Confused about best way to do daytime naps

[OccasionalNachos]

DS is nearly three months old and his naps are getting worse. Seeing as not much is going on during lockdown I am trying to use the time to get into a decent nap schedule, but I’m confused about whether to recreate night-time sleep conditions (darkness, swaddled, white noise) in case this ends up in a situation where he will only sleep with these specific conditions!

He does sleep in the sling and the pram, and still occasionally falls asleep when feeding. I let him do this if he needs the sleep, it’s usually the first nap of the day (around 8:30am) where this happens. However in the past few weeks he has taken much longer to fall asleep in either the pram or the sling, and most of the time only stays asleep for half an hour. I’ve tried to immediately get him back to sleep after the half hour and occasionally manage it in the sling. He sleeps well at night but I am worried that this will change if his daytime naps don’t improve.

Should I change all daytime naps to indoors in the crib with white noise and curtains drawn? Especially during lockdown as I don’t have anywhere to go?

Usual schedule is:
Wake between 6:30-7:30
Nap at 8:30-9:30 for half an hour
Nap at 11am for about an hour, sometimes 90mins
Nap at 2pm for half an hour, sometimes longer
Nap at 4:30-5pm for half an hour
Bath at 7, then bed for 7:30ish.

Following op, you seem to have a similar routine to me and I'm also confused on naps! Ds is 4 months and at the moment naps are kind of wherever I can get him to sleep! So sometimes in his cot, in the dark with his sounds, other times in his moses downstairs. He'll self settle sometimes, others he falls asleep feeding. The pram isn't that reliable, sometimes he sleeps, other times he's awake but really chilled out. I know I should be more consistent, but like you I worry if I do all naps in a quiet, dark room at exactly the same times, will this mean he won't sleep in any other conditions??

Baby sleep is a minefield!!

TBH, I'd encourage them to sleep in a variety of conditions - I know you might not have anywhere to go, but I am very glad I didn't get into laying them down only in a dark room. Obvious it does depend on the child, though - some only will settle in dark and quiet no matter what you do, but if you can be more flexible with it, I would encourage them.

Mine just slept on and off when tired at 3 months. I found it much easier then trying to schedule and force naps.

If he's coming up to 4 months old you could be heading towards the sleep regression, which basically means his sleep cycles will change. I wouldn't worry about where he sleeps, I think having sleep is more important so would just focus on finding the ways which work the best for him and using those. If he doesn't like to sleep on the move I don't really believe you can train him to like it!