Nap intervals for 7 month old?

[EveryoneLoves09876]

I've stopped worrying that I need to lie next to ds for every single nap and then slip away and then the same for his night sleep (we just move him into his cot when he's deep enough asleep or cosleep when that fails half the time and 5am onwards, )

What now bothers me is the fact we still can't sort out bedtimes. He goes down for his 'long sleep' any time between 6:30pm and 9:30pm

We get up around 7:30 each day and try to judge when he's tired for naps, but honestly it's a minefield and you know how once you've sussed it for one age it changes again.

His nap lengths currently vary between 20mins and 2 hours (!) And between 2 and 4 naps a day. The time between each nap can be anything from 1 to 4 hours. I'm worried this is messing bedtime up a lot.

Help?

Somehow my friends seem to have their evenings back already.

You could aim for a 2, 3, 4 system - that works well for lots of babies.

Nap one starts two hours after he wakes in the morning, nap two starts 3 hours after he wakes from nap one, bedtime is 4 hours after he wakes from nap 2.

So, for example:

7:30am wake up
9:30am nap one (up to an hour)
1:30pm nap two (around 2 hours ideally)
7:30pm bedtime

Don't stress yourself out trying to stick to it exactly, but it's a good rough guide to follow.

Thank you

I read somewhere else that it was still every 2.5 hours. When does it switch?

Driving me a bit crazy as I spend a lot of my day up and down with him.

Every now and then I give up on it and try to just live my life and have him with me whenever, even if a nap doesn't happen, but then we get the stupid hours bedtimes and overtired baby too often.

There isn't an age where it suddenly switches, you just have to go with your baby. If every 2.5 hours works do that, if not try something different.

You can Google 2,3,4 naps for more information, but generally good from around 6 months (but will depend on baby).

There's no objective 'right' way, the right way is what works for you and your baby.