wake to sleep

[jessmum46]

Exactly as I said above   The pattern is the key, not exact timings.  I know he's just 4 months but I don't think we are suggesting he's ready to go all out for 2 naps yet, just that you may be hitting the early starting of that process.  So you can keep going with a 4h ish EASY for now - e.g. with 2.5h awake time:

WU 7 and milk
Nap 9.30-11
WU and milk
Nap 1.30-3
WU and milk
Catnap 5.30-6
BT with milk 7.30ish

Which bit of the day are you struggling to work out? xx

[ireneasheard]

Was doing what you've suggested but got confused reading the 3-2 transition stuff as my son isn't yet on solids so I was concerned that offering a top up feed would essentially put him back to a 3 hour newborn routine. He seems happy on around 2-2.5 hours awake time. I am even starting to struggle to get him to take late afternoon nap -yesterday I walked with him in the push chair and he did not start his nap until 5.02pm. I didn't let him nap too long (woke him by opening the cover up at 5.20pm) order to keep a reasonable bedtime which ended up being 7.30pm and he went to sleep quite quickly. He is definitely doing what he did from 4-3 to his current routine and I ended up making bedtime earlier (6-6.30pm).

[jessmum46]

I think in all honesty you just have to be a bit flexible around nap transitions, sometimes eating ends up before sleep or two meals end up closer together than usual but it all works out in the end   Once you are on 2 naps and solids you do end up eating every 2-3 hours anyway - I found my first DD was more than happy to go 4.5h between her first 2 feeds (milk at WU, 3h A time, 1.5h nap) but my DS could barely manage 3h between feeds at 5 months as he was so hungry so would have needed a top-up x

[jessmum46]

Oh also meant to say EBT is a great idea for transitions

[ireneasheard]

Thanks for coming back to me. Thought I'd clarify as I don't intend starting solids for another few months as I don't believe my son is ready to start any time soon. Was unsure if offering more milk at 3 hour mark would revert him to a newborn routine and also create an association / prop with going to sleep and cause issues at night but if I leave enough time for quiet activity before nap /BT then it shouldn't be an issue I guess.
What is EBT?
I am finding I need to cut the late afternoon nap shorter as I want to preserve a 7-7.30pm bedtime - usually up in morning anywhere between 7-7.30am. Usually I'd allow a full nap cycle which for this babe is around 32 minutes but I'm giving him only 15-20 minutes as otherwise he is sleeping too close to 5.30pm and rhen I would have a later bedtime than 7.30pm.
My son is staying awake well anywhere from 2 hours 15 minutes to 2 hours 30 minutes at a time now so he is definitely as you pointed out correctly moving on towards transitioning 3-2 sleeps. All a bit surprising as my 1st babe hung onto his late arvo nap until he was 7 months old.

[jessmum46]

That's totally fine, I'm not suggesting you do need to start solids now   Just that by the time he is firmly on two naps and through the transition it may be something you are thinking about and wanted to give you an idea of how that would work. 

Was unsure if offering more milk at 3 hour mark would revert him to a newborn routine and also create an association / prop with going to sleep and cause issues at night but if I leave enough time for quiet activity before nap /BT then it shouldn't be an issue I guess.
What is EBT?

Well in some ways, yes it is a bit more like a newborn routine but honestly I can't see an alternative - if he can't manage to get through A time plus nap on just one feed, you do have to add another in somewhere and I would suggest around 30 mins before nap is a good time to do so.  It doesn't have to be another full feed so more like a 'snack' to get him through the nap without hunger waking him.  Unless he is actually feeding to sleep it shouldn't cause issues.  EBT = early bedtime

[ireneasheard]

Thank you. I'll let you know how I go... still hanging onto the 3rd nap but awake times have increased to 2.5 hours steadily so am thinking this info will be useful soon. Thanks again!