? about last "A" before sleep

[piccolo]

So, my kids are on a 3-hour cycle during the day. (They are 8 weeks old.) I do the best I can to have them do their activity right after a feed, and then take their nap.

I'm wondering, though, about the last cycle before they go to bed. Does it make sense for them to eat at 4pm, have some activity time, take a nap by 5:30, then be awakened for a 7pm feed, which we immediately follow with a book reading, bathtime, then bed.

They both seem to be so awake when we put them to bed (which is anywhere from 7:45 to 8:00). My question is this: Does it make more sense to feed them at 4pm, do some activity, have them take a short nap, and then wake them up for 6/6:15 - 7pm?

What does your last cycle before sleep look like?
thanks

[Erin M]

Personally, my kids have both been terrible cat nappers in that last EASY cycle before bed.  The last nap is supposed to be just a cat nap though, 40ish minutes or so -- and that way they'll be tired again before bed.  At 8 weeks, if I could get them to nap, they would feed at 4, be up for an hour or so, take a short nap and then around 6 have a bath and get ready for bed.  However, what usually ended up happening in my house is that they wouldn't nap and ended up falling asleep around 6:30 after way too much A time.