Should I be letting my 6m DS nap so close to bedtime??

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Even though my DS usually has an epic afternoon sleep (about 2hrs, waking somewhere between 3 & 3.30pm on average), he is always cranky & tired by about 5.30pm so I end up putting him down for a nap which can be as long as 30-40mins. Sometimes I've been known to wake him as he's sleeping so long.

This has been going on for aaaaages & I find it problematic for a number of reasons:

1. It is really close to his bedtime & bedtime feed - 6.45/7pm
2. Even with the nap he's often cranky & tired during bath time & changing for bed. Overtired if he doesn't nap.
3. I'm just starting out with baby led weaning & so he's never awake at dinner time (not too concerned just now but if this 'routine' continues he'll never get to join in!)

He's consistently waking up about 5./5.30am which has been going on for aaages as well & I just wish he'd sleep to at least 6am! Worried that the pre-bedtime nap might be causing this??

He has 3 other naps during the day (roughly around 7.30am, late morning, and his epic afternoon sleep). I don't enforce the naps or anything I just look for his tired signs of eye-rubbing & face rubbing on my shoulder & yawning.

I just feel like this is a bit of a crappy routine to be in & in & i don't want to be putting him down for the night at 5.30pm but I don't know how to keep him awake until bedtime without getting overtired! Surely he's old enough to last longer between sleeps??

Can u move the bedtime a bit later?

I remember this stage, it's sort of in between needing an afternoon nap and not needing one. It is Not Fun. The late nap may well be linked to the early wake ups yes as he may be using it as part of his nighttime sleep iyswim.

I would suggest letting him nap but waking after 15 min max (this is a tough one to stick to, when you've just finally got them to sleep and sat down its time to wake them again!). The earlier you can get this nap in the better, so if you can get it in at 5 rather than 5.30 that is better but I know it's not that easy.

Then after a while if he really doesn't seem tired until say nearer to 6, you could just go for an early bedtime instead.

I found this phase didn't last long, dd fairly quickly became able to last till bedtime without the afternoon nap.

My ds is now 14 months and has always wanted to go to bed at 5.30 so I just found it easier to make this his bedtime! He (and dd aged 10) have always been early risers and whatever I do they have always woken at 5.30/6 anyway (dd is a bit better now she's older) so I decided it wasn't worth fighting the early bedtime and I might as well enjoy the evenings to myself...!.

As ds is now a little older I am sometimes able to push his bedtime back a bit... he now sometimes goes about 6/6.30 but quite often he will still want to go at 5.30! He sleeps through and has two naps, one at 9.30am and one at about 1.30pm.. for about an hour each.

I don't know if any of that is of any use but I suppose what I'm trying to say is rather than fight it maybe it's better to make that her actual bedtime and see what happens and go from there.

Sorry I said her, I meant him.

I know it's hard when they are tired, but try and push the morning nap a bit later, then the big afternoon one might go on till closer to 4ish. You might then be good for a 6.30-7 bedtime without him being overtired.

If that doesn't work, you could always do as minipie says and just let him sleep a short time. When my DD was at that awkward evening nap stage, I used to just go for a drive for 10 minutes only. It was enough to keep her going to bedtime, but not so much that she wouldn't go to bed at the time I wanted her to.

Ds2 is 8 months and still sometimes needs this nap. I would aim for a shorter lunch time nap from about 12 to 2 then another nap of max 30 minutes from about 430 til 5. He'll than have 1.5-2 hours awake before bed. I don't think 6.30 is an unreasonable time to wake up.

Brightonbythesea - I managed to push the late morn sleep & his afternoon nap started at 13.55 & I thought "heehee after 2hrs that'll see him through until bedtime"...he only slept for an hour wtf?! I swear he heard DH getting home early & then didn't manage to settle.

Anyway, miracle of miracles he managed to make it through to his bath & mini bedtime feed (with a bit of distraction!!). He was about to lose it from tiredness by then but managed to avert that crisis.

Will see what time he wakes tomorrow. (Hopefully not a repeat of last night's crying at 12, 3, 4.30 & up at 5.30!)

fairylea - 5.30pm is just too early! I just can't do it!

Will try the super short nap (waking after 15mins) too.

good work! I think you are doing the right thing as within the next couple of months he will suddenly drop to 2 naps, so you would be aiming for one around 9am and one after lunch then bedtime 6.30-7. good luck tomorrow hopefully he will sleep longer in the afternoon! if he made it today without the catnap in the eve I would see if you can make that happen again, as it really frees up your afternoon/evening if he can manage to drop it

DD did this third, late nap - she dropped it at about 8mo. I always just let her, because when she was overtired she was impossible to get down for the night. now she's 9mo, it's the opposite - imperative to keep her awake so she's thoroughly tired. it means bedtime is now 6pm! So I guess it depends on what the effect of keeping him up is, iyswim.

also wanted to chip in with BLW - I found two 'meals' a day easiest for a long time, especially once I realised how long she needed to explore the food. So if you're struggling to fit three meals into a day, with naps, that seems quite normal to me and definitely not a worry at the start of weaning. Though DD was slow on the uptake with food - if your DS is hungry he might be more demanding

DD, nearly 6mo, doesn't really like sleeping in the day! She has a nap about 2 hours after getting up, so about 8.30-9am but after that it's just the odd 30-40 mins here and there. She seems to be settling into a longer nap around 1.30pm (hurrah!) but given the option she would also nod off around 5.15pm (she's more than ready to go up for bum out and bath at 6pm). I did use to let her, but over the past month it's affected how quickly she nods off after bedtime bottle as well as being more restless all night, so I've cut it out. Now she's usually outers by 7pm and sleeps a good 12 hours.

DS (now 17mos) used to have 2 naps, one mid morning and one late afternoon 4/430ish). I found he would wake from the afternoon nap always grumpy and stroppy. He now has an early lunchtime nap (11am but hopefully will push back towards lunchtime proper) which can be 2hrs or more, so we have dropped the afternoon one. I've found when we do this, he goes down very quickly (no later than 730) and is sleeping through to 6am (he has always woken around 530 and sometimes earlier). If he does wake very early then we have to have 2 naps but I wouldn't let him nap any later than 430pm now as it spoils the rest of the evening.

At this age we had 3 naps:
9.30-10.30 am
1-3pm
4.30-5pm ( all approx)

Probably until around 12 months, then the morning and afternoon until 18 months. Now at 2 and 3 years just the after lunch nap.