Can't stretch daytime naps

[Gladiatorsready]

Hi just looking for any advice. I have a 9 month old who was having 3 30min naps. Recently the 3rd nap was getting later and later (5pm onwards) so we've dropped this one in the hope that the lunchtime one extends - but this doesn't seem to be happening. He wakes around half 6/7 has his first nap at 9/9:30 for 30 mins, he then goes down for his lunchtime nap between 1/1:30 for 40mins max then goes to bed at 7. He starting to get really cranky in the evenings and it's taking him longer and longer to fall asleep (overtired I'm guessing) and I'm wondering if I should re introduce the 3rd nap and put him to bed later or wait for it to naturally lengthen? Does anyone know if and when naps gets naturally longer? I've tried to extend it by walking in the pushchair, going out in the car and wake to sleep with no luck. He currently sleeps quite well at night with 1/2 feeds and he's combi fed in the day.

How do you get him to sleep?

In the day I put him down and he either babbles then goes to sleep or I rub his back until he falls asleep. At night he has a bath, bottle then in to bed with a back rub.

I would have expected naps to have lengthened by 9 months and would be focusing on actively working on extending naps into a second sleep cycle.

It's unusual to be having 3 naps a day still at 9 months old, but still having short naps is just as unusual so one probably explains the other.

Have you tried wake-to-sleep? Whereby you wake a few minutes before baby usually wakes and resettle back to sleep. Having little active settling done to get baby to sleep, while great, does somewhat reduce your armoury of techniques to extend naps.