Is a long morning nap bad for my 5 mo DD?

[Bumperlicious]

DD2 is 5mo and about 1.5 hours after she wakes (can be between 7.30 and 9ish, any earlier and she usually goes straight back off) up she has a nap which ranges from 1-2.5 hours. This is only if we are at home mind you. If I dare to go out she doesn't sleep for very long (only if we are moving) and fights sleep for the rest of the day.

This is a very welcome break for me, as DD invariably refuses to go down in the evening. But I wonder if this long nap is having an effect.

If she does have this morning nap she will usually have one or two short naps in the afternoon. Could the long nap be keeping her awake in the evening? I'm loath to wake her really, and if I do and she still doesn't go down in the evening then I will have had very little break between 7.30 and 11.30, with one or two night wakings thrown in for good measure.

Not really sure but I don't think so. The morning nap seems to be the most important of the day and 1.5 - 2 hrs is still recommended at this age. A second nap at lunchtime of a similar length is also reasonable.
Perhaps 2.5 hrs is a little long and may interrupt any other naps in the day leaving her tired later so she finds it difficult to sleep in the evening?
Are you putting her to bed nice and early? (6.30 - 7.30ish)

I think it sounds like your DD is a bit out of whack and so is settling late, doing her 10 hour stretch, waking then drifting back off. My DS 4 months, has a natural bedtime at the moment of 8pm. It doesn't matter if he is tired out, I can't get him in his cot any earlier. He wakes at 5.15am, regardless of when he was last fed etc.

Now if your DD is running on similar lines, it may be worth waking her at 7/7.30am regardless of bedtime. Then letting her nap at about 9am etc, and this may bring bedtime forward ie don't let her sleep to 9am.

I would think that this would take a few days to catch though....

Oh, the thought of having to wake her up at 7 fills me with horror. Especially if she has been up twice in the night! If I could guarantee better sleep though it might be worth it, but there are no guarantees.

Anyone else think waking dd early might help? I'm so tired at the moment I dread the thought of having to get up sooner than necessary.

I know you've already heard from me, but I can only think that the late bedtime must be being exacerbated by the later mornings and longer nap. I am sure in one of the many books I have read in desperation it says it works like a continuation of nighttime sleep. Does she regularly sleep until 9am or is that the exception?

Though I am not a GF person myself, her timetabling whether we like it or not does seem to suit most babies, ie 7am - 7pm daytime hours, and presumably that is where you wish to be? So if you can reliably get your DD to sleep for a morning nap (and keep a reasonable length to it - 1 hour/2 hours) then you should be set up for a couple more and reduce any overtiredness by bedtime.

maybe just try it for a couple of days when you can work on the naps too ie indoors if that's the best place - you may just win out?

(I have always had the opposite problem - wake-ups 5.30am with DS1, and now night wakings like you with DS2 - so although I can get DS2 in bed for 8pm, I am in bed not long after!)

With dd a morning nap too early has always meant early waking the next morning. So I have always tried to keep her up for as long as feels ok. At 5 months it would have been 2 hours min, maybe aiming for a little bit longer.
If you don't get her up until 9am you can't expect her to go down at 7 in the evening. It's an either or...