How does the catnap work exactly?

[nickaucher]

We have been going through lots of stuff for the past month (sick, teething, constipated), and I think we are finally going to be getting back on track (we'll see, we've got one more tooth coming through). But by now I think we are on a different schedule and I am having trouble figuring it out. So I think our new sleep schedule is something like this:

Wake:7-7:30am
Nap #1: 9:00-10:30am
Nap#2: 1:00-3:00pm
Catnap: Huh?
In bed by 7:30pm

The naps are estimates, sometimes it is less than this.

I'm thinking the catnap would fit in around 5:00pm, but if it does do you do dinner before or after this?

If she won't take a catnap (this has been happening, but with everything going on I can't figure out if she still needs it), is from 3:00-7:30pm to long for a 6 month old to be up?

When do think the 2nd nap needs to end in order to be able to skip the catnap?

Please help me figure this out, I feel like I am starting over from scratch.

-Nicole

[CJF]

hi
i am always thinking the same thing...i am starting from scratch when i have a 2 year old and i have been through this before .
i do think 3:00 to 7:30 is too  much awake time for a 6 month old, but if she can handle it then go with it.  at this age i find it very hard to fit in the catnap, too.  i'll tell you what is happening with us and maybe something i say will help you.  we are at that stage, too where sometimes he needs it and sometimes he doesn't.  my little guy is 7 months old and i THINK he may be starting to not need the catnap anymore because he can stay awake for about 3 hours.  so i try to have him nap (try is the key word here---lol) until about 4-ish then he can make it to 7-ish for bedtime....usually.  i am finding that with no catnap i need to move his bedtime up just a little.  he used to go to bed at 7:30 when he got a catnap (or on occasion when he still does) but when he doesn't get a catnap then i start bedtime routine about 6:45. 
if you do do catnap then it would fit in around 5 and i ususally did dinner after at 5:45-ish.  oh another reason i think my little guy is giving up catnap is because when he does get one he is hard to get to sleep at 7:30. 
so i hope something i said will help you with the catnap thing.  good luck!

[*Mona*]

hi I agree with Carolyne here.

it may be hard to fit in catnap with a 6 month old. my dd dropped her catnap some 3 weeks ago, at 6,5 month mark. it made us move her bedtime earlier, to some 6:30pm and we were just slowly working on moving it back to 7, which we have just achieved.

your routine looks really good to me, we've had very much the same one for quite a time. now dd's second nap is a bit later, 2-4pm and we have dinner after she wakes from this nap.

I wouldn't force your LO to catnap if she doesn't want it.

HTH Monika