tweak EASY to drop a nap - help

[shem2005]

My DD is 6 1/2 months old and has been on 4 hour EASY since about 3 1/2 months. Currently we are still having 2 naps plus a catnap. She really isn't interested in the catnap anymore, takes us about 30 minutes to get her down for it and she will generally only sleep 20-30 minutes.

Our routine at the moment is:
7am  Eat
9.20am  Sleep
11am  Eat
1.20pm  Sleep
3.00pm Eat
4.30-5.00pm  Catnap
5.30pm  Solids
6.10 pm Bath
6.30pm Eat
7.00pm Bed

The problem I can see if we do drop the catnap is that I don't know if she would last from 3pm (sometimes awake earlier) till her bedtime at 7pm.

I have checked some other peoples routines and it seems like that last activity time before bed their babies are awake a lot longer than any other part of the day.

Any suggestions on how I can tweak this so that we can lose the catnap?

She generally doesn't sleep much longer than 1.5 hours during the day, sometimes only 1 hour (i usually try and resettle if it has only been an hour).

[Deb_in_oz]

the routine looks good and all i can suggest for now is
1. try to extend the 2nd A time to start nap at 1:30 so wake time is at least 3pm
2. move solids up to 5pm to both distract and give her more energy supply to make it to bathtime
3. see how she does without catnap (assuming had 1hr 30 2nd nap) and then adjust bedtime routine accordingly - if you need to during the transition stage move bath and bedtime forward by 15-30 min to avoid overtiredness.


the hope is that through a combo of low key activities (you can try a DVD after solids until bathtime if that works for your lo or a walk outside if the weather is nice...) and distraction you can gradually stretch that last A time over the next 2-3 weeks so that she is easily staying awake from 3-3:30 until bedtime (a lot of kids can start coping with this long last A time because they do a meal, a little activity, a relaxing/fun bath, more food and cuddles and bed) it is not as if she is going to be playing for 3-4 hours which would be exhausting... 

[shem2005]

Well we tried for a couple of days not having the catnap but she was so tired at the end of the day that she would fall asleep while feeding, poor thing she was so tired.

We then reverted back to the catnap but with no success - she just plain refuses it. I think we are just in a difficult time where she doesn't want the 3rd nap but she gets too tired for the 7pm bedtime.

We will keep persisting with the catnap for another couple of days and if no success i think we will have to drop it and maybe move her bedtime earlier.

I just hope this doesn't cause her to wake early in the morning.

[HeatherC]

What Debra said was exactly my thoughts.  Try to stretch the A time before the second nap and hopefully she'll sleep a little longer.  Dinner solids is always a good distraction, or give bath a little earlier if she seems fussy.  Bath time always saved me.  DD dropped her catnap around 5 months, and it did take awhile for her to adjust, but in time your lo will.  3-4 hrs between last nap and bedtime is usuall starting around 6-7 months.  I don't think she should necessarily wake earlier without the catnap.  At that age I think they need about 3-3.5 hrs of day sleep and 11-12 at night.

[Richelle]

My LO was exactly like yours and I I just had to carry on with no cat nap.  Sometimes she gets cranky still with no catnap but generally it has not efeected her nightime sleep or the time she wakes up. 

Supper, daddy coming home and bath are usually enough to get her through to bedtime but if i am out and about she will fall asleep in the car ect..which in turn affects bedtime which really bugs me!  I much prefer bed at 7PM over a catnap!