Problem with naps

[*debs*]

DS is 7 mths and has never been a great sleeper, however his night time sleep has now started to improve since he's started to sleep on his side. At night time I can put him in his cot on his back and he will wave his arm round a bit and sometimes a bit of a mantra cry before he starts rolling from side to side a few times then he drops of to sleep on his side (I just stand next to his cot whilst he is doing this). If he wakes during the night it might take an hour but he usually gets back to sleep the same way and most of the time I don't have to pick him up. However we are struggling with naps. He waves his arm up and down and does his mantra cry but just doesn't roll onto his side. He won't let me roll him over, he usually pushes my hand away if I try to pat/rub him or tries to chew on my finger (first tooth just came through). If I pick him up he either falls asleep in my arm in 2 seconds or wriggles around so I put him back down which makes him cry even more. He suffers from short naps 30-40 mins most days although on the odd occasion he has done 1h20 but it's just so random. If he would just roll on his side I'm sure he'd fall asleep but he just won't let he help him. Do I just wait it out and stop picking him up and hope he eventually gets it?

[MariaG80]

Hi debs

Your little guy sounds exactly like my little one, and I find what worked for me was putting her down on her side right away and kind of keeping her there with one hand holding her tummy so she won't roll onto her tummy ( this used to make her go mad) and the other hand doing shh-pat on her bum. If I didn't do that, she would just toss and turn until she started to fuss then cry.
She also chewed my fingers and I let her for a bit then slowly removed them (she sucks her thumb now).

Now, when I put her down, she rolls on her side on her own and falls asleep like that. I sometimes still have to pat her bum but its never more than for a few seconds.

I know it's not much advice but I hope it helped a little