I now see that I need to move to a 4 hr routine which seems only possible if I extend his naps like I am.
His naps will likely naturally extend if you keep him awake a little longer. I'd shoot for 2hr awake for the next few days and be ready to resettle as you have been doing if necessary. If you're still having to resettle after 45min-1:15 or sleep, I would then increase awake time to 2hr15 and see how he goes with that. You could end up at 2:30 or even 2:45 awake time before you see good naps.
Instead of rocking at 25min, you could do hold through the jolts - did you read about that?
I hold for 20 then put him down so he's past his transition. Then I thought if he woke shortly after I could pupd then.
THing is, if you pick him up at 25min and hold for 20min, you put him down when he's transitioning to his next sleep cycle and is in light sleep again. I think if you leave him lying down in his bed and just shush/pat or hold through the jolts, you may well extend the nap and help him learn more that he can sleep in his bed rather than that he needs to be picked up to fall asleep. I certainly think cuddling him for 20min, putting him down then doing PUPD if he wakes shortly thereafter is unfair given he is likely undertired and not needing a full long nap anyway.
That first awake time is the one I'd push first - I think your after bed wakings could be either:
- he's shifted his day and treats that first nap as part of his night still, so that first part of what you're calling night is more dozing than sleeping
- he's overtired (though I think this is less likely unless his sleep quality is poor during those naps.
Long story short: Push the awake times to 2hr for a couple of days, then extend again by 15min. That should help.
