Napping - any advice

[BBaby]

Things are a lot better than they were before and for the last few weeks I can put N down awake for a nap at around 8.45/9am where he sleeps for 45 minutes and then for another nap around 11.45/12pm where he sleeps for only 30 minutes. He usually settles with bit of crying/whinging (although today he was v unsettled). I then always take him out for a walk around 3.30/4pm where he'll probably sleep for about an hour. He goes down to bed by 7pm. TBH it's a struggle to keep him awake until that time.

ANYWAY I have four questions:

1. Anyone have any suggestions for how I can extend the lunchtime nap. Of course I'd love it to be two hours but I'd be happy for an hour at this moment. When we first started putting him down for naps a few weeks ago he would sleep for around an hour and a half and up to an hour. We were swaddling him then and now he's in a sleeping bag.

1. Should I just put up with having to take him for a walk every late afternoon as it's only for a time as I'll be going back to work in 3 or 4 months, or should I try to get him to nap in his cot at this time? (He wont just drop off by the way. He's a baby-whisperer 'spirited baby' and needs to be removed from all stimulation to sleep.) I tried to settle him in the cot today at 3pm and he just screamed until he finally fell asleep for 7 minutes!! I guess this could get longer... Until three weeks ago I was having to take him for 3 walks a day to get him to sleep at all so having to only go for one is a vast improvement!

1. Finally, for those of you that have older babies, did you find that the naps just got longer naturally and also that your babies were able to go longer between naps or have things just stayed the same?

1. How long do your babies nap for?

Thank you.

i am still taking my 10 mth for 2 nap walks a day!

one thing i would say is if its difficult keeping him up til 7 put him to bed at 6.30, when i moved bedtime earlier my ds slept better and longer

My DD was a terror for NOT napping at all unless on my lap, until she was 7 months. HVs and my Mum told me to just put her down and let her cry , but I thought this was too harsh (especially at 3 weeks when they started with this advice). So I accepted that I had to have sit downs to let her nap, didn't seem much of a hardship tbh. Or I would take her for a walk. Then slowly she would accept the occasional, short (30 min) nap. Then somewhere around 1 year she suddenly started taking 2 dencent length naps each day. About 2 hours after getting up, and just after lunch, for about an hour each time. Now at 17 months those naps (generally) remain at those times, sometimes lasting just 45 mins, but sometimes 2+ hours. She has been asleep for 2.25 hours so far this morning. She never wants to go down btw, always crys, sometimes just for 2 mins, sometimes for 15 mins but I feel it's OK now that she's older.