Anyone else have a hard time with activity time after the catnap???

[jmosery]

My son is a week shy of 5 months. he is on a 4 hour easy

his schedule goes like this:

wake at 6
activity till 8
sleep from 8-9:30
activity
eat at 11
activity till 12:30
sleep 12:30-2
eat at 3
activity till 4
sleep from 4-5
activity from 5-6:15
bath, bottle and bed at 7

he sleeps 11 hours straight from 7pm till 6 or 6:30

but from 5-6:15 he is sooo tired and just cries and is cranky. we end up walking around the house with him the whole time but he is whining because he is tired.

what can we do to change this

i dont want to put him to bed at 6 because then he'll be up at 5am each day

help??

jaime

[calebs mommy]

Evening time has always been my lo's cranky time too.  Sometimes we go sit outside and that is a good distraction.  I have found that moving to a different room sometimes helps.  Also, doing some quiet low-key activity, like reading books works too. 

In your routine, I noticed that you have a 3 hr stretch between 9:30 and 12:30.  That seems like a long activity time for a 5 month old.  Does he do okay with it?  The crankiness could be a little bit of overtiredness because of the long stretch early in the day.  Have you tried to put him down for his nap a little earlier and maybe have a bit of a longer stretch before or after the catnap instead of before the 2nd nap?  Just some thoughts. 

[Erin M]

I agree with the PP about him being a bit overtired because of the longer stretch earlier in the day -- though I can certainly understand not wanting him up at 5 AM, that is WAY too early.  That being said, I also always had a hard time with my LO in the evening -- seems like that's the time of day when all their overtiredness catches up with him.  As he gets a bit older he'll be up for a longer A time and then that will help you problem a bit.  Also, in a few months when you have introduced and gotten well established with solids, that will provide another distraction in the late afternoon.  I know this is a long way away, but once my dd started eating things like cheerios at dinnertime, that really helped.  Listening to music seemed to help that time of day, as well as having her in her exersaucer while we ate dinner so she could watch. 

HTH

[*Kimberly*]

When my lo first started dropping his catnap we had some problems with crankiness and one of the suggestions that was given to me might help you.  It was suggested that I take him for a walk.  I was skeptical but it worked.  Right about the time he would begin to get cranky we would go for a 45 minute walk or so.  It helped him because it was very calm but he was being visual stimulated.  It may be a little difficult to do right now since it is so cold but it might help.

Kimberly

[jmosery]

thanks ladies

KIM- yeah, when the weather isn't very cold thats exactly what we do

everyone else- i'll try putting him down earlier during the day and see if it helps. thats the one time he's up for 3 hours but maybe i'm pushing that. i'll give it a try

thanks
jaime

[macdee]

hi there- I'm sooo glad I'm not the only one with these problems!! As a first time mother, I tend to think I'm the only one in the world that has these kinds of experiences!

My 4 mth old Sofia has recently started the 4 hr routine and so far, the eating has been fabulous. However, the naps are quite the struggle. Sometimes, she can but most of the time she just can't seem to get past the first 45 mins so time is spent trying to get her back to sleep and consequently, she does get grumpy and it's another struggle to keep her awake after her next feed.

The other thing is that because her awake time has extended, I'm sometimes at a loss as to what to keep her busy w/ as she tends to get bored. But I do think that she may be too dependent on my company... It's been raining too much over here so I can't take her out for walks... Any other suggestions?? Currently, because she can't really sit up on her own, I can't just leave her to play. Also, she doesn't like being on her back for too long to look at the mobiles or assorted toys... What to do???

Welcome any suggestions especially to keep the activities interesting on rainy days!

Thanks!

[jmosery]

MACDEE- OMG, i had the same issue when my son was 3-5 months. its so hard to entertain them at that age because their isn't much you can do with them and they get bored easily.

did you check the sticky's above. they have some activity idea for kids that age

i went and bought a jumper, exercauser and walker. he slowly started to use all of them

i also found different toys to keep him occupied al ittle. like those pianos that light up and have music. he likes those

my son likes anything with lights and colors

he loves this toy and it grows with them which is nice:

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2293309&cp=2255956.2269725.2269726&view=all&fbx=1&cp=2255956.2269725&fbn=Taxonomy%7CGyms+%26+Playmats&f=Taxonomy%2FTRUS%2F2255959&f=Taxonomy%2FTRUS%2F2256389&f=Taxonomy%2FTRUS%2F2256435&fbc=1&categoryId=2269726&s=D-StorePrice-TRUS&parentPage=search