Nap pattern help

[Saz467]

My 5 month old usually has a long nap in the morning - 1.5-2 hrs. This is fine, but his 2 afternoon naps are shorter - rarely more than 35-45 mins, so he's pretty tired by bedtime. And when he drops the last nap, I think he'll be wiped out by bedtime

I'd like to move his longer nap to the middle of the day to help him last the afternoon, but am nervous about tinkering with his natural pattern - worried about ending up with 3 short naps.

Can anyone help - will his nap pattern change naturally? Should I just follow his lead?

Or if I wake him early from his first nap, is he likely to extend his middday nap?

Thanks.

If yoir second nap is short, it suggests not enough awake time between these two naps. It might be that baby natuslky moves to consistant 2-nap days - you just have to find the right awake time.

An approximation would be 3h awake time from waking from am nap. This is just an average, your child will find their own preference. Typical timings would be 9-9.30am nap and 1.30-2pm nap.

If you already have stretched awake times and that's not giving you a longer second nap then I'd restrict the morning nap to an hour. But only if awake time of 3-4h is not giving you a longer second nap. I think two 1.5-2h naps are best, if you can find the timings to make this workable.

I've just noticed baby is only 5 months, on the very young side for 2-nap days.

I'd still try stretching awake time, but such that it still allows for a teatime power nap. Maybe 9am and 1pm, or something like that. Plus a teatime nap of about 30-60m.

Thanks, I will give that a go. I can't see him going down to 2 naps any time soon, as he gets very tired in the afternoon.