Am I doing something wrong?

[Alina.fluturas]

Hi,

I have nearly 5 month old (he will be 5 months in a week) and I am not sure what's going on.
He's been taking short naps lately, he does tend to be the 45 min napper but nevertheless he used to have a 1.5 - 2h nap le'ts say 5 days out of 7.
ast 2 days have been really weird, only 40-45 min naps Today he woke up at 3.15pm and i could not get him down for another nap at all (would have been his 4th in the day...) so ended up having to put him down for the night before 7pm (wonder how that will go...).
Routine is kind of like this:
7/7.30 awake
8.45/9.15 nap
then I tend to put him down for next nap 2hs after being awake.
He is pretty rubbish at showing sleepy signs but he does fall asleep quick on his own and with no fuss at all.
Am I doing something wrong?
Is this developmental and I just have to wait it out?
We are not in a leap, he's not cutting any tooth (I think) although he is occasionally showing sings of possible teething (pulling on ears especially when nursing, crying 3 mins within nursing, excessive drooling), he never suffered with reflux...
What should i do?
TIA

[creations]

Sounds like teeth are on the move. Have you tried some pain meds before the nap and see if that helps to get him through the transition?  If they are in pain they can come fully awake instead of transitioning and then the nap is short.  Teeth can move for ages before they cut, it sounds like there are teething symptoms there, it can be painful enough to disturb sleep for what seems like too long.  When they cut - that can be even worse in terms of pain and screaming but tends to last just a few days and nights then subsides.

Also though, how long have you been at 2hrs A time?
If your LO moved to 2hrs before 4 months or at just turned 4 months it might be time to increase by 10 mins.  if your LO has only recently moved to 2 hrs then it is less likely that UT is the cause - A times are very individual although we do have guidance times.

[Alina.fluturas]

Thanks!

I will try some teething powder before naps see if it makes a difference. When he wakes up form a 40 min nap he is actually calm and happy, not cerying, if I wouldn't have the monitor camera on him I wouldn't even know he's awake,he hardly makes any sounds for like 5-10 mins he just starts looking around, moving head side to side yawns etc., I leave him at it in hopes he goes back to sleep but nope he doesn't...
I only just increased A time to 2hs (like a few days ago) and only between nap1-2 and 2-3 so I guess I'll leave it for another 1-2 weeks before I try increasing again by 10-15min. xx

[creations]

OK, if you only just increased the time then perhaps he needs a little help to transition to gt him back in the habit of longer naps as you did say he used to do longer naps.
Have you tried a W2S (wake to sleep)?  I agree that watching and waiting is worth while for a few days as you've done, as many times LOs wake look around a while and then go bakc to sleep and you mustn't jump in too soon, but as he isn't going back to sleep the W2S could help.  Here's a link, I suggest naps option 1 - it's the method where you go in before he wakes and see him through the transition until deep sleep:
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=223809.0

Have you found the teething powders helpful before?  I know some people say they work well but others don't find them useful, if you do feel teeth may be causing pain and the powders aren't doing the trick maybe try some infant paracetamol.  To be honest although you have described teething symptoms if he is waking happily and not making any complaint then the wake up doesn't really sound like pain.

[Alina.fluturas]

OK so yesterday he did actually take a 1.5h nap (the second one) - I didn't do anything he woke up at the 40/45 min mark but put himself back to sleep. Today I gave him powder in the morning before first nap but he woke up after 40 mins. The second nap I gave him powder and he slept 2hs (again I heard him waking after 45 mins but put himself back to sleep). So that's good.
Should I be happy with this - have 1 good (1.5-2hs long) nap and then 2 short ones and hope in time he will sleep longer for 2 of the 3 naps or shall I still attempt wake to sleep, I really don't know....
He sleeps well at night for the moment - asleep by 715/7.30 pm wakes around 4am for feed then back to sleep (on me or next to me - he would self settle with great difficulty at this stage) -  until 7/7.30/8 am. xx

[creations]

I would increase the first A time to the full 2hrs if you are still doing 1hr 45 and do the W2S as well for 3 days on that nap.  It could well me that the second nap is going longer because the A is a bit longer and because it comes after a shorter nap so he is more tired.  As you had said you only increased the A time between naps 1-2 so perhaps that's the reason for the short first nap, too short an A time.