Rolling around and crying at nap time

[Nikkiy1985]

Hi,

My 9 month old ds has started crying as soon as he's put down for a nap. He can't crawl yet but still gets up on all fours and rolls around the cot crying. He gets hysterical and I end up picking him up and feeding him to sleep (which is what I've tried to avoid). We did controlled crying a few months ago and he was able to self settle at nap times but he gets himself so worked up now it seems like there's no chance of him falling to sleep on his own.
He also bangs his head a lot when he's rolling around. We don't have bumpers on the cot, are they recommended?
Has anyone been through the same? Any advice?
He won't take a dummy, we've tried!
Thanks in advance x

I've always rocked to sleep for nap - still do at 2.1yo. It's never had any effect on self settling at bedtime or during the night - I took the easiest route and believe the timing of the nap is more important. Apparently different parts of the brain deal with day and night sleep and also biologically naps are different to night sleeping. Basically, do what works for naps and carry on encouraging self settling at bedtime. (Also I've used cot bumpers for both mine and my Mum has used them for her 7 kids with no problems but I believe they aren't recommended. Like most things, if used correctly there is little to no risk of them being an issue.)

Thanks for your reply.
Unfortunately I've always fed him to sleep at night time. Hes just so sleepy as soon as he starts the feed and I can't seem to avoid it happening! That's why I was so happy when he started settling himself for naps during the day, at least I knew he could do it.
Hoping it's a phase/teething and things will get back to normal soon.