Can someone explain how keep baby sane for bathtime routine......

[FeelingMoreHuman]

My dd is 15 weeks old and we seem to be in a vague routine of 1.5 to 2 hours awake time between day time naps and then bathtime routine starting at about 6/6:30pm and down by 7:30pm. However, everyone keeps saying to me that it's not recommended for lo to have a nap after 4pm or 5pm....how on earth am I meant to keep her awake from 4pm all the way through to 7:30pm???? Am I misunderstanding something here? At the moment she has her last daytime feed at 3pm and then goes down for a nap at 5pm so that she doesn't have complete meltdown at bathtime....and from her bedtime at 7:30pm she sleeps until 2am-ish and then up again to start the next day at 7am. So to me I think it seems to be working, but just wondered why people are so concerned about this late nap?!?!?!?

Who is everyone?
Sounds like you are happy with the routine you have, so why change it? It will change naturally as she gets older, but at 15 weeks I would let the baby sleep when she is tired.

Sounds to me like the late nap works well for you, so go with it! She will drop it when she's ready - and if you're worried that it's starting to affect how well she sleeps at night you could always cut it down to a short catnap. I don't remember exactly when DS2 dropped his afternoon nap, but it was pretty late, certainly well over 15 weeks.

Good luck!

the late nap worked well for us too, despite the horror / amazement of friends and family. ds still will have one occassionally and he is 9 mo! he had practically the same routine as your lo at that age. do what suits you and your baby - sounds like you're doing a grand job with things as they are.

are you following some sort of book? If so ignore the advice, your baby seems to be doing just great napping at that time (plus she can't read yet so i guess she has no idea what she is supposed to be doing

oh ofr goodness sake

every baby is different, how do people know what is right for your baby? if a 15 week old baby wants a nap at 4 or 5pm then let her nap!

just go with your instincts, what you feel your baby wants/needs

dont worry about this sort of stuff, babys are so teeny for so little time, enjoy your baby

Thank you so much everyone!!! To answer some of the queries. I have never followed a book...dd has chosen this routine all on her own, and it actually works very well for me (at least I can prepare dinner early evening rather than rushing around at 8pm to cook and then eat. Funnily enough, it was one of the HV's during a postnatal session that warned us against late naps, and it seems to have spread to all other classes, so now everyone from my antenatal, post natal and NCT classes are set against late naps. People are so easily influenced...I don't think HV's etc realise what a huge effect they can have on people!!!

I just went with the flow and dd slept when she wanted to. I tried evening baths a couple of times and she hated them, so I didn't bother and bathed her in the mornings.

As everyone says, what's it matter what she SHOULD be doing? DD, 20 weeks, regularly naps 5 to 6 and then goes down at 7 no probs. Fed up with being told by other people that she SHOULD be able to space her feeds out more, that she SHOULD be able to stay awake longer, that she SHOULD take a lunchtime nap. She doesn't and that's fine by me! And more importantly, her.