3 month old going to sleep earlier and earlier...

[lilac3033]

DD is 3 months old and has been a pretty good night sleeper. Been going to sleep around 8 and waking up around 8, with 2 feeds through the night. However I have noticed her getting sleepier earlier and earlier. I wasn't concerned at first. I know 7-7 is a perfectly normal infant night. DD seems to struggle to get to 7 this week. Today she was falling asleep at 540. I thought it might be a cat nap, as she woke to feed at 620. Then proceeded to fall back asleep. I tried to rouse her, as it is bath night. Worst bath ever. She just screamed and screamed. I felt horrible but I really don't want her going to bed at 540 or even 6 or 630. It is just too early. DP would never get to see her.
I am positive the issue is naps. She had about 3 half hour naps today. I know this isn't enough but it is a struggle to get that!!! The sling, pram and car just don't work like they did before! Any ideas???

[MrTumblesSpottyHag]

Honestly? I'd just leave her to sleep if that's what she needs. As long as she doesn't start waking mega early. It won't last long forever and in a few weeks you'll probably have a completely different sleep issue!

[FATEdestiny]

Sounds like a lack of daytime naps, or that daytime naps need re-jigging to different timings.

At 3 months old I would be aiming for 30-45 minutes sleep in every 90-120 minutes through the daytime. So trying to get baby napping 1 hour after last waking, 1.5h awake time at the most.

3 half hour naps probably isn't enough. I would try for napping more frequently through the daytime. I aim for something along the lines of the EASY routine:

E - Eat - full feed marks the start of the routine. Takes maybe 15 minutes.
A - Activity/Awake time - At 3 months I would say about 1 hour, or until tired signs are shown
S - Sleep - Keep trying to resettle baby to lengthen the nap to 45 minutes if possible. Then wait for baby to wake up naturally.
Y - You time while baby sleeps.

The idea of EASY is that you can vary the length of the EASY cycles according to your baby. At 3 months I was on 1.5-2h cycles, which gradually increased to 2-2.5h cycles by 5 months.