Cat naps

[Laugh6]

Hello everyone this is my first post 😅
My Lo is 15 weeks and he is struggling to nap during the day. He sleeps for about 20 mins in a really light sleep. He wakes up tired after his nap because it isn't enough. Even when I try to put him back down he may fall asleep but wake back up again soon after. He used to sleep for up to 7 hours in one stretch at night but for the last 2 weeks it has been terrible and some nights he gets only 3 hours on the first stretch and then the rest of the night he wakes more frequently. It's affecting his feeding as sometimes he doesn't want to feed (I am breastfeeding). Recently I introduced a pacifier to see if that will help settle him and it does a little when he gets upset.
We just bought Black out curtains and we have a dream sheep. I rock him to sleep, feed him to sleep, take him for walks but he never seems to get into a deeper sleep. He is my second child, we had a routine from quite early for my first and usually could predict his nap times.
Just wondering if this will get easier as I am so exhausted and it takes a lot of my time during the day trying different approaches. I have not had as much time with my eldest and just feeling quite deflated. Not sure if anyone has experienced this and has any advice. Thanks x

First off, look up the 4 month sleep regression

Secondly, does he sleep longer in your arms if you don’t put him down? Any sleep anyhow is best at that age.

Yes probably 4 month sleep regression!

Both my children were cat nappers, albeit 30 minute ones. It's more common than the baby books would have you believe!

I agree it's best to just try and get him to sleep however possible and make sure he's having lots of naps. I made sure mine were having 5-6 naps a day as they were so short. Make sure you put him back down to sleep 60-90 min after waking.

I know how difficult it is when you have another child to look after though. With my second, most of her naps were in the sling as I could get her to sleep without any hassle whilst looking after the toddler.

You might find there are some times if the day where he's inclined to sleep longer. DD2 would sleep for longer for the first bapnof the day but only if in the sling or held.

Thank you for the advice. Definitely sleep regression but I guess it seemed a little early. I took on board your advice and trying to help him nap anyway I can so he has 5 or 6 daytime naps (1/2 hour ones) and do you know he was still overtired and cranky yesterday. The day before he did lots of short naps and one nap that magically made it to a second sleep cycle and he woke up like a different child. You could tell that he went into a deeper sleep. Still couldn't figure out how to do that again but I will keep persevering and I really hope he gets the hang of sleeping better 😀