My 17-week-old is still on four short na

I couldn't open a nap log — there's no nap-log file in your box this turn (the folder is empty). If you paste the last 3–5 days as plain text — wake time, and each nap's start/end — I'll work from your actual times instead of a generic shape.

What this is: not a disorder and not "bad sleep" — it's a nap-transition plus a two-bedtimes household problem. At 17 weeks, four short naps is completely normal; three naps usually arrives a bit later, and it often slides back with teething, illness or a bad night. So this is a 1–2 week project, not a switch.

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1) What you tried vs. what works better

Forcing all the wake windows longer at once → usually backfires: the baby gets overtired, naps shorter and earlier-ish, bedtime stays late. Change one variable per 3–4 days.

The better lever: the fourth nap doesn't get deleted, it gets absorbed.

• Naps 1 and 2: leave completely alone this week.
• Nap 3: start it 20–30 min earlier, let it run long.
• Nap 4: only starts if there's room before dinner. The rule you can screenshot and hand to whoever's on duty: "after<your cutoff>, nap 4 becomes a short stroller/car nap" — not a decision anyone has to make tired.
• Last nap ends before dinner, not at a clock number. That's the only hard anchor.

Two-bedtime household (toddler + baby) — the actual conflict:

• Fix the toddler's chain (pyjamas → teeth → 1–2 books, same order) and hold it to within an hour weekday vs weekend.
• Run toddler and baby chains in a fixed order so the caregiver you're with doesn't re-decide at19:30. Whoever owns the baby's settle does the same thing every night, including which caregiver does it.
• If the baby sleeps during the toddler's story, that's fine — but the baby is on their own back, own flat surface, in the room, every time.

This week, not today: one caregiver owns the cutoff; the other does the toddler chain. Fewer decisions at 19:00.

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2) Avoid list (constraints)

• Don't drop a nap suddenly, and don't skip a nap as a "test."
• Don't move bedtime earlier while naps are also moving — move naps first.
• No melatonin, no sleep powders, nothing bought online for your baby's sleep. Nothing in this plan needs a product; if anyone suggests one, it goes to your paediatrician.
• Never settle or nap on a sofa or armchair with the baby. If you might drift off, put the baby in their own safe sleep space *first*, before the feed or cuddle — including with the toddler already in bed.
• No bed-sharing if anyone has had alcohol, smoked, or taken anything drowsy, or if the baby is small/preterm. If it happens anyway: baby on their back, no pillows or duvet near them, no other children or pets in the bed.
• Don't let the last nap slide into the late afternoon — that is what pushes bedtime out.
• No screens for the toddler in the last hour before their chain.

Realistic frame: 4–12 months need roughly 12–16 hours in 24 h, naps included. This is a range, not a target to hit — I won't give you a calculated schedule to force.

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3) Red flags — stop DIY, get a clinician

Same day / urgent:

• Pauses in breathing, blue or grey colour around lips or face, or hard working breathing (ribs pulling in, grunting).
• Fever in a young baby, or a baby who is floppy or unusually hard to wake.
• Arching/straining with feeds, refusing feeds, repeated vomiting, or wet nappies dropping — the weight-gain question is a paediatrician's, not ours.
• Ear-pulling, a new cough or congestion that breaks feeds or sleep for several nights.

Also stop the plan and call someone if you are so tired you might fall asleep holding the baby, or you're driving while sleepy — that's a stop, not a caffeine-and-carry-on situation.

This is a week to record, not a week to book a doctor. Keep 5–7 days of: wake time, each nap's start and end, toddler lights-out, and one line on the baby's mood. If after ~2 weeks of the gradual move nothing has shifted, or the baby is still sleeping very little and is uncommonly sleepy or cranky all day, take that log to your paediatrician.

Anchor for the week: keep wake-up time within an hour of the same time daily, weekends included, and move the last nap earlier before touching anything else.

What "success" looks like in 24 hours: nap 3 is a little longer and earlier, the last nap ended before dinner, the toddler's lights-out is the same as yesterday's, and nobody had to hold a crying baby to force it. That's it — no cure promised.

Want me to set a daily wake-time reminder? Tell me your timezone and I'll set it.

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Sources: duration table — AASM consensus (Paruthi 2016) via `references/hygiene.md`; safe-sleep and room-share rules — NHS SIDS / HealthyChildren (AAP), Lullaby Trust via `references/child-sleep.md`; toddler wind-down chain — `references/wind-down.md`. Hand off: breathing pauses, colour change, feeding difficulty or weight questions go to your paediatrician, not to this plan.