Baby wakes screaming from Naps

[MoLC96]

Hi guys, I'm a FTM. Just looking for some advice/guidance.

I have a little boy who is 17 weeks old and for the last two weeks he has been waking from his naps screaming and crying. He used to nap for 1 - 1.5 hours but now he wakes up around the 45 minutes mark crying his eyes out.

His night time sleep hasn't changed much, he sleeps 3-4 hours between feeds in the night with no trouble getting him back to sleep, its just daytime naps where he wakes crying hysterically.

We also considered that he might be teething and have tried giving him Ashton & Parsons Gel Pen but we can't actually see any teeth coming through and he isn't showing any other symptoms of teething.

I am at a loss at what to do or how to help him, so I would be very grateful for any advice. Thank you!

Sounds like the 4 month sleep regression. As babies age out of the newborn phase their sleep cycle shortens a bit to 45 mins so he's waking after 1 sleep cycle and probably upset because he's still tired and wants more sleep.
Depending in your views on it you could look at sleep training techniques to help him learn to link multiple sleep cycles together for naps. Or get him up after 45 mins and comfort him and you might have to do more naps to help him get enough sleep in the day.

@24HoursFromTulseHill Thank you for your reply! I did think it could be the 4 month sleep regression but wasn't sure as his night-time sleep hasn't changed and a lot of what's online describes the night-time sleep as being really disrupted.

We do try to comfort him and help him get back to sleep, it's 50/50 whether that works atm. Although I don't mind helping him I don't want to do anything that hinders him developing good sleeping habits or have him relying on us too much so am going to read up on sleep training and see how that goes.
Thank you 😊

Yeah, I found if on one day my DS's naps were fine his night sleep was terrible and the other way round. I think the hormones for naps and night sleep are a bit different which is why they can be great at doing one but not the other.
We put our DS on a loose feeding schedule at that age and started with some sleep training techniques and he soon learnt to nap for longer. I found that if I left him to resettle rather than going in to comfort him he could fall asleep again but every baby is different. He's 10.5 months old now and a sudden loud cry whilst he's napping means he's woken up 'before he's ready' but he'll be back asleep within 10 mins.