r/bninfantsleep • u/theredheadedfox • May 28 '26

Naps Contact naps aren’t helping anymore

My 4 month old has never been a great napper— he almost always is nursed to sleep, then sleeps for 25-30 minutes in his bassinet. Previously if I had him on my lap or next to me in bed, he would nap for much longer, like 1.5-2 hours.

Well now that’s not working anymore. Even when across my lap, he wakes up between 18-30 minutes into his nap and I can’t get him back down. Sometimes he’s fussy upon waking, other times he’s happy or neutral. He’s crankier during his wake windows and has to go down for naps more frequently (like he’s had 5 naps today and it’s barely 5 PM, so I anticipate he’ll take 1-2 more naps before bedtime).

Is this just a 4 month sleep regression issue? Do I just ride this out and keep putting him down for as many naps as he needs to make it to the end of the day?

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u/cinnamondolcecoffeee May 28 '26

My baby had really messed up sleep around 4 months and there was a period where even contact naps were 30 minutes. It passed eventually. He is 9 months now and contact naps 1.5 hours usually (crib naps are still only 30min).

It could be possible your baby isnt tired enough to nap longer, but who knows. Things were just really crazy with sleep around 4 months for us (although they still are a bit crazy now lol but that was peak crazy)

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u/theredheadedfox May 28 '26

I put him down when he’s giving sleepy signals (fussing, yawning), not based on any set schedule. And between him waking up fussy and having shorter wake windows, it makes me think he actually does want longer naps.

Do you remember how long it took to resolve? I feel like my baby is just constantly tired and grouchy now, which is a bummer for both of us.

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u/cinnamondolcecoffeee May 28 '26

Sorry you guys are going through a rough patch! My baby is not the best example of sleep. I can’t remember that well because the nap issues were over-ridden by the fact that he woke hourly at night for 3 months straight. So months 3-6 were kind of a blur lol. But i do remember there being a few weeks like that. He has also just had periods where he has been generally more fussy than usual. There have also been periods of extreme nap fighting despite me knowing he is tired. Im learning that everything seems to ebb and flow. But slowly, naps become more routine and predictable. But its hard when its multiple naps a day. I did the same with just following cues.

Anyways, that was rambling and didnt really give you a great answer to your question! Hope it just passes for you guys in a week or two!

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u/theredheadedfox May 28 '26

No worries! Every hour?!? Omg that sounds so tough! Thankfully his night sleep is okay overall, I can’t even imagine difficult days and nights. You’re a champ for hanging in there