DAY TIME NAPS.NEED HELP PLS.

[timo]

My 3mth old DS goes down well for his day time naps but only sleeps for 30-40 mins.He gets tired every 1 and a half to 2 hrs.
I always make sure he is awake from 5pm onwards so he goes down well @ 7 but by that time of the day he is overtired & does not take his feed well @ half 6 & goes crazy!!
We do manage to get him down in the end but it is so stressful.
I wake him @ half 10 & give a few oz which I plan to drop soon.He wakes between 6-7am.
When he wakes up from his daytime naps he is wide awake & rejuvinated(excuse spelling)& very happy.Iv tried leaving him but the attention scream gets louder.Iv tried pick up put down but he gets more & more worked up & it seems like he is wondering wot the hell Im doing.Iv never swalled him (wish I had) so when I did, to me it looked like he felt trapped &panicky & the weather is too hot.
He hs about 3-4 naps a day.I really would like to get him 2 sleep 4 a long nap around midday.If I keep him awake & ignore signs of tiredness so I can try & make him sleep longer he goes over then becomes very stroppy & screams outragessly!!
Any Suggestions pls.

Not much help I know, but my DD (now 2.1) only ever napped for 40mins at a time during the day and only in her pram/on me or DH. She only started napping properly (1-1.5hrs) in her cot at 18mths after we did controlled crying at night. One seemed to lead to the other. Now much more settled, happier and a good napper (2hrs on av.) Sorry, I don't know if this is what you want to hear!

My dd had quite short naps at that age too. Usually 3 naps of around 30-45 mins each but she slept a good night and seemed to cope on it so I didn't bother too much. I always found she'd get tired about 2 hours after being awake and so would just let her sleep. Gradually as she got older and would nap in her cot more readily I found her naps got longer and turned into 2 naps of about 1-1.5 hours each. Now she's 20 months and just has 1 nap of around 1.5-2.5 hours depending how early she's got up.

Does he sleep well at night? And does he nap in his cot? If so, if I were you I'd just go with it for now. You can't make them sleep longer than they do and I'm sure it will change.

At about that age my dd was quite similar, about 45m nap after every 1.5h awake. It was a real pain, because it meant that she had 4-5 naps a day.

It's still early days, and your little one may just be one of those babies that can't stay awake for long. If he's too tired in the evenings then he really needs the rest he is getting and you shouldn't try to make him stay awake longer.

Do you put him to sleep in the dark? If he's waking at the end of one sleep cycle and can't resettle, then being in the dark might help him.

Once dd was on solids then I found that something to eat about 1.5h after she woke kept her going for another 30-45m, and enabled her to drop 2 naps and extend the remaining ones.

Bootsmonkey,Wot exactly did u do with the controlled crying.Im not entirely sure how it works??
Strangerthanfiction,He sleeps very well @night.He does sleep in his cot & in the dark. Thanx 4 all advice.Its obviously very common.

timo, I know people disagree on this but it's generally thought that you shouldn't do controlled crying before 6 months old.

If he sleeps well at night then I really wouldn't worry, just let him sleep how he likes in the day for now and you'll find he'll naturally start being able to be awake for longer periods and longer naps will soon go hand in hand with that.