What sort of naps did your 4 month old have?

[Jane7]

I'm having nap hell. Until recently I was quite happy that ds only napped in pram as liked getting out and about, and even five minutes outside and then bringing him back into the house usually did the trick. But now the weather's so grim and i've begun to feel that he should be able to nap inside the house. Sometimes it works if I push him for about twenty minutes up and down in the pram but this is so tedious and involves a fair bit of crying too. I wonder if I'm putting him down for more naps than he needs. This is usually what I do:
7.30am feed
9am 40 minute nap
midday or just before: another nap
sometimes he takes this one in two chunks so wakes up for a feed at about 1pm, then goes back to sleep at 2pm until 3pm.
then he starts getting really cranky around 5pm so i often try to get him to sleep. he screams if I put him in his cot, or keep him in his pram, but i can tell he needs sleep.
so myquestion is this: how many naps did your four month old have, and how did you settle in the cot. my ds screams blue murder the minute i lie him down in his cot and the screaming just goes on...
sorry if this is too long

At 4 months, and really until about a week or so ago (he's now 6 1/2 months), DS needed to sleep every 2 hours. So he would have about 40 mins in the morning, then a big nap from around 11 -1, then another short one around 3. We always had to go out in the pram for the big nap, although as time has gone on, can now get away with just going out for a bit and then bringing him back and parking him in the house, with the odd rock to resettle him if he started fidgeting. I worked all his feeds around this so he would feed at 7, 10, 1, 4 (ish).

Settling in the cot was hard and he still often whinges for a bit when we put him down but what I found really helped was a mini bedtime routine, so a story on my lap, then a lullaby, then into cot. I rocked him to sleep the first few times I did that to give him the idea, now I just drop him in and leave him.

The key is to get to them early enough so they don't get overtired, sounds to me like you need to maybe try getting him down a little earlier. Hope this helps!

There's a 4month support club now:

over here

Come and join us!

My guess is it's hunger, but ask the folks over there!

Agree with clanger my Ds needed a kip after being awake for approx 2 hrs at a time and would get really cranky if he didn't. We started to put DS in cot at around 3 1/2 months and he protested a little at first and it was hard to let him fuss (not cry it out before I get any verbal abuse) but after a few times he got the hang of it. I just do the same thing everytime I put DS down for a nap, lights out cuddle and a song, lay him down in cot, mobile on and a kiss on the head and he settles really well and is happy.

We don't really do routine, so he has whatever he seems to need however we can help him to achieve it. Some days he has 4 short naps (maybe 25 mins each). Some days he might have a couple of hours in the afternoon (latched on and on my lap today). If we're out and about he might have a nap in the pushchair for however long we're out for. Other days he will get a few mins here and there in the car.

Not sure he's ever managed more than about half an hour at a time in his cot (wakes prematurely I think, and can't resettle himself).

Is that helpful?!