Can 20 week old really be dropping catnap?

[Tomatoandcheese]

Hi all.

My DD is currently 20 weeks and has just in the last couple of weeks extended her awake times to 2 hours. She was also sleeping through 19.15-6.30 with no df. Then about a week ago she started waking at night again and not just once, but a couple of times, including one waking of an hour or more at around 4am. She didn't seem especially hungry and would still be wakeful after a feed. She was also waking early to start the day.

She had a cold and was transitioning to both arms out of the swaddle so. I thought at first it was due to these, but it didn't improve even after her cold was gone and she was napping well again. Then yesterday we interrupted her second nap due to visiting a school for DS. I hoped she might take a longer third nap to compensate but she didn't so was up from 14.45 ish to 18.50 and managed surprisingly well. Last night she slept through again.

Could she possibly be ready to drop the third nap? She doesn't fight it at all but has always needed longer awake times at that time of day in order to settle well at night.  It was already at 2.5 hours and we didn't increase it when we increased the other awake times. I currently cap her morning nap by waking her at 10 so we can fit a catnap in, so she might manage an extra half hour there which would hopefully leave her with two 2 hour naps and a final wake period from around 2.30/2.45 to bedtime at around 19.00. She just seems very young to be dropping the nap. My son kept it until about 8 months!

[creations]

I don't think you'd be the first to have a LO dropping a CN at this age. Yes it's early but they are all different aren't they.
Usually you'd look for an A time close to 3hrs to go for 2 naps in the day, your LO seems to be doing 2hr A times until the last A time which would then be closer to 2hr 45.  If that works for you it's fine, otherwise you might need to look at possibly extending the other A times a bit so that you can get through the day from 6.30am to 7pm, or you could try bringing BT earlier and see if she tacks on another 30 - 60 mins at night.
The only thing you can do really is try it and see how it goes, judging the progress over several days rather than just 1 or 2.

hope that helps

[Tomatoandcheese]

Thanks. We will give it a go and see what works. She's just so different to her brother we've had to chuck everything we knew out the window and start again!

[becj86]

Then about a week ago she started waking at night again and not just once, but a couple of times, including one waking of an hour or more at around 4am. She didn't seem especially hungry and would still be wakeful after a feed. She was also waking early to start the day.

These are all signs that the first A time needs an increase. At this age, average A time is 2:15-2:30 so its not unusual for her to need more than she's currently getting.

[Tomatoandcheese]

Hmm. Naps have been really screwy the last few days due to life with a preschooler but she has slept 7am to 6pm again each night despite a really long awake time at the end of the day. Thought we'd have a chance to try lengthening other awake times today but she just fell asleep on her playgym both times. So currently she's doing 2 hours for the first two awake times and 3.5-4 hours for the last. It seems completely wrong according to everything I know about baby sleep but if it works for her...

Will continue to see how it goes!

[creations]

It seems completely wrong according to everything I know about baby sleep but if it works for her...

Yes if it works then it works.
If he mood deteriorates over time just be aware there could be a build up of OT.  But this could be the ideal routine for your LO.
Mine had a ridiculously long first A time and then shorter for the rest of the day with super short at the end of the day before BT so any which way is possible really!

[becj86]

Yes if it works then it works.If he mood deteriorates over time just be aware there could be a build up of OT.  But this could be the ideal routine for your LO.Mine had a ridiculously long first A time and then shorter for the rest of the day with super short at the end of the day before BT so any which way is possible really!

Agree Do what works!

[Tomatoandcheese]

If he mood deteriorates over time just be aware there could be a build up of OT. 

Oh dear. Yes this apparently. She took a super long second nap yesterday and I just let her, thinking it might make the last AT less stupidly long. So she woke slept 12.00-15.00 and might even have gone longer if I hadn't woken her for a feed. But then she was fussy all evening and practically fell asleep during her 18.00 bottle. And then she woke at 20.45 for about 10 mins, again at 1 for about an hour (including a nappy change and a feed) and again at 5 for about 20 mins. Up at 7 but I think she must have been awake earlier because I couldn't stretch her past 8.45 for the first nap and she seemed OT when she went down.

Maybe I need to make her first two naps shorter in order that we can fit in a catnap but a bit earlier in the day? And keep working on lengthening the first two AT until we can drop the catnap with naps a bit better spaced?

[creations]

That does sound like a big catch up nap.

I'm not really sure that you can work on extending the first couple of A times if you are planning to cap those naps though - that extending A to make her more tired and then not letting her sleep, yk?
Instead how shift the first A time to 2hr 15 if you haven't already, then nap as long as she likes, then see where you are for the day and work out what you can offer for the other two naps from there?
If she does 2hr naps you can more easily move to 2 naps on 2hr 30 A time rather than 3hr A time (which is what most need to do to move to 2 naps but are usually closer to 6 months).

[Tomatoandcheese]

Ok that makes sense. I think she may be coming down with a cold again which may scupper us for the next few days but it's good to have a strategy in hand! Part of our trouble is that the catnap is already only 30 mins so can't get any shorter really. If it moves later I'm assuming bedtime would have to move too which is not ideal but manageable I guess if it is short term. I have a preschooler who has just dropped his nap so needs to be in bed by 7 and I'm on my own for bedtime so it's hard to manage if they go down at two very different times!

[creations]

Some people reduce the CN to 20 min, then 10 before finally dropping.  Admittedly I couldn't do that with my own DS but lots of people have done it successfully.
I've always let BT move later when needed for the routine to work (8pm being my max) then earlier when naps drop and gradually getting back to 7pm - but again everyone is different, there are some who keep BT the same no matter what, their LOs seem to adapt around the set BT and cope okay. If you have 2 LO on your own for BT you might not have an option but to do whatever you can do.