I am completely desperate. I'm going on abut 4 or 5 days here where my 4 month old son is throwing a screaming fit every nap time.
He is on a 3 hour EASY routine, E at 7, 10, 1, 4, 7 and DF at 11. For a while he was going down fine at 8:30am and at 7:30 pm without any problems, just swaddle [just holding down one arm leaving the other free to suck thumb] and singing a lullabye and then in his crib. AT that time he was starting to have harder and harder times going down for naps during the day...especially at 5:30pm. Now it seems, even the first morning nap is a fight.
So I'll do the same naptime routine when I can see he's obviously tired. He'll lay in his crib for a while with no problem, just cooing, maybe sucking on his fingers or blanket. then he'll start to fuss, I'll go in before it's an all out screaming fit, try to settle him in his crib. Usually it doesn't work so I'll pick him up and put him down again, at which point he'll scream even before he hits the crib. Then I try to settle him again, and usually he'll just start crying before I can even get him into position to settle him in my arms. then he'll just scream off and on no matter what I do, hold, put down, walk, rock, whatever. Then I usually just have to keep trying everything to settle him to sleep, and if I'm lucky be able to put him down in his crib after several tries where he doesn't scream. What has happened the last two days, though is that I'll finally have him settled in my arms, mostly asleep, and I'll put him in his crib, he'll wake up and not be able to settle again, so I pick him up and he gets more and more awake in my arms until he's just ready to play instead of going back to sleep. So then it's usually time for the next feed and of course he'll fall asleep nursing and I can't wake him, so I put him down and he'll sleep for an hour and a half or so then wake up and think it's time to eat again. IT's just one big viscious cycle and I'm so haggard! Help please! I also have a 2 1/2 year old who is being completely ignored during this whole process and not liking it one bit so is doing his own acting out...
Edit: Just want to add that I believe these sleep problems are also because he has stopped using his thumb to self soothe as much. He used to put his thumb in as soon as he hit the crib...now he won't and if I try to put his thumb in he gets mad. He just gets annoyed with a pacifier, and usully just takes it out and plays with it and stuffs it in his mouth the wrong way until he gets mad.