4 month old naps

[goldendeliciousapple]

So this is a long and boring one and I wanted to give all the info so as not to drip feed in case any of it was relevant. I have an 18 week old DS who, despite being high needs with lots of other things, has always slept relatively well. I’m a FTM.

I had been dreading the 4 month sleep regression and there was a period of 4 days in a row a couple of weeks ago where he was waking every 1.5/2 hours, I thought this was it. He then reverted back to his normal routine of waking once a night for a feed (formula fed) and back to sleep till 7ish.

Right after this I weaned him off his night bottle, he didn’t seem to need it as he was only drinking about half and spitting up quite a lot of the rest. Now when he wakes once or twice in the night I just give him a rock and a cuddle back to sleep which works well and he wakes up happy.

He has always had naps in his bouncy chair downstairs with me and he is happy to nap there as I can give him a bounce if he stirs. I’ve been told this is the age babies start to pick up bad habits and he is getting on the large side for the chair, so I have started putting him down in his cot upstairs for naps with a monitor and white noise. He is always getting disturbed by lights and noises downstairs too, even with white noise.

I would say he only goes down about 20% of the time in his cot. He will often go down easy enough but then start crying after a few min and need rocking back to sleep. If after a couple of tries he refuses then me and my partner let him sleep on us. We try not to put him in the chair as we want him to get used to having proper naps in a dark room. It has started to impact his nighttime sleeping too, he seems to wake more often and is more difficult to put down.

My questions are -

Am I being overly optimistic or cruel putting him down for naps in a different room to me at 4 months? Should I just let him continue to nap in his chair? Am I doing the right thing?

I just want to add, I love the time spent holding him while he naps on me and I’m only pushing for his naps upstairs because I want to create good habits and for him to get good quality sleep. From what I’ve read on here I think I am lucky with how well he sleeps anyway and I don’t want to make it worse.

Thanks for reading this far! Any advice or experience appreciated.

[Poppet12345]

I'll probably get judged for this but I've been doing the same with my 4 month old, putting her in her cot for naps. At first it would take a good 30-45 mins for her to fall asleep but the last few weeks she nods off after 5 or 10 minutes. I prefer putting her in her cot for her long nap during the day around 3ish and she sleeps for a good hour or two. Her other naps she has in her bouncer chair. She's learnt how to self settle and to fall asleep on her own and she wakes up happier that she's had a good sleep with no interruptions. Do whatever works for you x

[goldendeliciousapple]

Thanks @Poppet12345. That sounds like a good compromise and that way you’re gently easing them into the cot. I might try the same!

My LO hasn’t learnt how to self settle yet, he just cries until I pick him up if I try and put him down in the cot awake!