6pm nap dilemma

[BraveLilBear]

We're trying to get our 6 month old DS into some semblance of routine before I go back to work in early March.

He's always been a terrible napper but on days where by some miracle I manage to get him to sleep in the day, he sleeps better at night.

He gets up between 630 and 830, usually has half an hour around 10-11ish, maybe 45 minutes around 2, and then gives tired signs at 530. If he doesn't get a nap around 6pm we get a full meltdown. If he does get a nap, he's then wide awake until 8 and doesn't fall asleep til 930.

We need to bring his bed time forward to around 730 from 930 (was 1030)!

What do I do about this 6pm nap? It's too early for bedtime and even if we did manage to get him ready and down, he'd be up in no time because he wouldn't have filled up on milk (still breastfeeding).

Anyone else successfully navigated this?

Why do you say it's too early for bedtime? Our 10 month old goes to bed between 6-7pm, and at 6 months, was Definitely in bed by 6.

(apologies if being dim)

Mine have always gone to bed at 6pm and still do at 13 months. However, they do get up at 6am, but that's fine by me as that's when our day starts in this house - so might not suit everyone.

Watching as in similar situation. Ds currently goes down about 10pm and trying to bring forward.

Can't speak for op but when I go back to work I won't be picking him up from cm til 6pm so it would be too early. Also won't be getting up til 7am

We won't be home til closer to 630 when I go back hence 6 is too early. As I plan to have at least one breastfeed before bed, and this often takes time, 730 is probably the earliest realistically.

Our twins go to bed at 6pm-6:30pm at 15 months. When they were younger (6 months-10 months) we had the odd day where bedtime was 5:30pm!

It doesn't interfere with morning waking, they wake around 7:30am. We are trying to get them to go to bed at 7pm but so far the latest they have managed is 6:30pm.

Am no expert or I wouldn't be here myself but FWIW what I would do is -
Try to make wake up time more consistent - say between 6.30 and 7.30 - then pull all your nap times a little earlier.
So on a good day if my DS wakes at 7 he will do the following -
Short nap 35 mins at 9.30 ish
Longer nap at 12.30 ish
Then late nap happens 4.30-5 ideally
And he is ready for a 7 pm bedtime

Not sure what your childcare plans are but this mirrors what my DS nursery do for babies this sort of age ( my DS is almost 7 months)

If this doesn't work for you I would also add you can always just muddle through as by 8-9 months he will almost certainly have more stamina and cope with 2 naps.

Ooh ooh. Make wake up 7.30, then do first nap at 9-9.30 ish, maybe that will help! I think first nap is meant to be quite soon after waking.

Some good ideas here, thanks. When he wakes up at 630 am ish he usually wants a feed straight away - and will tend to fall back to sleep til 8ish.

I'll try to get him up at that time and see what happens. Have been reluctant to try thus far because this is often my only chance for a catch-up snooze (tend to cosleep the last stretch).

If it works tho, I'm sure it'll be worth it.

I hope it works! Don't drive yourself mad though, we could be wrong! :o

We work on the basis that anything before 7am is still night time so if our son wakes at 6.30 I try to get him off to sleep for another 30 mins. I would suggest keeping "getting up" times the same every day. For example we are up by 7 every day. Keeping this time and bedtime the same everyday might help regulate napping during the day. It has for us anyway. Worth a go?

Having said that I am still waiting for the mythical "sleeping through the night" to arrive!

Hope this helps
X

My 4 month old currently sleeps from 9:30pm until 7/7:30am. He has a nap in the morning, early afternoon and is often exhausted at 6:30pm when he has his third nap. I have to wake him up for his bottle and then keep him awake until 9:30pm. I have tried putting him to bed earlier but he seems wide awake at 9.30pm! Should I work harder to bring forward his bedtime?