help w/ 6 month old who just dropped catnap please!

[catonss]

Transition time again!
My 6 1/2 month DD just let me know loud and clear last week that she's ready to drop her catnap!  Short naps, waking at night, not falling asleep for the catnap, etc.  I'm still putting her in the crib at catnap time, but she's not sleeping, it's more of a "break."   And now we're just trying to stretch out the day so she doesn't end up going to sleep for the night at 5 pm!  I know it takes a while to adjust, just wondered if there was anything I could do to help, as she's clearly overtired come bedtime, and waking several times at night, i believe from being overtired.  I'll post the routine we've had these last few days:

6:15 - wake, hold off from feeding until 6:30 (would love wake time and feed to be 7!)
8 - nap - lasts 1 to 2 hrs
10-10:30 E
12ish (ealier or later depending on when woke up from nap) - usually 2 hrs unless overtired, or had really long 1st nap
2:30 - E
4:30 - in bed for a rest (no sleep)
5:30 - eat
6 - lay down for bed - but she hasn't been falling asleep until more like 7...AND waking for about an hour in the night around 3-4.

SO, i'm sure this is common, but just wondered if anyone had any pointers.  We're caught in the game of if we put her down when she's ready for a nap, everything gets early throughout the day...if we put her down late, we run the risk of overtired and short naps.  Any tips about this - which is better?  I had a thought the other day....for a few days i was trying to keep her awake a little longer to stretch out the A time, and it was causing her to be overtired and sleep for about 30 mins, and then be awake - crying b/c tired for a while, and usually fall back asleep.  At the end of the day, even though it was frustrating to have broken naps, we were on target schedule wise w/ a good time to go to bed for the night.  On the other hand, if i get her down right when she's ready, she naps well, but i either need to put her to bed at 5 pm, or risk overtired at night.  But I don't know how long she'd make it if i put her to bed for the night that early!  Any tips for this?  Which is better to do - stretch, or put them to bed when tired?  Or does this just eventually just sort itself out?

I also wonder if some days she's getting too much day sleep.  There have been a few days when i've woken her from one or both naps at the 2 hour mark.  Do any of you do that?

Thanks!

[Grace's Mom]

Hello 

Technically for lo's to be able handle 2 naps they need to be able to stay awake at least 3 hours or they will become overtired by the end of the day.  What you may want to do while transitioning is shorten the first two naps so that she can still keep the cat nap....just lessen the amount of day time sleep so that she is not OT by night time, which as you know will continue to cause the night wakings.
5 hours is way to much A time before bed and is going to continue to most likely cause night time problems. 

I would try and not force the A time as you will get into a really bad cycle of OT which is really hard to break.  I would follow her cues and if she is already OT, I would put her down a bit early to help catch up on lost sleep.

I know what you mean about wanting a wake up time of 7pm.   My lo has always been an early riser and no matter what we do she is up at 6am. 

[Grace's Mom]

Catonss: How are things going?

[catonss]

Thanks for asking....  Things are going ok - she seems to not be getting as overtired as she was last week.  We've just been taking each day as it comes - basically if her 2 naps weren't great, and she's awake from her 2nd nap too early in the day, i really try to get her to take a catnap so we're not putting her down at 5 or something.  These last 2 days she's been better at stretching out the A time a bit, sleeping 2 decent naps, w/ the last one ending around 3.  Since she was up around 6 am, i've been aiming to put her down around 6:30 pm, and she's been falling asleep MUCH faster than she was last week.  So that's a big improvement.  Still having night wakings - but i'm thankful she's not really all that fussy, just wide awake! it's really like she just doesn't need all the sleep and this is how she's getting a little more awake time in.  That's my new theory anyway! 

Today she got around 4 hrs day sleep - 2 naps of 2 hrs each.  Does anyone think this is too much for a 7 month old? I know too much day sleep can effect night sleep, so i've wondered about that.   

[Grace's Mom]

For a 7 month old 4 hours of day time sleep is perfect!   

Glad things are continually improving.