Please help - SO confused about the afternoon nap

[bluelemons]

My DS is almost 5 months old. He generally wakes at around 7.30am each morning, then has a nap at 9.30am, followed by another nap at about 1pm. The problem is, he generally then wakes up again at around 3pm, and I’m so confused about what to do next! Do I:

A) Put him down for another nap at 5pm, which means he could sleep until 6.30pm and then not go to bed until 9pm?!

Or

B) Keep him up until bedtime at 7pm, which is such a long stretch for a baby of his age?

Help!

Just to add - obviously this wouldn’t be a problem if I woke him up at set times, but I’m a big believer in not waking a sleeping baby unless it’s absolutely necessary! I’d like him to go to bed between 7-7.30pm every night ideally. Any ideas?

Can you just push those two naps back abit?

Absolutely don’t put him back down to nap at 5pm! 7pm is an ideal bedtime for a baby and will set you in good stead going forward. If the 4 hours of awake time has been preceded by a 2 hour nap, and he doesn’t seem overly tired by 7pm, go with that. 100%!

Awake at 3 then keep him awake til bed it sounds like a great routine.
Take him up around 6 and give him some nappy off time and play then bath, feed and cuddles.

It depends on the baby. At 5 months mine was still having 3 of sometimes 4 naps and only dropped to 2 naps at 8 months. The last nap was always a 30-45 min cat nap to keep her going until bedtime. She generally had it around 4:30-5 for a 7pm bed time. I think that is fairly standard.

Sounds like he's setting himself up into the 2,3,4 Routine ♥️I think if he can manage 4 hours after a long afternoon nap I would also definately stick with that and avoid the later nap xx

Hi @bluelemons - my DD is 9 months and we've had the same routine since she was about four months old; it works really well so might be worth a try for you - I do know all babies are different etc. but if you're struggling it's worth a try as it's not a million miles away from what you're already doing:

7am - wake up (I'll gently wake her if she's not already awake)
9.30pm - nap (usually 1.5 hrs - again, I'll gently wake her if she's not stirring)
1.30pm - nap (usually 2 hrs)
7pm - bedtime

I know you're not keen to wake a sleeping baby but if you get them into a routine, you'll find you won't have to do it much anyway, as they get used to it.

Welcome to your first nap transition! Every time you think you’ve got it sorted, they change it up!

I’d pull bedtime forward to 6.30 for a while when dropping the third nap as they have to make the sleep up somewhere. You can push it back to 7 once baby has adjusted.

@RedPandaFluff your baby's routine sounds really similar to mine! How did your DD cope without the afternoon nap though? I find DS generally starts looking really quite tired at around 5.30ish - and then I have to keep him awake for another 1.5 hours!

@FizzingWhizzbee123 that sounds like a good idea - but would it then mean earlier wake times in the morning? If so I suppose I'll just have to suck it up for now!

When DD was younger - 4-5 months - she did start getting a little sleepy in the late afternoon, so I'd often take her for a half-hour walk in her carrier. She'd usually nod off for a few minutes and this short nap would carry her through to bedtime. When she got to about 6 months, she was fine with the longer stretch in the afternoon.

3-7 at 5 months doesn't sound like an unreasonable stretch of awake time to me! If he's very tired, I would start a slow wind down routine at 6 so he's fully occupied for that last hour, incorporating some reading time, maybe a massage and a bath.

He won't necessarily wake earlier in the morning. IME (just my 2 kids) they tend to wake at their natural wake time regardless of when they've been to bed, unless it's hours and hours different.

When you start weaning and incorporate dinner you will likely have to make dinner v early - 4 or 5pm, so that he is eating before he is too tired. Of course by the time you get to dinner he may well be older so it might be no issue by then :)

It’s always a bit of a transition stage down to 2 naps!

I used to still do 3 naps but both of mine took short 45 minute naps until they dropped down to 2. So the routine was

7 awake
9.15 nap
10 awake
12.15 nap
1 awake
3.15 nap
4 awake
6.30 bedtime routine
7 sleep

Then by around 6/7 months move to
7 wake
10 nap
11.30 wake
2.30 nap
4 wake
7 bedtime routine

But lots of wonky days where you actually leave the house & that goes out the window