5mo really fighting nap in the late afternoon...anyone else?

[BotBotticelli]

Just that really: DS is a chronic catnapper, having four 30-40 minute naps per day.

This is has seemed to work for a few weeks but now I am findig it increasingly hard to get him to nap around the 4-4.30pm mark, even though he has been awake for 2 hours at this point and deffo needs 30 mins to see him through till bedtime.

Anyone else had this?? He can't possibly drop this nap yet can he?? That would require him to be awake from around 2pm until bedtime, surely not possible in a 5mo??

I'm pretty sure DS dropped his late afternoon nap around 5 months. He continued to have a morning sleep around 9 ish and a lunchtime sleep around 1 ish for quite some time. He dropped the morning sleep at some point and then stopped napping all together around 2 years (waaaaaaaa!)

How long we're your LO's naps rocky?? I can imagine that DS might be able to drop this late arvo nap if he was having 2 hours at 1pm but seeing as he is only having 40 mins, it just doesn't seem possible??

Morning nap about half an hour and lunchtime about an hour and a half if my memory serves me correctly!

I would say just try dropping the nap for a few days and see what happens, you might find the other naps get longer. My rule with naps is that when they were fighting it for a few days they are probably telling you that they don't need it anymore. Perhaps drop and try an earlier bedtime?

If its any consolation, my 15 week old ds has a nap at around lunch time for maybe a couple of hours and then refuses to nap till bedtime (with the exception of the odd 10 minute snooze when he falls asleep on the breast.) Plus the lunch time nap is only just a new addition and only happens if I catch him right!!

No tips I'm afraid, but you are not alone!!!

I'm in the same boat as you, OP in terms of having a nap-hungry 5mo. He has at least 3, and most days 4, naps of 45 mins - 1.5hrs is the absolute max that he can stay awake. He also finds it hard to settle for a late afternoon nap (by the time he's asleep I'm thinking he ought to be awake otherwise he won't be tired for bedtime). Basically if his naps mean that he wakes at or after 3pm then I just tough it out (we start bedtime at 6pm), if he wakes before then then I take him out in the buggy about 4pm and give him a catnap by walking around. I can't wait for him to drop a nap as I find it really hard to plan to do anything with him eg swimming classes as I know he's likely to be wanting to nap during it!

my dd was fighting her afternoon nap - I made the mistake of dropping it and she ended up overtired which has taken a LOT of work to fix!

I have been told it's common for babies to fight that nap which is why gina ford et al often recommend using the pram at that time. so I do that.

Thanks all - glad to know I am not alone! My gut feeling is that DS isnt ready to drop that nap yet, and wouldn;t be able to stick it out from 3pm ish until bedtime....even if we put bedtime at 1815 or something...

At the moment I am trying to make sure (ha! as if I have any control over this!) that DS has a nap sometime between 1pm - 2pm, so that he'll be tored again around 4pm....any later than that and it's a real struggle! If I try to get him to nap at 5pm, he looks at me like: "er mum, what are you doing? Dont you know it's my bedtime in 90 minutes? Crazy woman."

That's a good call on the buggy minipie, i might give that a try if he continues to fight it. I sometimes end up doing a pointless, absurd drive around SE London for 40 minutes at the time of day, on our way home from the shops which are only 10 minutes away, jut so he can get the zzzz's required to see him through till bedtime.