4.5 Month old miserable in final wake window

[sweetbabyangel]

Does anyone else’s little one wake up from their last nap cranky and then spend their final wake window in a state of permanent grizzling, punctuated by bouts of screaming, crying and losing her little mind?
I’m guessing it’s just tiredness, but I’m at a bit of a loss as to how to prevent her from getting so overtired by the end of the day, without giving her too much daytime sleep. I could bring bedtime forwards but she doesn’t tend to need a super long night sleep so I’d rather not bring bedtime forward and end up with a super early wake-up.
Maybe we need to try and encourage some longer naps earlier in the day? Or maybe just accept that our baby is going to be grumpy in the evenings!
Any insights from parents who’ve gone before?

Bringing bedtime forward doesn't cause early wake ups - it can actually do the opposite. Sounds counterintuitive I know. My baby's early wake ups were resolved once we went through a period of putting him down at 5.30pm. (The 5.30pm bedtime didn't last - it was just for a few days and it actually evened things out as he was just very very tired). He was a bit older than yours at that point though. We also got proper blackout in the room.

What time are you currently putting her down/ how much sleep is she getting? And how are the naps?

Some people think they have a 'low sleep needs' child but they just aren't actually getting the opportunities to sleep that they need. Of course, some people do have a low sleep needs child, so it's hard to figure it out 😅

A bit of crankiness in the last wake window is totally normal but if she's really overtired then there might be something you can do with the routine.

4 months can be a typically grumpy age anyway! Old enough to need entertainment but too young to move anywhere or do anything themselves.

Babies (and toddlers) are notoriously grumpy in the evening. What is your idea of an early bedtime? In my experience a 6.30/7pm bedtime is typical (and wake up around 5am). Towards 8 months our bedtime was more 7.30/8pm and wake up at 6am (yay).

Oh really? She currently goes down late (8:30ish) and gets up around 7-7:30am (with 2 or 3 wakings). We try to follow wake windows and sleep cues through the day and she goes down okay for naps but often only has around 2.5-3 hours daytime sleep. We figured that was all she needed if she was waking from naps early. But maybe I need to shift bedtime forward

That's not a lot of daytime sleep. Can you make her morning or lunch nap longer? I used to cosleep for the lunch nap and both my sons would sleep an extra 45 minutes like that.

I'd say screaming and crying and losing her mind means she's overtired. If you can't grt longer naps, then I'd bring bedtime forward, why would you put everyone through that until 8.30.

Not helpful necessarily but 4-6 months is a notoriously difficult age. I wouldn't overthink things too much, try and hang in there. I agree with PP that sounds on the low side for sleep at that age, but not unheard of either.

Sleep encourages sleep as over tired babies do the opposite (it makes no sense but is the reality). Good daytime naps mean good nighttime sleep (I learned this the hard way).