Timing of first nap after an early wake up

[firstgo1984]

Our target wake up time is 6am.
My 7 month old will usually wake anywhere between 5 and 6. Should I be consistent with an 8.30am first nap regardless of wake up time or go for a 2.5 hour wake time?
Advice appreciated. I have tried both and a middle ground and sometime he does a long nap, sometimes a short one, so just wondering which is the best to shoot for generally.
Thank you in advance!

[FatLittleWombat]

at 7 months old I'd go for a 2 hour awake time for the first nap. So if he wakes at 5, a 7am nap. If he wakes at 6, an 8 am nap. His naps aren't always going to be the same length, just like his night time sleep isn't always the same length. I've found that the best way to establish a routine is to monitor awake time, not doing everything by the clock, that just stresses everyone out!

[FATEdestiny]

I agree with the poster above, unless you have consistent (or at least mostly consistant) nap and night sleep lengths you can't expect consistent nap times.

[FATEdestiny]

... I should add, you can still have routine though. Just routine based on awake time rather than the time on the clock.

[Empireoftheclouds]

I took my lead from my babies rather than the clock.

[firstgo1984]

Thanks all, I shall continue to go by wake times. Currently on a good day does quite well with a 2.5hr awake time in the morning with a nap of 1hr20-1hr30min then a 3 hour awake time followed by another nap of similar length. We then have to squeeze a catnap in at around 4.30pm to get him to a bedtime of 7-7.30pm.
The early morning wakes are variable - and usually depend what time he has his last night feed, as he'll sleep for 2 hours after that.

[FATEdestiny]

I assume sleeping through the night? If you are still dealing with night wakes then the length of the night is going to be more variable.

If sleeping through (mostly), then if it was me, I'd let that teatime catnap be a proper nap. Allow for a 4.30-5.30/6pm nap and then make bedtime much later - day 8pm to 9pm.

The ideal time for bedtime will move and change as naps develop. It might need to be later now, but then when you drop the third nap it might go much earlier. Then moving to 1-nap days it might go later again and finally dropping daytime naps completely will see an earlier bedtime again.