15wk nap settling issues

[MBayliss4]

Suggestions needed please....! As a quick background, from about 6-8wks we got a good bedtime routine working and my little boy goes to sleep unassisted in his cot by 7pm. He gets put in content but awake. At about 11wks his sleep patterns changed (figured it was the 4 month regression early) and he started night wakings when not hungry and not napping like a newborn during the day I.e. not at all and then getting over tired. To combat I introduced a feeding and nap schedule based on his natural pattern and he’s responded well. Night crying I can generally settle him back with gentle patting if it’s not hunger related (he feeds once during the night between 2:30 and 4am, no dream feed as that didn’t work. Nights crys about 4 times at the mo starting after midnight) The problem we have is he crys the moment I take him into the bedroom for his nap!! I watch his sleep cues carefully, dim the lights, have while noise, do nothing over stimulating before hand etc etc. I try to recreate a mini bedtime routine (cuddle, story etc) but he crys the whole way through. He doesn’t want to be rocked to sleep, soothed in his cot - he seems to get on better if I leave him to it to grizzle for a while but it breaks my heart to hear him cry. If I try to settle it seems to exacerbate the situation. A dummy stops the crying but I’m scared to use it all the time as i don’t want that to start being needed at bedtime and at night.
How can I help to make the nap time pleasant? He seems to instantly cry the moment he knows yet is wonderful at bedtime?! I also hate leaving him to cry and he settles but that seems the only way other than the dummy. In general he’s a very happy, interactive baby - an absolute joy.
Any suggestions welcome! Thank you in advance

Can you give him his nap elsewhere? On you? In the pram etc? Like everything it sounds like a phase that he will grow out of so in the meantime just go with the flow to make it work? My DD is 4.5 months and that’s what I try to do!! Good luck

I'm w bit of a believer in making day time naps bright and different to night time ones personally, to help them not confuse night and day. Pram or sling? Sometimes they'll stay awake longer with a change of scene and then go to sleep more easily if that makes sense.

Thank you for both suggestions, really appreciated. He’s so interested in everything he literally won’t fall asleep elsewhere as he wants to see what’s going on! He used to nap on me (miss that!) but now won’t and then gets overtired. Each afternoon I walk the dogs with him in a baby carrier and he would cry the same until he fell asleep, now he’s realised there’s things to look at (!) and might only have a 10 min nap but that works out ok for his routine. Unfortunately we don’t live somewhere I can take him out in the pram easily.
I think as you say, it could be a phase and go with the flow!

I think the cat napping started around then here (now also 4.5 mo!) - he's just started to sometimes go a little longer if he's been fed and is in the sling/ on me. It's frustrating when they're that nosy my first was much worse than this one; it does mean they're v clever and going to run you ragged!

I can't remember when the hour naps returned but they did at some point. It can be helpful to mix it up so they'll nap in different places. 3-4 mo sees a lot of changes in their sleep cycles iirc.