Naps driving me insane. Any suggestions

[Lizbiz89]

My 7 month old has always been a challenging sleeper. So much so he currently naps in his bouncer. Sleeps at night next to me in his co sleeping cot and breastfeeds through the night. I'm desperately trying to get him into his cot at least for his naps. I sit with him until he falls asleep then he'll nap for maximum 20 minutes before he's crying. I'll try and resettle him but he'll scream until I pick him up. Then he's cranky and tired until the next nap where again he'll only sleep for no longer than 20 mins. It's driving me insane. Any suggestions would be really appreciated.

Give up and get on with your day. Do car, carrier or pushchair (can be in garden/porch) naps instead of the cot.

It sounds like there are two “problems” 1. Short naps and 2. Not napping in a cot. Neither of which are unusual or uncommon for a baby that age and aren’t necessarily problems unless of course your baby is clearly tired and cranky (which you’ve said yours is).
I’d choose what is more important and I would humbly suggest making sure your baby gets enough sleep to not be cranky and tired is the number one actual issue.
Is there another way your baby sleeps for longer? Does he prefer movement? Closeness? Would he prefer a sling? Can you do these to get him into a better routine with his sleep and longer naps. Hold off from the cot naps till he’s older and more capable of doing this?
My LO could not link sleep cycles (30-40 mins) at that age alone. So I would usually contact nap and help her get into the next cycle by rocking/sushing/feeding back to sleep. Movement is also great so as PP suggests… sleep in prams/cars might work better.
He's still so young and will get better at napping (mine did at about 11 months but it’s different for all babies).
Good luck and I hope it gets easier x

Mine couldn't link sleep cycles after the 4 month sleep regression. After 10 weeks of hell we sleep trained. Its not for everyone but it worked for us very quickly and quite easily and she's pretty much slept through the night ever since and is nearly 18 months nowhere

I have an 8 month old and we found she only contact napped or in the pram. We put her in the pram in the house and push til she falls asleep then use a Rockit and she naps well. We sometimes have to push it after 45 minutes to help her link sleep cycles, but she’s making progress with that. It might not be cot napping, but effectively gives me all the freedom cot napping would. So maybe try and change your mindset and relax around it, and look for compromise ways that might make ease things

Funnily enough, my 7 month old (nearly 8) was just like this. Tried a few times a day to put her in her cot for naps (she'd only contact nap which was frustrating when there were things to be getting on with) and gave up. Bizarrely last weekend I thought let's try again, more relaxed, and some gentle sleep training and for over a week now she naps in her cot 3 times a day for an hour each on average. Took one try with her being twisty crying but kept going in to show I was there and since then she's been a dream.
I think they just get to the stage where they're ready/able to do it themselves and it was genuinely getting me down. I never thought she'd get to this point if I'm honest. Had to train DH not to rock her to sleep, he's took it harder than her!

When mine was that age and he was also a really crap sleeper, I'd end up making one of his naps a contact nap because it was the only way he'd stay conked out for more than 30 mins. Because I figured out that if he had constant crap naps his night time sleep would be awful too. So although it meant I'd be nap trapped once a day, it at least helped him sleep better at night

Yes this is it. He naps well in his bouncer and it's the only way he'll nap in the day. If he doesn't nap well he's awake all night. Like yesterday for example. I tried to put him in his cot so he barely napped and then he slept terribly last night. It's catch 22 😫