[minidiamond]

I'm not entirely sure how we get ourselves to this point but I'm finding last few days my 16 wko DS is getting tired too early before I like to start his evening routine. Basically he's starting to show tired signs around 430pm-5pm so if I bath / massage / feed its still only about 6pm max and he doesn't go down for the night like he does if its 730 or so. He'll wake about 8 then hard to put back down.

He has a morning nap or two that's always solid but catnapping from lunchtime onwards so I can't seem to get him to have a solid sleep after lunch.

Any tips ??

Nb he usually wakes 1-2 times in the night to feed.

[WaitForIt]

I work backwards. So my dd needs a nap every 2 hours, and has a 40 min sleep cycle. So if I want her asleep at 7:30, she would need a short nap at 4:50 absolute latest.

I actually aim for a 7pm bedtime, and try to get her down for a nap at 4pm.

[KRT]

Maybe skip the full bedtime routine and see how he goes for a late afternoon catnap at 4:30-5pm? Then you can have your proper bedtime a little later.

At that age my DS still needed a late afternoon nap and bedtime was around 7:30pm. By 5 months that last afternoon nap disappeared and bedtime shifted forward to 6pm.

I find it's usually a good policy to see what happens if you follow the signals your baby gives you, and only try to change what they want if you've tried it and it really doesn't work.

[ambwrose]

At that age I used to put mine down for a nap,betwee 4-30 and 5. Then I'd cook and eat tea and feed the pets . Then they'd wake around 7-30 and I'd do a small play, bedtime routine, feed and then bed around 10. Then I'd get ready for bed.
Unfortunately babies sleep when they want too not their parents.

Margaret

[minidiamond]

Thanks for tips everyone.
If I put him down at 430, I'd need to actually wake him, otherwise he'll go to 8pm or so and then hard to put down again.

[meggs1]

I work backwards. So my dd needs a nap every 2 hours, and has a 40 min sleep cycle. So if I want her asleep at 7:30, she would need a short nap at 4:50 absolute latest.

I actually aim for a 7pm bedtime, and try to get her down for a nap at 4pm.

Same same at that age.

Thanks for tips everyone.
If I put him down at 430, I'd need to actually wake him, otherwise he'll go to 8pm or so and then hard to put down again.

Yes I used to engineer a nap at 4ish, but in a car, pram or carrier so he'd either naturally wake up after one 45 minute sleep cycle, or I could wake him easily. I didn't want to send the wrong message by waking him from a nap in the cot. It's a nice time to take a stroll in the park or up to the shops, or head home in the car from wherever.

Then (once he started solids) it would be dinner at 5/530 then play, bath at 6, BF at 630, bed at 7. That's a good routine because it just keeps going for ages, you just gradually drop the late afternoon nap once he gets hard to settle at 7.

[Natttmumm]

I always made that last nap in the pram so I went for a walk and made sure they were kept in the pram in the noisy kitchen where I made dinner. It was always awake time by 5 ish and then bedtime routine. By 6 to 7 months mine dropped that last nap and I could keep them up until 7 easily.

The other option is to look at the wake up time in the morning - if its a bit early then try to feed and back to bed so wake up time is a little later. This may get you close to 7:30pm before he is ready for bed. I used to feed DD2 around 5 to 5:30 ish andput her straight back in the mornings until closer to 7. I found she was ok in the evenings although that 5pm time is never easy.