How to get 4.5mo to nap for longer than 45 mins?

[AlfieBear87]

My ds is 20 weeks old and will only nap for 45 mins at a time in his cot. I think 45 mins is enough for his morning nap as he wakes up wide awake (if that makes sense), but after his lunchtime and afternoon nap he wakes up grizzly and rubbing his eyes. I get him to sleep by putting some music on and holding his hands, but if I try and get him back to sleep after 45 mins he gets hysterical and nothing will get him back to sleep - even BF. It's so frustrating because I know hes still tired but he refuses to go back to sleep! Anyone got any advice?

I can only get longer naps from dd (20 weeks) by sticking her in the sling... Ds didn't take longer naps in his cot until 7 months - before that I'd have to rejig him about 5-10 mins before he was due to wake. However as I have a toddler I don't have time to try that with dd so in the sling she goes!

same as iggly here. I think it's very common for LOs to not take longer naps in their cots until after about 6 months because of the sleep cycle. DD never took longer than 45mins in the cot before she was 6 MO. I used to have a lovely long walk for the middle nap with DD in a sling and she would sleep for a good hour and a half or even more and then be nice and refreshed for the afternoon. Be safe in the knowledge that it won't last and soon your ds will take longer naps in the cot, and he will make this transition on his own, so try not to worry about it, but invest in a sling in the mean time!

DS is nearly 15 months and was like you describe from about the same age until he started walking 10 days after his birthday. A complete nightmare! My only advice is try not to get too obsessed/worked up about the sleep your LO is not having but should be having... Honestly I wasted so many months driving myself crazy spending up to 2 hours trying to get him to sleep only for him to wake up grumpy 30 minutes later.

Since he's been walking he has started napping for 1-2.5 hours at a time. I've done nothing different at all, he obviously just needed to burn some energy off in order to relax.

It's really tough but don't let it rule your life/thoughts. He really will grow out of it when he's ready :)

Thanks guys, I guess the key is to not stress and let it sort itself out in its own time. When I get really tired I tend to do something stupid like read a baby book which tells me he SHOULD be having 2 hour naps 3 times a day........which then makes me more stressed and more tired! I think I should tell DH to take all baby books away from me, especially when tired!