8wk old settling problems

[Ebt85]

My 8wk old has always been a relatively bad napper but is generally happy to be put in his cot initially. He is then quietish but grizzly and wriggles for 20min or so but not so loud I feel I need to get him up. 20min in he either settles (rarely) or starts screaming and slowly cresendoes. I really want to get him self-settling prticularly as he has started waking like clockwork after 45min so I am keen / desperate for him to be able to get back to sleep. Anyone had anything similar? Should I try leaving him for longer?

45 minute naps at that age are normal, in fact they are normal until about 6 months old. Saying that, when my baby was that age he used to have 45 mins in the morning then about 3 hours nap over lunch and another 45 minutes late afternoon, but the only way I got him to do the long nap was by being there just before 45 mins were up and either feed him (breastfed) or pat his bottom before he woke properly. This got him back into another sleep cycle before he properly woke from the previous one. 8 weeks is very young to try to self settle for naps, I would do whatever it takes to get him to nap. My DS is now 14mo and I just give him a cuddle until he is sleepy at nap time then pop him in his cot and he usually sleeps for 1.5 - 3 hours. No crying/sleep training involved!

Far too young to self settle I'm afraid. The vast majority of babies this age need to be fed, rocked, cuddled etc. to sleep.

When mine were this young I used to wear them in a stretchy wrap sling for all daytime naps, they generally slept like logs this way and if they did rouse after a short amount of time and I felt they needed to nap for longer it was really quick and easy to get them back off with a bit of swaying and shushing.