3rd nap dropped 10 month old

[Sardines18]

My 10 month old is starting to drop his 3rd nap/catnap at the end of the day but without it is very grumpy and tired towards bedtime and if he does have it he's grumpy anyway! He will then not go down for bed again until much later in the evening. If he goes down for a later bedtime he still wakes at the same time in the morning anyway! So this seems pointless?

This is his current routine:

Wake 6:30 (the last 2 days 5.30!)
1st Nap 8:30
Wake 9:30
2nd nap 12:30
Wake 2/2.30
Bed 6/6.30

He gets tired around 5 and will easily nap but then wake cranky. If this happens he will then not go to bed very easily and sometimes will be closer to 8.

Something is going wrong somewhere! Anyone any ideas? He has also only recently started having longer naps, it wasn't too long ago that he was having 30 minute naps, about 4 in a day.

The past 2 days we were trying to push back his first nap later than 2 hours after waking but I feel this has actually backfired and made him just overtired?

I hope this makes sense and thank you for any suggestions in advance!

My 9.5mth DS has started to do this and I read another thread on here where FATE recommended deciding in the morning whether it was going to be a 2-nap day or a 3-nap day depending on wake up time and how the night had gone. I've started doing this with my DS and so far it's kind of working. For example, if your DS has woken up at 6.30am, have 1st nap at 8.30 for an hour, 12-1 and then 3.30-4.30, bedtime around 7.30pm.

Having a longer lunchtime nap when you have an early wake up means you aren't allowing time for the 3rd nap. If you then have good naps, good night sleep and DS isn't too tired you can then try for a 2-nap day like - 9am-10.30 & 1.30-3, bedtime 7pm.

I'm by no means an expert, just parroting some advice that has made sense to me

Glad it's going well TheSleeperandTheSpindle.

OP, if you go for 2-nap days, I would slide both of those naps later. So make the morning nap aiming to start at 9.30am, but accepting a start time from 9am if knackered. Then likewise the afternoon nap. Aim for 2pm-3.30/4pm nap, or a 1.30pm start time if exhausted.

But as pp says, there may well be a transition period in changing from 3-nap days to 2-nap days. You might do one 2-nap day followed by three 3-nap days to catch up. Then maybe 1 2-nap day then 2 3-nap days. Then two consecutive 2-nap days and 3 or 4 3-nap days to recover.

You get the idea. It's all baby led. But you need to decide in the morning if today will be a 3-nap day (so earlier naps and less awake time) or a 2-nap day (so later naps and all stetching awake times)

Thank you both for your advice.

The weekend has caused a disruption to routine...
Both Saturday and Sunday he has had short naps (usually he lies with me as this is the only way I can extend the naps but at the weekend we had his naps on the move). He didn't have enough naptime so I think we are in overtired territory..
He has woken up at 5 this morning and just gone to sleep at 8. Hoping to get back on track for the week! Frustrating because he managed to keep going longer and would have been great to try the new routine!

A reasonable average for awake times when on 2-nap days is 234 (hours of awake time between waking > am nap > pm nap > bèdtime). It's child-flexible, mine used to do 225, others do 334 or whatever, but you get the idea.

2+3+4 means allowing for around 9h of awake time. Therefore if your child is having 11h overnight sleep then 2-naps are only feasible with about 4h of daytime sleep over 2 naps. Or 3h daytime sleep with 12h night sleep., and so on.

So with a 5am wake up, unless you're happy with a 5pm bedtime, a 2-nap day is less feasible. It's still possible, if needs be, but I'd do it knowing if be dealing with a very tired baby most of the day.

I've always found the nap transitions to be gradual changes over several weeks, rather than a straight switch.

My DS woke early today too (5.30) and was tired by 8.15 so that's when he went down. Hopefully he will sleep until 9.15 (will wake him if still asleep) so we can then do 12-1ish and then 3.30-4.30. Might not work out like that - always the way! - but at least I know I will definitely be able to fit in 3 naps today, even if it makes his bedtime later

I'm finding this period of DS's life the most stressful I think! He's trying to drop naps but isn't quite ready and trying to drop feeds one day but not the next. I feel like I'm going round in circles

Thanks again for your replies!

It does seem as though it will be a rough transition phase for us!! Like all these things baby related by the time I get used to it and feel as though we have a routine no doubt something will change again!