Need help fitting naps around school runs

[caprizzosa]

Hi, I am trying to get my 10 month old to take his naps but I need help.

He wakes up at around 7am and he normally goes for his first nap around 10.30am and will sleep at least for an hour sometimes 1 and a half hours. My problem is the second nap of the day it tends to be around 2.30 -2.45pm and this is when the problem starts as I have to leave the house at 3pm the latest to pick my other son from school. It is only a short walk to the school so he wont sleep in his pram and if I put him down when we get back at around 3.45pm, it is too late for a nap as he is well overtired.
It has been suggested to me that maybe I should set nap times like this:

Awake 7am
milk 7.30am
breakfast 8am
1st nap - 9.30am

lunch - 12pm
2nd nap 1pm
snack 3.30pm
dinner 6pm
milk 7.30pm and bed

He does tend to wake up 7-7.30am and goes to bed 7.30 - 8pm
and that is fine but my fear is that he might not be ready or tired enough for those nap times?

What do you guys think? what do you do?

Thanks!!

2nd nap - 1pm

[Shiv52]

I think you're right.  A time at 10 months is 3.5-4 hours so I don't think he'd be tired enough at those times and it leaves a big chunk of A time before bed. 

I'd probably aim for:
Awake 7am
Milk 7.30am
Breakfast 8am
Snack 10.15/10.30am
Nap 11am  (1.5 hours)
Awake 12.30pm
Lunch 1.15pm
Nap 3.45 (45mins-1 hour)
Bed 7.30-8pm

Or another option is to do a 2 hour nap in the morning at 11am and pm nap at 4pm until 4.45/5 then bed at 8.

HTH

[caprizzosa]

Thanks for that! both great ideas. However the problem most of the time is that he wont sleep for longer than 1 hour. This morning however I put him down at 10.15 (3h 15 minutes) and he has slept for two hours! He just seems to be very unpredictable!

[Shiv52]

I was thinking his short nap time was due to the A time and if you got him upto 4 hours in the am he would do at least 1.5 if not 2 hours for you. But I;d prob start aiming for 1.5!

[caprizzosa]

When I have left him for 4 hours he has only slept 1 hour, but on a few days i left him 3hours 15 minutes and he slept for two hours.
So say he wakes up at 7am, he will have a nap at 10.15am and usually slept for 2 hours. I found this out by chance,as I said 3.5 to 4 hours A time would give him only 1 hour or less.So one day I put him to bed a bit earlier and I could not believe it! The problem however comes with second nap as he does not seem to be tired until it is too late, and by late I mean 5-5.30pm.
However now he has a nasty cold and everything is in turmoil again!!

Another thing is he will always cry when he goes to bed for about 3-10 min max, and he usually wakes up crying. Is this ever going to stop?

I really need some help.

Thanks

[Shiv52]

Huge {{{hugs}}}

I'm only seeing your reply now.  How are things?

[caprizzosa]

Sorry I have not replied earlier but have not been well. I have to say that things have improved. I have worked out that his A have to be 3h15min to 3h30min. So he takes 2 1hour naps and he sleeps through (most nights) for 11-12 hours.
Now also when we put him in bed he will moan a bit but he is soon fast asleep within a couple of minutes and he is starting to wake up happier and not crying.
I said most nights as he is sometimes waking up in the night (sometimes because he will cough and sometimes because his brother wakes him up) and then it will take about 1hour or sometimes more to get him back to sleep. Having said this, it only happens if he is woken up before say 4am. If he wakes up after this times he seems to be able to get himself back to sleep. I believe maybe because by this time he has already have quite a lot os sleep not to feel overtired?.
Maybe I need to ask somewhere else but when he is trying to get himself to sleep he seems to go through quiet periods followed by what sounds like fustration cry follow but quieter cry. Is this his Mantra cry?