My 6.5 month old is having some nap scheduling problems – we wondered if he was trying to transition to 2 naps, even though it is quite early.
He was on a fairly consistent schedule of the following:
Wake up: 5.30/6am
Nap 1: 8am for 1.5-2hrs
Nap 2: 12pm for 1.5-2hrs
Nap 3: 4.30pm for 30mins
Bedtime 7.30pm
2-3 wake ups for feeds
Falls asleep independently with a comforter for bedtime and naps, but probably has some night time sleep associations (feeding/holding).
Over about a week he started to either only nap for 30-45 mins on the previously good naps and point blank refuse the last nap of the day. We sometimes managed to get a 10-20 minute cat nap in the car/pram.
I have been pushing his wake times over the last few days and now have a schedule something like this:
Wake up: 6am
Wake time of 2.5hrs
Nap 1: 8.30am for 2hrs
Wake time of 3-3.5hrs
Nap 2: 1.30/2pm (depending how tired he seems) for 1-1.5hrs
This is leading to a wake up from nap 2 at around 3pm.
Bedtime: ???6.30pm????7pm
I think he needs around 14 hours total sleep from previous logging, so we ha been doing 7pm bedtime, but i now think he 4hr wake time before bed is potentially too long and am thinking of 6.30pm instead. But i am worried this may lea to middle of night or early waking as he doesn't need that much sleep.
He has been having slightly more disturbed nights (extra wake up and awake at 4.30, but not asking for a feed until after 5am. He falls back to sleep on us after the 5am feed, but won’t be put back in cot), but that could be for a few reasons - over tiredness caused by a few short nap days during transition, distracted breastfeeding in the day, a bit of constipation after starting solids.
I am a bit worried though that the new schedule could be causing it and wondering if i should be trying to encourage a new 3 nap with wake times somewhere in-between the old and new schedules?
Wake up: 6am
Nap 1: 8.30am
Nap 2: 1pm
- Nap 3 if Nap 2 finishes before 3.00pm?
Any advice/experience appreciated!