Help with short third nap

[Kymmi13]

DS is one week shy of 3 months and sleeps in his crib for naps and BT.  He is fully swaddled and I have a white noise machine in the room.  He is a good independent sleeper, he knows the routine; lullaby during diaper change, massage, swaddle and then straight into his crib.  His A time for his first two naps is 1 hr 25 min and he rarely fusses, if he does, items for 5 min and he's asleep.  He usually sleeps at least 1.5 hours each nap and has even slept 2 hrs 45 min for each one. 

Third nap is a different story.  I have tried different A times (1 hr 20, 1 hr 25, 1 hr 30), and they all produce the same thing; angry baby that naps for 30-40 min .  I'm not sure what else to do.  When I take him back, he is content until the middle of his diaper change - he then will start to cry.  I'm not sure if he's crying from OT or UT.  He will then settle on his own after 5 minutes of his mantra cry but then wakes up after 30 min and then resettles for 5-10 more minutes and then is crying again.  I try to resettle him, but he doesn't go back.  He is a little fussy after this nap, but not too bad, so, I'm still unsure if he's OT or UT. 

The worst part of this is that is throws a monkey wrench to the rest of the night.  If his third nap is in shambles, we are usually in a bad timing situation for his bath and BT.  When I try to set him in his crib for an earlier bedtime (because of a short third nap), he just screams and I end up shh/pat and nursing until his BT of 7/7:30 which means his A time could be 2.5/3 hrs. 

Here is his EASY from today:

7am WU
E 7:20am
A
S 8:25am - 10:48am

E 11:45am (tried feeding at 11 but wasn't hungry)
A
S 12:15pm - 2:55pm

E 3pm
A
S 4:15pm - 4:25pm
S 4:30pm - 4:55pm

A Bath 5:45
E 6 pm
S 6:30 tried for BT.  Fussing and tried to settle with shh/pat and more nursing.

S 7:30 set in crib with no fussing.  Fell asleep quietly within 5 min


Any suggestions on how to get the third nap better so the BT isn't so challenging?  Is it normal for the third nap to be so difficult even when the first two were so great?

Thanks for the advice!

[Papaya]

It is pretty common to have trouble with the catnap - some babies are just more unsettled towards evening.  With two such good naps already, I'm wondering about a longer third A time. Have you tried sticking with a slightly longer A, say 1hr35/40, for 3-4 days? It can take that long to really see a difference.

The catnap is also a good one to AP if you need to, as you'll be dropping it first anyway. Perhaps you could take him for a walk in the stroller, carrier, etc for that one? At least you'll only have to worry about it for a few more months