Baby not napping well in cot - what to do?

[Findingthingstough18]

DS is 19 weeks. Up until last week he was taking all his naps - three 45 minute naps a day (he never slept longer than this) in his pram carrycot. However, unfortunately he's now too long for it (he's a very long baby) - DH pointed out that he couldn't stretch his legs out straight in it at the weekend, so we switched to the buggy. I don't really want him sleeping in that, though, because it reclines but isn't completely flat and it means his head lolls forward a bit. Obviously if he falls asleep when we're out and about that's fine, but I don't think it's good for him to have all his day sleeps like that. So I've started putting him in his cot - but although he'll go to sleep there, he wakes up after 15/20 minutes. If he seemed happy with that then I wouldn't mind, but he isn't - he is clearly still sleepy when he wakes up, and yesterday he was overtired and grumpy for most of the day and really hard to get to bed. This morning when he woke up he went straight back to sleep when I picked him up but cried if put in the cot so I ended up holding him for the rest of his nap, which isn't an ideal solution! Should I persist with the cot and hope the problem resolves itself as he gets used to it? I'm tempted to put him back in the carrycot but obviously that's a very short term solution as he really is too big for it and only getting bigger!

I hear you! My DS will go down in the crib but only sleeps for 30-40 minutes at a time. This morning I laid him next to me on the bed when he woke up and he went straight back to sleep, he obviously still needs the sleep but can't link sleep cycles.

I think consistency is key. Keep putting him down in the crib, perhaps go in just before he will wake up and try to comfort him to get him into the next cycle? I know is hard cos it doesn't always work for me either! Hopefully someone will e along with better advice!!

How does he sleep at night?

Does his cot now mean he is sleeping alone? If his carry cot was in a busier part of the house it could be lack of noise, I used to put a blanket on the living room floor as my DD has never liked napping in her cot, now she naps in her pram seat.

Thanks for the replies! Good point about the noise - I leave the door open and try and be upstairs with him and looking in, but it still probably is quieter.

I don't think he's ever linked cycles - hence why he's always woken up after 45 mins - but that seemed to be enough sleep; this isn't.

He was sleeping appallingly at night (which I blamed on sleep regression, and does seem to have eased), he's currently settled into waking for feeds at 10.30, 1.30 and 4 and then sleeping until about 7, which I don't love but is liveable compared to the up every hour we were getting a week or two ago! He's breastfed and seems constantly hungry - he has done for weeks - and seems to need feeding every two or three hours, day or night.

He goes to bed at 7, by the way, though last night we couldn't get him down until 8.30 after literally an hour of rocking because he was so overtired and upset.

Same here, my DS goes to bed at 7 and has started waking at around midnight but I don't feed him and then he wakes to be fed around 2 ish. He was wide awake at 6am this morning but I put him next to me in bed and he went back to sleep. Should mention my DS is the same age as yours.

I know you shouldn't wean them until 6 months but my friend suggested to me that giving them a spoonful of baby rice with the night feed might help them go a little longer. I was breast feeding but had to stop for various reasons and now I don't think my DS is having quite enough milk as he's quite sick and doesn't want much. Feel that could be why he wakes up more too.

I use white noise which helps him sleep a bit, have you tried this?