9.5 month old naps

[julesdq]

My LO is 9.5 months old. This is her sleep routine at the moment. The times are approximate:

6 / 6.30am Wake
9:30am Nap (usually 1.5 hours)
2.30pm Nap (usually 1.5 hours)
7pm Bed time

The issue that I have is that she wakes from her afternoon nap around 4pm and finds it hard to last until 7pm for her bottle as she is so tired (she used to have a 6.30pm BT) but has had a short A time before bedtime so she lies awake in her cot/ stands up/ throws the dummy out etc etc for about 20 mins ... sometimes longer.If I hold her, she relaxes and makes tired noises. I have tried to extend this A time for a 7.15/7.30 pm bedtime but she gets so cranky and can't concentrate on a story/ toys.

Should I only let her sleep for 1 hour in the morning so she goes down earlier in the afternoon (hopefully have a 2 hour nap) which will allow her to have a longer A time before bed? I heard that this should be her longest A time.

Also, should I try and stick to the same nap times each day so that she gets used to these (never really done this before but she's just kinda started it) or put her down 3.5hrs after she wakes as it's not always the same time every day.

Thanks 

[~Karen~]

You could certainly try cutting the first nap to an hour and see how she gets on.  She's probably getting towards the age where you need to start having one nap a bit shorter than the other. 

Set naps can work but she'll need to be getting up about the same time every day and having the same length naps.  You may need to be a little bit flexible if nap isn't as long as usual to make sure she doesn't get OT. 

[julesdq]

Thanks Karen
I'll give it a try and see how we get on :-)