Question about late afternoon catnap

[cavegirljmc]

My lo is 8 weeks old and staunchly refuses to nap later in the day. Our evening goes like this:

E 1730
A walk, play, we eat dinner. We do bath at 1830 that lasts until 1900 because she loves it.
E 1900-1930 (she usually only eats 2oz or so here)
S right after bottle

In the past few weeks she's been going down super easy and sleeps well with a df at 1030 and wakes to eat at 430.

But the past week she's been fighting bedtime. We tried to give her a catnap around 1830 but she won't nap and just cries. It takes several times of going in and getting her to settle before she finally sleeps. Then after the df she'll only sleep until 330 or so, sometimes taking an hour to fall back asleep. She's a crap napper during the day so I know it's not long naps causing this. We've upped her bottles but nothing is working. Should we try harder for the catnap or put her down earlier? Kind of lost and sleep deprived here. Thanks!

[newkidontheblock]

{hugs} hun. The early days are exhausting. First of all, there is a wonder week at week 8 and a growth spurt also, if I remember correctly. Do you know about the wonder weeks? These are mental leaps which pretty much turn their world upside down, mess with sleep and behaviour for a while and lead to a lot of clinginess and crying. But they pick up so many skills as they pass through each one.
http://www.thewonderweeks.com/mental-leap-2/
http://www.thewonderweeks.com/crankiness-and-crying/

I would also advise maybe shortening the bath time a bit. Too much excitement right before bedtime might not be a great idea. You want her winding down, not getting over stimulated yk?Could you post your entire routine for me, please. From what I'm seeing, if she already WU from a nap at 5.30 and then ate, she would be fine with a 7 pm BT but with a shorter and more relaxed bath. WDYT?

[cavegirljmc]

Our average day is this:
E 8 I wake her up
A diaper, bouncer, tummy time in room around 9 for wind down
S try for 915 but usually ends up 930 or so after some rocking to settle. Try w2s but usually end up holding her after she wakes at 45 min
E 1030-11 depending on how hard she is to settle
A
S 1230 same as above
E 1400
A
S1530 same as above
E 1700-1730
A dinner for ds1 and us, she gets fussy around 1800 so we walk her or I'll put her in the sling, bath 1830
E1900
S 1930 but wakes every 20-30 min or so
Df 1030
E anywhere from 0330-0500

We still have to rock her to settle for naps and once she wakes at 45 min she is awake. I've let her go in her crib but she will not settle. She will only calm if I put her in her side in my lap and rock her. Any attempt at putting her down just es her off again.

[cavegirljmc]

We have done bottle right before bed to help her calm down. I guess we could split the
 1730 bottle and do half before bath and half after.

[newkidontheblock]

A dinner for ds1 and us, she gets fussy around 1800 so we walk her or I'll put her in the sling, bath 1830
E1900
S 1930 but wakes every 20-30 min or so

I think the fussiness might be her indicating that she is tired. Would it be possible to move your routine a bit earlier. So 5.45 ish start bath time and have her in bed between 6.30 & 7? What say?

I also used to split the BT around bath. She needed it before bath otherwise she was fussy and after bath, it helped relax her and she happily would sleep off. WUs soon after bed like you are getting generally indicate  overtiredness, so an earlier BT might do the trick.

Try not to let the short naps get you down, hun. They are part & parcel of the first months and a 45 minute WU means she needs to learn how to transition through sleep cycles. Time and making sure she understands that nap time is not over, should help her transition eventually