I am struggling to get some kind of pattern for 11 m.o. DS2. He is chronically overtired though he copes okay with that & still sleeps okay at night.
I'm spending upwards of an hour every morning trying to get him to have his first nap. He only sleeps when being bounced in the sling in our kitchen (which jitself doesn't bother me) so I can't just take him out for a walk and let him drop off. Feeding to sleep doesn't work in the day.
He only has a short second nap, I think because he's not sleeping at sensible times in the day - he wails when he wakes, as if he's still tired but he never goes off. The second nap can be as late as 5pm, which of course means he doesn't sleep till about 9pm or later. If he naps earlier, he is often very overtired by the time I put him to bed because he has to wait for DS1 to eat dinner.
I sometimes do try to put him to bed sooner, but it's a challenge because DS1 takes up to 2 hours to eat, and won't stay and eat in the kitchen while I put DS2 to bed. DS1 is the world's messiest eater so I can't have him eating while I feed DS2, and anyway most of the times we try it, DS2 doesn't go to sleep so both boys end up going to bed a couple of hours later than they need.
I've tried skipping the first nap and going for one nap nearer lunchtime, but he still only sleeps for 40 mins and then crashes at around 5pm.
I know we're in sleep regression territory, but any comparisons would be useful - I can't tell whether I'm just trying to get him to nap at silly times. The poor boy has bags under his eyes and they are all red - even other people have commented about how shattered he is.