Difficulties with late afternoon/early evening

[wilsmum]

My 5 month old breastfed DS is on a 3-4 hourly EASY schedule and everything was going well until about 2 weeks ago.  Up to then, he was having 3 day time sleeps (of at least 2 hours) and went to bed at 7pm (straight to sleep).  however, now we are having troubles sticking to the routine after 4.30 pm (everything is fine up to then).  He seems to want two 40 minute naps between 4.30 and bed time which has now become 8.30 pm (instead of 7pm).  I have tried resettling him to stretch the sleep out but it just doesn't work (resettling always works for every other time of day for us).  I've tried just letting him have a short nap before bedtime which means he is up for longer but he is then over tired and takes ages to settle for the night.  Does anyone have any ideas on a) whether he is probably just weaning himself of the third sleep and b) how to get back to the 7pm bedtime.
Thanks!

[Felicity]

Could he be having a growth spurt that is unsettling his routine?  I always remember when I was younger and having 'growing pains' my legs would ache alot.  I wonder if it is the same for babies??

[Maddy's Mum]

Hi there,

Can you post his schedule with naps/feeds?

Thanks
Dee
x

[wilsmum]

Our routine is roughly as follows (he is 5 mo and it's still difficult to keep him awake more than 1 1/4 hrs):
- 7.00 am wake, feed and activity
- 8.00 am sleep
- 10.30 am wake, feed and activity
- 12 noon sleep
- 2.00 pm wake, feed and activity
- 3.30 pm sleep
- 4.30/5pm pm wake, feed and activity
and then this is where things get a little mucked up.  Sometimes he will stay awake until 6.30, have another feed, bath and then bed but will be overtired and take ages to really settle.  Other times, he will have a 45 minute nap between 6 and 7, followed by bath, feed and then usually settles ok for the night (but not over the last few days).

- 9.30 pm dream feed
- 4.30 am feed
 - 7.00 and the day starts again.

I try to keep the late afternoon activity very low key and the bath routine is the same every night.  I've tried putting him to bed at 5.30pm but this doesn't seem to work either.  Late afternoon seems to be his most alert and active time so I have to really be careful not to overstimulate.  You might look at my routine and ask "what's the problem" becuase it's basically great however if we have one night where he doesn't go down well after his bath (ie; before 8.30 pm) things get messy for the next few days (like today, he slept in until 9 am b/c he didn't go to sleep til late and now his whole routine is out the window!).
Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[MCGoldsmith]

When he dosen't go down well for his last night feed do you mean that the 4:30 am wake changes also? What about waking him in the morning for his 7 am feed if he dosen't wake then that might keep you on track for him going down on time at night, too (?)