What’s the deal with naps and am I doing it wrong?

[Jones1509]

My LO is 14 nearly 15 weeks old and up until now I have just let him nap on demand and let him fall asleep when he is ready. He has always been a clingy baby and has had very few naps since he was born that weren’t contact naps as he would wake up immediately after being put down and would become horrendously moody without the longer nap he would get if I let him do contact naps. So I have always just surrendered to being nap trapped.

However we are entering the 4 month sleep regression and he has all the hallmarks of it including daytime fussiness, increased feeding and short naps at like half an hour at best. His night time sleep doesn’t seem to be affected however as he still seems to be sleeping through at the moment. All the advice I have found so far about the regression talks about keeping nap times consistent and keeping the nap and bedtime routine consistent too. We have a really solid and strict nighttime routine which seems to work but as I have been letting him contact nap on demand we have never developed a nap time routine as such. Whilst he seems to go to sleep at similar times every day, I’ve never forced him into a nap and he gets super upset lying down now or being held in a sleeping position if he’s not tired. I’m a first time mum and I just don’t know what the deal is with naps!

1. Should I be forcing naps at a set time every single day even if he resists and won’t go to sleep?
2. Should I be putting him in his sleep sack every time and laying him in his crib to sleep?
3. Are contact naps good enough at the moment and just let him sleep when he wants to?

Thanks in advance for any help or words of wisdom ❤️

Do what works the best for you. Honestly everyone has an opinion but as long as you and baby are content and following safe sleep guidelines then it doesn't matter.

Personally, I was rigid with feeding times and sleep fell into line for us with that because full tummies make drowsy babies. But if he was awake from 2am to 5am then I just rolled with it, binge watched tv with snacks and enjoyed the cuddles. Likewise if he slept 8am to 11am then 1pm to 3pm the next day, I did too if I didn't feel rested. It'll be fine OP. Enjoy every single second. I miss those contact naps and rocking my wee baby so much. And mine is only 2!

Honestly if he's sleeping through the night, don't give naps a second thought. You are very lucky, enjoy all that sleep. Naps only need some attention if it might help with night wakes. My daughter didn't nap in her bed until she was about 13 months old, only contact naps or in the buggy. We have never had a set routine, I don't know how anyone does when they have a life to live? We do different things every day, different wake time in the morning etc. She's never slept through (now 16 months) but the idea of spending the day at home forcing set nap times is horrific to me!

I don't think set times always work well at this age (because length of nap can be very inconsistent) - but you could look up appropriate wake windows for his age and use those to work out rough time of next nap from when the previous one ended?

There's huge variation as to what works for each baby and parent though, so please don't stress (coming from a 1st time mum to a 9 month old who still stresses about naps haha!)