3 month old short naps

[Riversid3]

Hi, first time poster here!

I am looking for some advice. Dd2 is 3 months old and usually naps in the sling. I'd like her to nap more in her cot, but every time I try she wakes up after 20/30 minutes and won't go back to sleep. I think she definitely needs longer than this as when she naps in the sling she does an hour plus each time. She is ebf, won't take a dummy (it makes her gag then vomit), and doesn't yet self settle in the evenings. She usually needs to nap 1 hr to 1.15 hrs after waking. I am half heartedly trying pu/pd in the evenings but haven't had much success with that yet.

If it's just that she's too young then that's fine, but I just want to check if anyone has any pearls of wisdom!

Thanks!

Movement is a great way to lull a baby to sleep and lull them throygh one sleep cycle into the next so that they sleep for longer.

The sling is providing that slight, gentle movement. You would probably have more success moving naps into the bouncy chair or pushchair, because with these you can keep the gentle movement going.

But 20-30 minute naps are in the realms of normal. If you are getting shorter naps, just reduce awake time between one nap and the next. It might be that while she'll do 1h-1h15m awake time with 1h naps, she might need 30-45m awake time with 20-45m naps.

I just want to say my DD was a shit napper and only slept in 35 min bursts, 19 min naps at one point.
She slept well in the car and sling, but this was not always great for me as I needed sleep and a break too, and was very frustrated at my friends who were seemingly in possession of magical sleeping babies ffs.

I worked myself into a state of anxiety where I needed to have semi regular meetings with one of my MW/what are they called? Nurse-y type people.

She grew out of it when we consolidated into one nap, but at 22 months stopped napping altogether.
So don't worry they do tend to take what they need and all will right itself in the end.

I found my dd started taking slightly longer naps in cot the more she got used to it. I wouldn't overdo it though, just try say one nap a day in the cot and the others still in the sling/car etc so she is still getting enough sleep. Bouncy chair is also a good one.

Totally normal for her age tbh! My nearly 7 month old still has mostly 30min naps although sometimes now I can resettle him and he will go back to sleep. My Dc1 was the same.
Also totally normal not to be able to self settle either. They barely know that they are separate from you at that age. Self settling comes much later for most babies (unless you want to go down the CC CIO route) but my DS was fed to sleep until he was 2. Just do what works.

She will gradually sleep for longer as she gets older. Keep trying the cot if you want but just make sure she still gets a few good naps in the sling as well to keep the overtiredness at bay. I tend to do one nap in the cot and then 1/2 longer ones in the sling/buggy and then as they get used to the cot try all naps in the cot every other day etc. Mind you it's no bad thing for them to be able to sleep out of the house as well as at home.

Thanks for the replies! I will try doing one nap in the cot a day and build from there. To be honest that's all she's really going to be able to have anyway as most of the day is spent out and about with my older dd so will be good for her to learn to sleep in the buggy too (my older dd never got that hang of that and would ONLY nap in her cot!).

My aim is to be able to put her in the cot and her be able to fall asleep on her own. My dd1 did this at 3 1/2 months in the evenings (took longer for naps) so I am hopeful deluded!

Thanks again all!