake within 20 mins and the rest of the afternoon is a cranky struggle
3:00 BF followed by A
5:30 Solids followed by A
6:30 start getting ready for bed - asleep between 7 & 7:30

Any ideas would be really appreciated - thanks!

[speechie]

HI and welcome to the boards.
I think I'd try a 10-11AM nap, then a 3-4 PM nap and adjust bedtime as needed.
She's really got a short amount of daytime sleep, and maybe the OT is starting to cause some early wakings?

[~Alexa~]

Hi there!! I agree with Cathie!! It looks like your lo is not getting enough daytime sleep.
How is she sleeping during the nights?

Have you tried adding a bit more A after the am nap to see if that helps with the nap struggle? For us, a nap fight always means UT.  2.5 hr A after a 1.5 hr nap may be short for an 8 mo, and that may be causing the nap refusal.

[Bouncer]

Thanks, for the suggestions. Her nighttime is actually better than it was before. She is up at 11\30 for a feed and then a small one usually between 4:30/5:30 (before I was lucky to get 3 hours between feeds). I tried the 10 am nap this morning, she was really cranky by the time it rolled around, but went down easy, then woke screaming after 35 mins - so I think this was too much of a stretch and should bump it back a bit??? The afternoon nap we waited as long as we could and had her down at 2:45, and was willing to go (unlike most afternoons lately), but woke screaming after 30 mins. The rest of the aft was a cranky mess, and she went to bed by 7, but was already up screaming after half an hour. I will try again tomorrow with the am nap a bit earlier, with the aim of moving it to 10. Should I wake her after an hour or let her sleep until 11:00? If she will...

Thanks

[~Alexa~]

Hi hun!! Sorry you had crappy naps yesterday!

Just remember that the A increments need to be done slowly.  Just by adding 15 min every 3 days.  I think that pushing the am nap to 10 am made her OT.

Ok, so your lo's am nap was 1.25 hr long with the old A, right? I think I would leave it the same, and find the right A after that am nap so she takes a longer pm nap.  What do you think?
So, keep the am nap at 9.15 am (let her sleep 1.25 hr), and then work on the next A.  So if she wakes up at 10.30 am, you were putting her down at 1.15 pm, so that's 2.75 hrs A after a 1.25 hr nap.  I think I would add 15 min to this A and have it 3 hrs long.  (She was taking a 20 min nap with 2.75 hrs A, that sound like UT to me). 

So keep the am nap and A as they are, and let's work on the second A to get a decent pm nap.  Let's start with 3 hrs A and let's see how your lo reacts.

Keep us posted

[speechie]

Hugs for the bad naps-
any teething going on??? I know people always say that, but sometimes it's true and the age kind of fits...