Some support for sssh pat/pick up put down at lunch time nap!

[Linbin100]

I started to try and teach my 4 month old lo to self soothe 7 days ago. He was a brilliant sleeper until a few weeks ago when his daytime naps became shorter and shorter. Now at his lunchtime nap he only sleeps for 45mins one sleep cycle previously he was sleeping 2 hrs. He also had a dummy which I have tried to stop as it was becoming a hinderance fighting to put it in when he would spit it out! My thought was to start sssh pat and use pick up put down if needed to try and teach him to soothe himself through the sleep transition and therefore give him a longer lunchtime nap. He will sleep for 2 hrs on me, in the car or Pram.
Success has been variable. 1st day he went to sleep in 20mins with only the mantra cry and I ssh patted him through the sleep transitions. But from day 2-5 it took me 90 minutes to get him to sleep using both sssh pat and pick up put down(lots of tears). Yesterday and today he went down in 30mins but woke up during the sleep transition. Yesterday I managed to get him back to sleep but today I tried for 90mins and then gave up because he was due a feed. Today he really looked like he was trying to sleep but just woke up after 5 mins each time crying. He sleeps well at night and self settles but I am worried that his new poor daytime sleep will start to influence this.
I feel like giving up because it's such a battle and each day I think it'll get better but it isn't. Should I be seeing some improvements by now? I'm so tempted to give him the dummy back but I know this will cause more problems in the future!
Any tips or advice much appreciated!

No real advice but just to say that I think short naps are really common at this age and they start to lengthen in the coming months.

DS is nearly 6 months and sleeps for around 40 minutes. VERY occasionally he'll go longer.

Does your baby wake up happy or crying? If he wakes up happy I take that as he's had enough sleep. I haven't got the energy to battle him, it's a battle enough getting him to nap in the first place I can't be dealing with it!

Thanks for replying, he usually wakes up crying and rubbing his eyes but he just can't seem to get himself back to sleep!

Crikey 90mins is a lot of time to try and get a baby to sleep! What's the timing of his first nap? If he's having shorter naps (unfortunately common at this age) he may need shorter awake times.
It's great that he's sleeping well at night though!

Give the baby the dummy, it will help get him to sleep.

I think your expectations are way off.
Dummy falling out is expected.
Short (30-45min) naps usual after the newborn stage ends.
Short maps should be frequent - limit awake time to 40-60m
To expect settling without any form of comfort will set you up to fail - dummy to suck, feed to sleep, rock to sleep - pick your method but you'll need something

Conversely to the above, my 5month old's naps became much longer and he became much better at settling without the dummy.
He typically can stay awake around 2hrs between naps.
He does sometimes wake at lunch after one cycle but will normally go back to sleep. It was much harder to do this when he had a dummy (although he ditched it of his own accord at 4,5months)

I would have stuck with the dummy but he wasn't for keeping it in his mouth! When I rock him to sleep he wakes up when I put him down.
Makes me feel better that 40 minute naps seem to be the norm at this stage.

Has anyone used this method with any success?

Thanks petrova, that kinda what I feel he is doing with the dummy and good to hear things get better!

I did use pick up/put down as my training too. I was spending over an hour rocking in return for a 20minute nap and losing my mind!

I still need to pick him up sometimes for some naps but overall he'll have a shout for a couple of minutes and pass out. Quite a bit of shouting the last couple of days as two teeth are peeking through but to be fair he's crying not just at naps but all day! I've read that it's unlikely to be teething if they only cry at sleep times.

I'd add - if DS doesn't go back to sleep after the first sleep cycle at lunch about 10mins of trying to resettle him I get him up and just add an extra nap later or put him to bed earlier