4 month old daytime naps

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Just wondering what other people do in regards to their baby napping. My baby is 4 months old and doesn't nap for long in the day unless she out in the buggy. Should I put her in her cot with the curtains drawn? Just anxious about messing her up understanding of day/nighttime as my really midwife really drilled that into me how important it was when I was in hospital. I'm aware that she should be having a few naps a day of a couple of hours. I get her up at 7am and she has her bath at 7pm.

My 4 month old has 3 naps a day. He is a good sleeper so his naps are anywhere from
1-3 hours. Either in his pram downstairs or in cot upstairs. We don’t have a schedule just yet. I’m going with the flow this time. It’s important that he knows it’s a day and not a night just like you said. Don’t make the room dark but obviously don’t let the sun blasting in his face either. I normally just close the blinds and that’s enough (I don’t draw the curtains or blackout blinds)

Opposite to @Bluemamma we recreate night time, including bedtime routine, as its the only way he will sleep - he has about 3 45 min naps every day and sleeps through every night, so it works for us but every baby likes different.

My LO also naps in the dark in her crib. With the midwife explaining the keep day and night separate, that’s to help set their circadian rhythm which babies aren’t born with. Typically this is used at newborn stage and at 4Mo, your LO will know when it’s day and when it’s night. I would put her down after being awake about 2 hours, or when she gives you sleepy cues (staring into Distance, red flash across the eyebrows,
Not engaging, possibly getting agitated, eye rubbing). Keep the room dark (daylight stops the sleep hormone), maybe use some white noise to drown out noise in the house. You could read a story, give cuddles and kisses and generally help her wind down. When the nap is over, open up the blinds and make a big deal that nap time is over and it’s back to awake time. Feed and play! Repeat this 3 times a day. At 4 months some babies go through a regression and stop linking their sleep cycles so easily so they wake every 30/40 minutes. To get naps longer, her sleep environment needs to help her and you may need to assist her such as shhhing or gentle patting, to soothe her back to sleep for another cycle. Good luck!

Do keep one thing in mind though… when they start creche at 1year old the rooms are not dark at all. That’s the mistake I did with my first son, always had him in dark room for naps and then he wouldn’t sleep in creche for the first month poor thing… so it’s best to keep the room semi-dark but never fully dark if you know what I mean. They really need to be able to know the difference between day and night

Navigating sleep with my 3mo so definitely not an expert here! BUT I have found it helpful to track her sleep over a few 24 hour periods to get a good sense of her natural pattern. I think babies our age only need between 11-14 hours sleep a day, so they might just be getting all their sleep at night and not need so much in the day?

I’ve found Lyndsey Hookway (google or Instagram her) so helpful for a gentle, reassuring approach