third nap of the day, is it too close to bedtime??

[toolittletime89]

Hi, could use some advice, pretty please??!
My DD is 5.5 months and having very disruptive sleep patterns in the day.
I can deal with this, i dnt stress (much) and to just read her cues and go with the flow,, however im finding that getting her to have the third nap of the is very difficult. It is usually between 4/5, no later to get her through to bed time between 6.30/7.
I usually take her in the pram as it is only ever 30 mins long max and she wont sleep in her cot for it (will for other naps).
Im thinking that she may not want to have this nap as she knows itd close to bedtime, does anybodies babies this age-ish stay up all afternoon and only have 1-2 naps? And how do they cope? She will go down vert easily at bedtime the close to four she wakes, however i worry about her getting overtired by teatime if she doesnt sleep! When did you drop this nap?
Thanks for any advice offered!

My DD was only having one long nap 12.30pm - 2.30pm at this age so 3 sounds like an awful lot and imho having one finishing at 5pm for her to be put down again at 6.30pm is pointless. I think your DD is teling you to drop that one.

HTH

DS dropped the third at 9 months and even that felt too early. He did have trouble having a longer lunch time nap though.

You could try napping at the same time every day or using a sling so she can rest if she doesn't need to sleep. Maybe try skipping it every other day or every few days to see what happens? That's how I dropped DS's morning nap.

My ds was still having three naps during the day (for between 30mins-2.5hrs) at 5mo: 9am, 12pm & 4pm. He has gone to bed around 7pm since 12 weeks, so was surprised he needed the late afternoon nap tbh. But sometimes he'd sleep til 5.30 then get up, eat/bottle/cuddle and go straight back down til 7am.

He's 8mo now, and only just starting to drop his 4pm nap. I'm still always anxious that he's going to get over-tired though, so try to make sure we're at home and winding down for the day. Have tried putting him down all this week and he's having none of it! He's been absolutely fine though, no tears or fussing, just made sure he'd had his solids and bottle earlier (he slept 6.30pm-7.30am last night: not boasting, just saying for me it hasn't affected his night time sleeping so far).

Maybe your dd is just telling you she doesn't need quite so many naps now, agree with above poster who said maybe try doing alternate days - good luck!

Thanks,
Yeh, i agree with it being pointless nap to have, but she will only soeep until half 4 anyway. Tjere are days were she has had 1 nap at around 12 for a cpl hrs all day, a little fussy but dealt with it OK. Night time sleep on those days is v bad though!
I will try and see how she gets on alternate days then, with winter coming i might not manage to get out with pram anyway, so she probably will drop it!
Thanks again!

My DD is 6 months next week and just about dropped her afternoon nap. She sleeps 45mins in the morning and about 2hrs at lunchtime. She used to do 45mins at 4ish too. I no longer put her in her cot at 4 but if we're out and about she might do 10mins in her buggy. I never used to let her sleep beyond 5 and whether she does an afternoon nap or not, she's ready for bed by 6.45.

Not sure if that helps, but that's what working for us right now. Am sure it will all change again soon .