How do you extend activity time and drop cat nap?

[Nic and Jackson]

Hello my DS ( 6 1/2 months) really hates his afternoon catnap. 
he fights all the way and i'm not sure when exactly to put him down.  usually he has milk at 3 and solids at 4 and would be due for nap at about 5.  Maybe i need to drop this nap - BUT I DON'T KNOW HOW!!!

tonight i ended up making him nap at 6.00 (got to sleep aout 6.30) and then woke him to eat at 7.00 before going to bed again at 7.15 - 7.30.  (Because obviously he was still tired but i wanted him to eat so he won't wake up during the night).

Can someone please tell me how i am supposed to drop the nap.  do i extend all activity times during the day, or just the afternoon activity time???

Thanks
Nic

[Deb_in_oz]

can you post his full routine and any important details about his A and S times... and we can see where you can tweak it to start pushing it out to drop the catnap

definitely sounds like it is time to drop it

[Nic and Jackson]

Sure, his day looks like this.

6.30 wake up.
E  6.45/7.00 milk
    8.00 cereal
A
S  9.00 nap (1.5 - 2) (don't always know when he wakes up cause he
                               just lies in his cot staring at the ceiling until i come
                               in sometimes)
E  11.00 milk
    12.00 lunch
A
S  1.00 nap (1.5 - 2) same as above.

E  3.00 milk (and this is when my day starts to get haywire).
A
S refer below for the sordid details.

E.  10.00pm  Dream Feed

_______________________________________

i've tried to give him solids at 4.00pm and then a 45 minute nap from 5.00pm.  followed by final milk feed at 7.00pm.  He seems to get cranky around 5ish but when i put him down he really resists it and i have to Help him to sleep.  Patting and shhing etc.
If i try to keep him awake instead then he stays cranky and i try to overcome this with a bath etc.  then i try to give him his final milk feed at around 6.00 but he seems too tired to drink.   He seems to like having his 'dinner' early.  I did try giving the solids at 6.00 after the nap but then he was REALLY hard to settle for a sleep.

His first 2 activity times i can keep him reasonably entertained.  (I got rid of his dummy and he became a much happier child as a result!!)

It's from about 4.30 onwards that things start to get shaky.  Incidentally he doesn't drink much at the milk feeds (100 - 150ml) but loves his solids.  i still give him a 10.00pm DF of which he does about 200ml.  hoping to drop that in another 2 - 3 weeks.  I never really know if he's hungry or not so i just feed him at those times in the hope that he'll get enough through the course of the day.

Thanks for your assistance.

Nic

[Deb_in_oz]

I think that if he can handle a 2 1/2 hr A time in the morning you shoudl try to get his second A time to 3 hours and build from there.

so try to gradually stretch him to being awake until a nap of closer to 1:30 or 2pm (if woke at 11) and see if he will still do his 1.5 - 2 hr nap.  then i woudl aim to have him up from the end of that nap until bedtime (which you could move earlier until he gets used to the new routine and eaisly handles an A time of 3-4 hours+ for last A cycle)  a way you can get him through (aiming maybe for 6:30 and then gradually increasing and pushing out bedtime as he seems ready) is to take him for a walk in the stroller during his usual catnap window - so maybe give him his milk after the nap and dinner at around 5 and then take him for a walk - if he falls asleep fine and if not at least he has had little active stimulation (just stim. from nature...), then do bath and bedtime routine from 5:45/6pm

he might surprise you - have you tried lengthening that 2nd A time before??  if he manages to nap until 3-4pm you might find he can make it to 7pm bedtime if you have a low key after dinner period (if at home can sit and cuddle for a bit, play classical music, read to him...) and take about 45min for bath, drressing, feed, bed... HTH

[Nic and Jackson]

Thanks for the reply however i am a bit daft and need it spelt out ever so clearly!!

Does this mean i give him his milk at say 3.30 (when he wakes from later nap time of say 1.30) and then dinner at 5.00 and then another bottle at 6.00 before going to bed?

doesn't that mean i am bringing the feeds too close together? 

Told you i was daft!!!  Put me in an office and no problem, give me a baby and i am out of my depth.

Nic

[Deb_in_oz]

you are not daft!! 

i meant to start the bedtime routine (not give the bottle) from about 5:45 or 6pm so you woudl have bath time (for as long as he is happy, if he is getting really grizzly and tired end the bath and move on), whatever else you usually do (lotion/massage, stories, cuddles and lullabies, anything in routine) and then bottle last before bed so depending on how he does it could be given around 6:30/6:45 onwards

when you start the evening routine would probably depend on whether he took a catnap or not and how relaxed he seems.  you have to use your judgement to gauge how long you can/want to delay the last bottle/bedtime.  i think if you can get him to last (without the nap) until bedtime of 6:30 that woudl be a great start (do not worry if you have to put him down even earlier - it is all a transition and better to get him to bed earlier and hope for a good night sleep, than later and overtired which can lead to nightwakings and such) a lot will depend on how late and how long he naps for that 2nd nap. if the extra A time takes a while for him to adjust to and he ends up with a shorter nap try to extend for a while but if you need to , just move up bedtime.  if he naps well and gets up around 3 - 3:30 try to get to the 6:30 bedtime and grow from there

am i making sense to you or confusing you?

[Nic and Jackson]

oh!!!  ok got it.  thanks for that.

it would of course be REALLY easy if he woke up at the same time each morning.  some mornings he wakes at 5.30 which totally throws the routine and i end up trying to adjust to get him back on schedule. 


Of course this is due to DH's accidental parenting in the early days where he thought it was 'fun' to entertain LO at 5.00 in the morning and he didn't mind cause he was 'up then anyway'.  anyway, trying to work on it with PU/PD but certainly is trying....

Thanks for your advice.  Next good day i will work with extending the A times and see how he goes.  Perhaps it will make him wake up closer to 6.30am also as he will be sleeping less during the day. One can only hope.

Thanks
Nic