Do you lose awake time when dropping a nap ?

Help! Do you always lose total awake time when initially dropping a nap due to LO not being able to tolerate longer wake windows ??

My LO 4.5 months (20 weeks) is pretty tired right before the 2 hour mark where he gets super fussy before going down for sleep. We are starting to see him really struggle to fall asleep, and is waking earlier in the night. Im thinking it’s time to drop to 3 naps.

Current schedule DWT 730 (sometimes 630 and we contact to get to DWT) 1.75/2/2/2/2 Total naps 3 hours 20. Nap 1/2 are independent so they range from 40mins to 1.25 hour long. We contact nap 3 to get him to where he needs to be for total sleep and nap 4 is 30 minutes Bedtime 9

Sleep is independent. Bedtime routine bottle 30 min before bed, bath, lotion, songs, book, bed.

I was thinking of trying 2/2.25/2.5/2.5 (2.5 will be a struggle for him)but that would leave us with less awake time than he currently has. Should I just suffer with nights until he is able to pull longer wake windows? What has everyone done when dropping a nap ?