8 month old doesn't nap

[Spiralblanket]

Hi

My 8mo doesn't nap for very long in the day. This is what his routine looks like:
6am ish: wake and bf (doesn't take much)
8: bottle
8.20: held to sleep
Wakes anytime between 9 and 10 (normally 9)
9.30 breakfast
11: bf (sometimes doesn't want to) or held to sleep

This is where it gets frustrating- if I lie down next to him in bed he'll sleep about an hour and a half (he will wake severeL times but goes back to sleep if I hold his arms or pat his bum). If I put him in his cot he wakes within minutes! - I've tried doing this with him asleep and stirring him and holding his arms/patting/stroking til he falls asleep,makes no difference)

1.30:lunch
2.30/3; milk
3.30-4.30 nap in pram
5.30 dinner
6.30: Bath
7: bf and bed

So my question is- if he wakes from his naps within minutes of putting him down do I just take him out of the cot and carry on with his normal routine, even if he's only slept a few minutes? If I leave him in there he rolls/crawls around and keeeps smashing his head on the bars or tries to reach for the baby monitor.
Or do I keep going up to resettle him until he doesn't want to sleep anymore?

TIA

When I say held to sleep he is held and then put down in his cot

Transferring a sleeping baby is the problem.

In your position I would just feed baby to sleep while lying on the lounge floor (whIle I watch tv) and then just leave baby there and cover with a blanket once asleep.

Transferring a sleeping baby in the cot (or anywhere away from where they fall asleep) is fighting a losing battle. It just won't work long term.

If you want cot naps, that means starting from awake and doing all of you settling with baby in the cot. IME this works only with either a dummy and a lot of time snd patience, or a lot of crying and also time and patience.

Personally, I'd keep going up and telling him it's nap time and resettling him.

To me it sounds like you're waiting too long to have him nap - I'd only really expect my 8 month old to be awake for 2-3 hours before putting them down for a nap. She used to nap about 9-10am and then 1-2pm.

I put Ds in cot and then every three minutes go in and straighten him out, dummy in, kisses, remind its sleep time and go out. He takes two or three visits before he settles. If he's going mad then I take him out and bring him back down for cuddles otherwise there he stays.

It's taken a lot of perseverance and (my) tears but if he's tired he will sleep. I can't put him down if he falls asleep on me really - it's very rare he won't wake straightaway or within ten minutes! So I have to go and put him down or I stay on the sofa lol.

Someone mentioned 234 on here - first nap after two hours waking, then three, then four hours later bedtime. It really works for us, he's pretty predictable with when he's tired but getting him to stay asleep can be a challenge!