Long lunchtime nap

[Twinklestar2]

How do I encourage this?

My son is 6.5 months old. His routine is currently:

Wake up 6.30-7
Milk at 7
Breakfast at 7.30
Nap at 8.30
Wake at 10 then milk
Lunch at 11.30-12
Nap at 12.30
Wake at 1 then milk
Nap at 3.30
Wake at 4 then milk
Bedtime and bath routine starts at 6
Milk at 6.30
Asleep 6.45-7

I do think I have a good routine with him but I don't know how to encourage a longer sleep at lunchtime which is what he should be having. Any tips?

Despite my best efforts, DD didn't do a long nap after lunch til she was 9 months. Until then her day looked much as you've described. Hang in there

This sounds fine. Why should he be sleeping longer at lunch?

We dropped to two naps first - morning and afternoon. The long lunchtime one didn't happen until it became the only nap of the day at around 1.

Thanks

I did get him to have a long lunchtime nap last week but I lay next to him on the bed and patted and shushed him back to sleep when he started stirring.

You can set your watch to his naps. They're never longer than 30 mins! I only cracked the morning nap last week.

It's hard fitting in all the meals, milk feeds and naps!

I looks more like swapping the AM and Lunch nap lengths than adding extra time on the lunch one.

Could you push him til 9am before naptime? Natural sleep rythms are 45mins so id wake him gently after 45 mins.

Then down for a lunchtime nap at 12.15 (lunch at 11.30, milk at 12)?

I've got his milk feeds on a 3-hour routine so may find it hard to feed him at 12 when he's had a bottle at 10 and is due on at 1?

My daughter has only just started to have a long lunchtime nap. She is 11 months old. Before then, you could set a watch by her 30 minute naps.