5 months old fighting catnap

[LittleSplasherMum]

Hello lovely ladies, I had some wonderful advice in the past here so I'm back once again!

Ds2 is 5 months old now and his naps have been up and down for the last month and a half I think. At first it was the transition to 3 naps which we made at around 4 months, then holidays and other things. Anyway, he now naps usually well in the morning (around the 1h30) and the afternoon is a hit and miss, although the last couple of days we managed a decent nap. The last week or so though, he has been fighting the last nap, the cn, crying before he goes down, no matter how AT he's had and then only sleeping for 20 minutes. If I have the chance (I have a toddler as well) I try to get him back to sleep but I usually have to hold him in order to do so.
Here is our EASY for today ( I will try to monitor for the next days and come back):

WU: 6.45
Nap1: 8.50 till 10.15 (I woke him as we needed to go out, otherwise he was sleeping well so I think he would have carried on)
Nap2: 12.20 till 2 (he woke at 40 minutes but resettled on his own for the first time in ages and slept another hour)
Nap3: 4.20 till 4.40ish (cried a bit to go down, had to stay with him for a while)
BT: 6.45

I wouldn't been worried if his nights were good, but they are not! When his cn is too early I try to put him down earlier for bt but he's usually OT and wakes around 9 or before (tonight he's already woke at 8.40, picked him up, he burped, cried a bit but went back to sleep in around 5 minutes). During the night he's been waking around 1/1.30 and I usually can settle him back to sleep quite quickly, but then he wakes around 2.30 and if I feed him he then wakes again for another feed around 4/5. Last night for the first time in a while I managed to hold him off till 3, fed him and he slept through till 7ish (I woke him at 6.45 as we needed to go out in the morning).
I thought we were going through the 4 months sleep regression but now it's been ages!
Do you think he's ready to transition to two naps already? I have tried to keep him up for 2.15 and that's usually the longest AT I can get. Should I try for a longer one? He is breastfed during the day and night and has two bottles at bt and DF.

[lolsyb1982]

Hi it definitely sounds like the beginning of the 3-2: All about the 3-2 transition- 5/6 months

This one can take a while and he'll need an A time of around 3hrs before he can completely drop that cn. I would start to push one A at a time, usually the first is the easiest. Increase by 10/15 min and then hold it for a few days to give him time to adjust and then push the next.

[LittleSplasherMum]

Thanks for replying! I am trying to increase his AT and today it went like this:

wu: 7.15
nap1: 9.30 till 10.40
nap2:1 till 2.10
nap3: 4.40 till 5.10
bt:6.50

His night was a bit better yesterday, woke at 2.50am although he woke once before 10 and then just before 11 when we fed him.
My question is: do you thing 1h40 ish of AT after his cn his ok for bedtime? He's very sensitive to OT and even though he goes down ok if I keep him up too long after his cn he wakes during the evening. Thanks again for your help x

[Scottishmummy]

You know him best and if 1hr40 after the CN gives you a more settled night then it's the right last A time for him. You'll know he needs longer (or more likely the CN needs to be shorter) if he starts resfusibg to go to sleep or waking early in the morning.

[LittleSplasherMum]

Thank you Scottishmummy for your reply!

Yesterday we had the best evening in ages, he didn't wake at all and had the df at 10.40. Funny because he went to bed after 2h10 from his nap, so I guess he wasn't OT. The night wasn't too bad either, although he woke at 2.10 (for wind I think) he went back to sleep till 4.20, which is the latest I fed him in ages.
This morning we managed an AT of 2h20 and he slept for 1h40, but then in the afternoon after the same AT he had trouble going down, so was in the end more of an AT of 2h30 and he only slept for 40 minutes. I will keep the AT at 2h20 for the next couple of days and see how it goes. Thanks again for your help!

[Scottishmummy]

Sometimes A times don't increase all at the same time. It might be that just the 2nd one needs a push but keep 1st around 2.20 and last around 2hrs?

[LittleSplasherMum]

Well yesterday I kept the first A time at 2h20 and got 1h10 mins nap and today 40 mins! I have managed to get him back to sleep now, but I think he was OT for some reason (he did wake a bit earlier today, but he had a very good night, only woke once). Do you think I should increase or keep it at 2h20? I was going to increase tomorrow as I have done three days now. Second A time yesterday was 2h30 and again 1h10 nap. 2hrs ish after cn seems to work fine so I'll keep it like that.

[Scottishmummy]

I seem to remember A times increasing quite rapidly between 4-6 mo.  I think I would try a slight increase for first A time but keep 2nd the same- so maybe both around 2hr30?

[LittleSplasherMum]

Thanks, I will try that! It's so weird because with my DS1 at this age we were still transitioning to a 4hrs easy, but this lo is a different story!!

[LittleSplasherMum]

I managed to increase A time to 2h30, but got rubbish naps! 
Yesterday first nap 50 mins and second 30 + another 30! Today first nap 40 mins and second again 30 then managed to get another 45 out of him! I'm still getting a decent cn of 30/35 mins so he's not too  bad at bt and last night he didn't wake until 2.15 with a df at 11; I settled him back quite quickly then woke at 3.30 and fed him.
I will try 2h30 of A time again tomorrow but it's not looking good 

[lolsyb1982]

Sounds like the first A isn't quite long enough perhaps?

[LittleSplasherMum]

mmm I don't know, he did have a very good first nap on Saturday with A time of 2h20...if it's still rubbish tomorrow I might go back tbh...

[Scottishmummy]

Could anything else be disturbing his naps? Teeth? Wonder week? A cold?

I seem to remember having some days with long naps and some with short for no clear reason at this age on same A times. 

Whatever you decide re A times, maybe stick with it for a few days, see if naps get longer and try the increase again and hold for a few more days if you're still getting short naps.

[LittleSplasherMum]

Maybe, he has been a bit unsettled the last couple of days with wind I think, no cold and no signs of teeth yet. This morning he looked really tired, so I was going to try 2h20, put him down at 2h15 and he went straight away but slept 1h10 and he looked ok when woke so I guess he was UT. I will try to stick to 2h25 or 2h30 for a few days again, he can definitely do it in the afternoon.

[Scottishmummy]

If he's tired, I'd be tempted to stick with the 2hr20ish for a bit longer.  For me anything over 1hr is an ok nap.