yet another nap question (as usual)

This board is pretty dead lately, but I figured it was worth a shot to ask here anyway.  My girls are now 9 months, 7 adjusted.  They've been on a 3-nap schedule for a couple months.  Sometimes now they refuse their third nap, so I was thinking they might be ready for a 2-nap schedule, but the problem is that instead of pushing their first two naps later they've been wanting the first nap earlier and earlier -- now it's at only 1 hour after they wake up!  This means if they skip the third nap they're up for basically 5 hours straight in the afternoon, which is too much for them and they get fussy even though they won't sleep.  We already take them up for bottle + bedtime at 5:30 and I don't want to move it any earlier. Suggestions?  Is this just a phase?  (They have just had a growth spurt and C just started crawling.)

 

Yes, the crawling is VERY distracting!  Sometimes a 'not every day' attitude works.  Are they sleeping all night?  Have you tried to postpose their first nap?  I remember when my son (older) was hinting that he was going to skip naps altogether.  It took a few days of him falling asleep in my arms to realize that maybe on some days he doesn't need it, but most days he still needed it.  Good luck! 

 

They go without a feeding most nights but usually need to be soothed two or three times. They also tend to wake up at 4am and fuss for a while before going back to sleep, then are up for the day at 5:30. They used to go two hours between wake up and first nap, but lately A is yawning and rubbing her eyes by 6:30 and gets overtired if she doesn't go to sleep then. C could go another half hour or so but we keep them on the same schedule. They take their third nap about half the time right now...

 

I have been racking my brain trying to remember how this went for us. 
 
I know there was a point where I stopped watching their clues so closely and started following the clock.  
9am and 1pm naps
asleep by 5:30 in the beginning (stretched to 6:00 as they got use to the schedule)
up at 7:00 - often they were awake earlier, but we didn't go in.
 
After we got into the rhythm i really liked this schedule.. no more guessing.
 
 
we did a really early first nap for a long time (with the three nap schedule) but i don't remember the age.  I know we did 2 or maybe 3 naps for what felt like forever..  but my LOs were always late making sleep transitions.
 
It does sound like something is not quite right about their sleep..
the early down for first nap could be the age and what they need (maybe because of the growth spurt)
OR it could be that they are not feeling rested because their rhythm is off.  if it is the second of these, than going to two naps should eventually help that because they will be getting more consolidated sleep and therefore feel more rested.
Also the fact that they are having night wakings makes me think it is time to tweek something in regards to sleep.
 
You could try to get to two naps by wearing them out before the second nap (the hope is that they will sleep longer for this nap) +/- stretching their awake time in the morning.
 
 

^^ do you want them up at 5:30 or is this the latest you have been able to stretch the morning?
Would they possibly go back to sleep again if you left them longer? - especially if A is ready to sleep again by 6:30.  
I am guessing with this... i wish i could be more help.. i don't remember how old our LOs were when started the 7am FIRM wake-up time.
 
Also, have you tried decreasing what you are doing for soothing in the middle of the night?  the earlier they can learn to self-sooth the better.  a baby who can't self-sooth creates a viscous circle.  they need you to sooth them so they don't go back to sleep immediately, which means they are tired and wake more often.. needing more attention from you.  tired parents don't respond as quickly and baby gets more and more tired.  
(i know that is not everyone's philosophy but that is how it worked for us) 

GL - keep us posted on what you try and if it works...

 

If I remember correctly we usually had a nursing session around 5-5.30 am and then the babies might have been ready to get up for the day but I was able to soothe them back to sleep most days. That sleep sounds a little like the equivalent of your very early nap if one of them is ready to sleep again after just an hour. Have you tried treating the 5.30 am wake-up like a night-time wakening and dream feed? If you can get them so drowse or sleep for just a little longer I think they should be ready to shift to a 2 nap routine around 9 months. Or could you cut that very early nap short so they get used to longer naps for the 2 naps you would prefer them to take?
 
By 9 months mine were on two longer naps, one mid-morning with lunch as soon as they woke up and one early to mid-afternoon. I can't find my charts anymore, so I am not sure about the exact times. There were additional cat-nap opportunities during the day but I made sure that these random naps did not turn into extended sleep which would have confused the routine.

 

 now that you say this^^, we did that for a while and it worked well.

 

We sometimes have fed them at 4:30 if they keep making a fuss and have them go back to sleep, but 5:30 or later and they just want to get up, even if they ate during the night and aren't hungry. They've been going through a lot of developmental stuff and at this point most of what we do during the night is adjusting their positions when they are stuck in a corner of the crib or have a leg through the slats, or sometimes they realize they're on their tummies and can't quite figure out how to get back to their side/back without help.

They do seem to be going longer between nap 1 and nap 2 than they used to so maybe they're just in a transition. I would love for them to sleep until 6 but we haven't had any luck with that.