Time to drop a nap?

[ReaganSomerset]

How do you tell when it's time to drop a nap? And how do you go about doing it?

My DD is 7mo and used to sleep 7 to 7 but has recently been waking fully at 5/6 a.m. Today she woke at 4. We put her down around 7pm usually though she seems fretful from earlier- if I try to put her down at six though it tends to take until seven for her to actually sleep. She has three naps a day- 1hr mid morning, 2 hours at lunch and half an hour ish at between 3 and 5, but putting her down for this last nap is getting harder and she fights it a lot. I have tried skipping the afternoon nap altogether, but then she is exhausted by half five. If I put her to bed then, she is wide awake by eight and won't go down properly until ten!

Thoughts?

At that age I started shaving back the last nap so it went to 15 mins so bedtime was the same still but just on less nap time....and then once it was gone i pushed him later for nap 1 and 2 to make up for the lack of nap and brought bedtime early by 30 mins or so till he could cope with no nap !

Mine was 8 months when it went!

Thank you. I think it's just the transition that's awkward!

Mine long since past the baby stage but I am interested in 'stopping a nap'. How on earth do you do that other than forcing them awake in some way? Mine napped when they wanted to and if they woke up too early in the morning I'd change, give a drink and bring into bed with me (if they weren't already there), and they went back to sleep.

Everything seems far more complicated nowadays.

Ignore Jess

I agree with a PP shave the last nap down to almost nothing and try and increase the window between the morning nap and the lunch nap so there's no more than 4 hours awake time before bed

Aw, why ignore me? I wasn't giving advice, just interested in how people do things these days compared to the old days.
for me. :-(.

@jessstan2

I do take her into bed with me in the early morning if she has woken but she just lies next to me shrieking happily and punching me in the face.

ReeganSomerset, that is a pain!

It will pass in time. Before you know it you'll be tearing your hair out because she won't get up to go to school.

Take care (& thanks).