5PM nap for 8m old??

[kentDee]

My 8m old doesnt always have a 2 hour afternoon sleep to see her through till her bedtime, which is around 630. This normally means she is exhausted at 5pm and usually has a nap. I tried so hard last night to avoid this happening because its really only another hour until her actual bedtime, and we still do tea and bath and stories etc. So, last night she fell asleep for 45 minutes on the sofa with me, and woke and had her bath. This meant she didnt go to bed until 830 and then woke up at 11, 2, and 4am! The thing is, this doesnt always happen. I dont know what to do. Is it happening because the evening routine is out of sync due to her 5pm nap??

Any suggestions on what to do?

Does she have a morning nap?

If not, perhaps she isn't sleeping well just after lunch because she is already too tired to fall asleep.

Night sleep can be disturbed if they are over tired.

All babies are different but both of mine were having 3 naps of about an hour to an hour and a half at that age.

yeah she has a morning nap. Has just woke up actually. she will go back after her lunch, but then will prob need a nap at 5 too!

Mine needed 3 naps for quite a while, I'd do the 5pm one but would normally have it downstairs in his buggy or bouncer, or cuddled up with me so it was quite a light catnap.
What is happening when she doesn't have the afternoon nap? Maybe you could try bringing that forward a little?
Also, is she crawling or starting to be more mobile? Because mine had a lot of sleep disruption around 7-8 months when he really started crawling and being more active. He seemed to stop being able to go back to sleep when he came into the lighter part of the sleep cycle. We just had teach him that he could go back to sleep by himself again by going and calming him in his cot and staying with him til fell back asleep. It took about a week but he's been fine since.

I never put her in her cot for the 5pm as its always just a powernap! Like you say, its downstairs with me.
I have never not let her sleep afer lunch. Isnt this a bit cruel? This is the important sleep of the day isnt it? DD is trying to crawl yes. She is rolling over all day and is in her bouncer, walker etc so is being more active.... but surely she should be more tired!

When I say she doesnt have a 2 hour sleep I mean the full 2 hours! She always has a sleep after lunch but can only be for 45-an hour!!

So maybe the waking in the night isn't a napping problem, it could just be a developmental thing - this does seem to happen - annoyingly, it all seems to coincide with eating more, sometimes getting teeth, getting more sociable and wanting company in the middle of night etc etc.

Anyway, the original problem was 'if my baby doesn't have a good long nap in the afternoons, she get's really tired and wants to nap at 5, but then this means she doesn't want to go to sleep at night til 8, and sometimes she then wakes a lot' -- to paraphrase.

So apart from just shrugging and saying, it's possibly just a phase and will pass , my only other bit of advice is if you notice she's only had 45 minutes or whatever is a short nap after lunch, watch her like a hawk around 3:30-4 and try to start winding her down a bit earlier to bring that late nap forward.

Oh, one more idea..does she nap in her buggy when you walk her? Because if that works, it can be a nice break outside for you too to put her in the buggy, put it her in recline, headphones on for you and a short stroll before starting on the dinner, bath & bedtime final push.

Hi KentDee. My DS never used to sleep much at lunchtime at that age so I used to let him have a nap at 4.30 for 30 mins, normally out in the buggy and then wake him at 5pm for tea and bath etc. Bed at 7pm after some milk and seemed to sleep okay at night (most of the time!) maybe bring the nap forward a bit so dd has more time then before bed.

oh and one more thing (sorry, will go away and leave you alone soon), she might be transitioning to only needing 2 naps - which might be why the timing is shifting. You might just need to experiment a bit and watch her really closely to see what the new pattern is going to be - it sounds like she's been following a fairly regular sleep pattern til now, and will again, once she's worked it out.
My DS (11.5 months) is firmly established in 2 x 1.5 hr naps now, but only when he's home. He survives without the morning one at his childminder or catnaps in her car to & from playgroups. I expect at some stage he'll drop the morning one with me too and then have a longer single afternoon nap, but you see how they do change and maybe yours is just in the middle of a transition...nothing lasts forever in the this game!

Many thanks for all your suggestions and help. Will see what happens this evening and tonight now. Thanks again x

My DD is also 8mths.

She current has a mid morning around 10 for about 30 mins ish. Occasionally a nap of about 30mins after Lunch. Then has another around 3ish for an hour or so.

If she sleeps past 5pm then bedtime at 8pm is a nightmare.
Granted by 7ish she is usually getting abit grumpy and tired but can usually be distracted untill bathtime at 7.30 which she loves and is perfectly happy throughout.

Ocassional if she hadnt slept long during naps and had been wake since 3 or something then bathtime moves forward 15 mins or so.
I would say that sticking to her bedtime routine at the same time helps her sleep.

We dont go through the night yet but things have def improved since sticking to the routine and limiting the timing of that last sleep.

around 8mo dd made a transition to 2 naps, but if the lunchtime one doesn't go well, she needs that third nap. if it's near 5pm, though, i wake her up after 15 min. sounds cruel but she's all smiles and happy to take tea then.