Ending naps early to preserve bedtime at 11 weeks?
Hello, everyone! We’re getting so close to the 3 month mark and the newborn class has been so helpful! I believe we don’t need to cap daytime sleep at this age other than no naps longer than 2 hours, but as we’re inching towards an earlier bedtime (moving back from 10 > 9:45 > 9:30 > 9 > 8:45 > 8:30 > 8 over the last couple weeks), I’ve found it hard to get our naps and wake windows to align at our goal bedtime without waking her up from naps starting 2 or 3 cycles before bed. I’m not sure if I’m overthinking that or if that’s what we should be doing? The loose daily rhythm looks like this: 7am wake and feeding 8:40-10 nap 1 10ish feeding 11:30-1 nap 2 1ish feeding 2:15-3 nap 3 3:30ish feeding 4:15-5:30 nap 4 6ish feeding 6:45-7:30 nap 5 8pm feeding Start bedtime routine at 8:15 in bassinet by 8:45 Dream feed between 10:30-11 Sleeps until 7ish.
I’m just really struggling with fitting in the right wake windows and naps to get to bedtime without waking her up before she wants to wake starting around the 3rd nap. We’re working on bringing bedtime earlier since she’s gotten progressively fussier during that time, which makes having to cut the nap short even harder. Am I doing something wrong? Bedtime isn’t early enough yet that I feel like we could make it without that 5th nap, but the catnap before bed isn’t working for her at least at this age. I believe we’re also close to when it’s encouraged to pivot to a more predictable schedule rather than wake windows which may help it feel less like a puzzle. Any advice?
Posted Dec 6, 2025, 6:30 PM UTC