Almost 14 months EW - tweak 2 naps or work towards 1?

[rjn_nyc]

My son, who is almost 14 months, has been waking up early (4:30-5:30) since he was 10.5 months old. My husband and I are exhausted and don't know what direction to go in--should we tweak the 2 naps (I read on here to limit to 1 hour in the morning) or should we start working towards 2? Below is our usual schedule, though in the past 2 weeks the afternoon nap has sometimes been less than an hour. I feel stuck in a cycle of him being tired early and waking early. Thanks in advance for your advice.

4:30-5:30 wake up
5:30 get him from crib and bf
7:00 breakfast
8:45-10:15 nap
12:00 lunch
2:30-3:30 nap (only in car, refuses in crib--has been 30-50 minutes on some days)
5:00 dinner
6:30-7:00 bf and bed

[*Becky*]

Hi there,
To me it looks like a bit of an OT/UT loop tbh. His long nap is really early in the am and that is probably not helping the EWing although I can see that he is probably tired at that time.
I would try capping the first nap and then letting him have a longer more restorative nap later in the day. You could try something like this.
A - 5am
Nap - 8.30-9am
Nap - 12.15 - 1.45
BT - 6pm
Hopefully by reducing his day back to 13 hours max he will not be as OT. Obviously if he wakes at 5.30am then aim for 6.30pm BT. I have found that sticking to a 13 hour day max does help.
I would try this for a few days and if he wakes later then the first nap can be pushed back to after 9pm which is better for EW's.