I am trying to extend my 4 1/2 months old sons naps but I am a little confused. When he wakes after 45 minutes (which is what I want to extend) sometimes I don't hear him - even with the monitor - and even when I get to him, he is quite happy and content and not crying or upset. So, I guess my question is, what do I do to extend the nap?
If I leave him in the cot with no intervention, then he just is awake in his cot, which means that even if I get him at feed time he has been awake for about 40 minutes and therefore needs to go back to sleep more quickly than the routine needs him to. Should I try and get him to go back to sleep? If so, how? If he's not upset and just sitting there.
Does waking to sleep work with short naps too?
Also, in terms of the afternoon cat nap - for some reason he just hates going to sleep in the late afternoon and will cry and cry. In the books it states that you should keep trying to get them to sleep and even if they only sleep for 10 minutes wake the baby up again. This I understand, but what happens if the baby just won't go to sleep? If we keep doing this, am I just training him that this time is a time where the two of us fight for 40 minutes about him going to sleep but it stops eventually?
Any help from seasoned users would be very much appreciated.
Thanks
Jane