Help with day time naps!

[Needanothercat]

I am just wondering if any one has any suggestions to help me get my 5 month old down for day time naps.

I really worry I've created a bad habit with him that will be impossible to break!

He has almost always fought a day time nap and from when he was tiny and I wanted to nap with him, I would co-sleep with him in the crook of my arm and he would eventually go to sleep. I would then either nap with him and wait til he was asleep and slowly roll away. The only time I don't have to do this is for bed time which he is really good at either feeding to sleep then I pop him in his cot and he settles lovely or we have an evening cuddle on the sofa until hes falling asleep then I put him down.

He has never fallen asleep by himself during the day and I tend to know when he needs a nap as he gets whingey so we go into our room and start the nap routine. He used to sleep for a couple of hours but now only manages 30-45 mins which I seem to understand is the new normal.

I have tried to take him in when hes whingey and pop him in his cot, dummy in, hand on chest/patting and shushing but he seems to snap out of sleepiness and think it's play time by cooing, smiling, flapping around etc until he realises he was actually tired and then starts moaning and crying. He doesn't seem to know how to fall asleep.

If I take him out and cutch him on my bed, hes asleep within minutes.
I haven't minded this really but now hes older I want to get him to sleep a bit more independently and also when we're out and about, I really want to get him to nap without the drama and obviously I won't always have a bed to cutch down with him in!

Hes bottle fed, doesn't feed to sleep and has a dummy. Not interested in a cutchy but think he may be too young? Not sure.
It's frustrating as I know he can settle nicely at night and also after night feeds where it's never a sleepy feed, he 9/10 wakes up fully for his night feed but never struggle to put him back down.

If anyone has any suggestions I would really appreciate it.
(Sorry for the length of this post!)

It's not unusual that extra effort if needed to get baby to sleep in the daytime. The pressure to sleep is less so it requires more help.

Timing your naps will help with this, baby is easier to get to sleep at the only-just-got-tired point. This will be a good half hour (or more) before outward tired signs like whinging.

I would pay attention to baby's awake time between naps and once you notice a pattern, try reducing the awake time. With 30-45m naps I'd be looking for 90 minutes awake time.

I don't believe it is a bad habit - snuggle your babe while you can and let him get there on his own just my view! X

Hes in his cot bow FATE, after about 90 mins awake. I've put on lullabies and tried standing over him while holding his hand but all he is bow doing is trying to roll over in there, grabbing his dummy and lobbing it around or blowing raspberries. I've actually just left him in there now ( we live in a very small flat, I can still here him singing like hes next to me). It's at this point I tend to think we'll he needs to nap and getting him in my bed is the quickest way. He seemed to be getting sleepy before I took him in and bow hes wide awake!
Crazycatlady- I love the cuddles however now hes rolling around, I don't think it's the safest option to let him sleep in my bed and I also tend to fall asleep with him
Hes now been in there alone for 10 mins FATE and I can still hear him singing... how do I know where the line is between leaving him in the hope that he drops off and resorting to getting him in my bed so he has a nap? This is when I feel so conflicted

Some babies just need extra help getting to sleep - can you sleep with him? I would love to do that but my 8 mo doesn't nap long enough I would get a video monitor and lay him on your bed so you can watch him x

I'd love to sleep with him! Aside from the fact that I have house chores including doing his bottles, I find it really hard to sleep at night and day time naps make that so much worse.
He started crying quite a bit so I went in to console and gave him his cutchy, held his hand and shushed. However whenever I put my hand in the cot he uses it as an opportunity for leverage to pull himself up 😂
Update though... He is now asleep! He got really stressed showing all the over tired signs so I did nearly take him out but I persisted with the hand holding and popped the cutchy over his eyes lol he finally dropped off.
I'm hoping this isn't a fluke, despite taking nearly an hour to get down, I'm happy hes asleep in his cot. It's really important to me that I teach him good sleeping but I just have no idea how to 😂

Persistence and consistency is key.

With the lobbing dummy around and general messing, i would take the same persistant approach to encouraging stillness at sleep time. I'd hold both his hands in one of mine if grabbing at his dummy. Disengage and show no interest in any messing and re-lie back down at any attempt to get up.

Then reward stillness and calm with tons of eye contact, closeness, sleepy smiles and touch reassurance.