3 month old really grumpy/tired late afternoons

[petalrose]

My 3 month old DS has got into quite a good routine at night - bath, bottle and bed 6 - 6.45pm, dream feed at 10.30pm and up at 7am. But he gets really grumpy from about 5pm onwards. He has a short nap at about 4.30pm but still seems tired after that until he goes to bed. Do you think I should try putting him to bed earlier - 5pm seems too early to me? I'm trying to get him to have a longer nap in the middle of the day so he's not so tired late afternoon but he won't sleep for long, the maximum ever is an hour but its normally about half an hour and then he's wide awake again.

It wouldn't be too much of a problem at the minute if he did start his bedtime routine at 5pm because I'm on maternity leave, but when I go back to work I won't be home till 5.30/6pm so he'll have to stay awake until then.

Any ideas?

Hi petalrose, congratulations on having such a good bed-time routine with your little boy at only 3 months. I remember my DD always had a very grumpy period from 4.45 onwards( she's 8 months now) She never had a late afternoon nap and her big brothers used to get her so over-stimulated after school! Things got better once she was on solids for that kept her happy for half an hour.

A half hour lunchtime nap at that age doesn't sound very much. I'd try hard to extend that if I was you and not interfere with his bedtime routine as you have that bang on.

Thanks chamomile, I've tried extending his lunchtime nap but he's having none of it - even if I leave him in his cot for a couple of hours he's just wide awake for most of it cooing to himself!

Hi petalrose - its so funny reading other people's posts that could have been written about my baby!

My dd is also 3 months old and also turns into a gremlin after 5pm. A late nap doesn't seem to make any difference to her as she's still so tired by the time we start the bedtime routine at 6pm ready for sleep at 7pm.

In the last few days I have been giving her half of her feed just before her bath as this seems to settle her a bit. She seems to enjoy the bath more instead of grumbling all the way through. She then has the rest of the boob just before going to sleep.

Good luck - sounds like you are doing brilliantly!

My mum calls this time the 'unhappy hour' for babies and young children. I try and make sure my 4 month old DS gets plenty of naps during the day, as this helps, but he doesn't agree with me about the amount of sleep he needs (far too much exciting stuff going on during the day). Sometimes when he whinges at the end of the day he can be distracted by a cuddle, singing etc (or boob if he's getting really loud), sometimes he has a micro nap of about 10 mins with me holding him. Think the bedtime routine is the important one at this age, sounds like you're doing well with this