screaming blue murder before naps!?

[OriginalSunshine]

Hi there - my DS is 14 weeks (born 1st Feb).

From the BW quiz, he is about 2/3 touchy, 1/3 textbook (he is going through a growing spurt at the moment....)

He is exclusively breastfed, very sucky but hasnt used a pacifier since he was 10 weeks as he has now found his thumb/fist.

He's a tummy sleeper.

He is on a 3 hour EASY, but my 'problem'  is his nap times and the fact that he hurts himself beforehand

6:40am wakes up, nappy & clothes change
7am feed
plays
8:30am goes from happy to sad in a heartbeat, screams blue murder, banging his fists and arching his back as he lays against my chest whilst I whilst I hold him close and shush-pat until he calms down
8:40am falls asleep & I gently put him
9:30am wakes up, and wants to be cuddled or tries to have another meltdown
10am nappy change & feed
plays happily
12noon goes from happy to sad in a heartbeat, screams blue murder, banging his fists and arching his back as he lays against my chest whilst I hold him close and shush-pat until he calms down
12:10pm sleeps
1pm wakes up, nappy change and feed
often sleeps from 1:30pm until 4pm
4pm is woken up, nappy change and feed
5pm go for a walk outside in the pram
5:30pm meltdown for about an hour
6:30pm bath, change
7pm feed
sleeps solidly from 7:30pm until 1:30pm for dream feed
sleeps reasonably well (occasional days of 2-3am waking where I quietly feed him & put him back to sleep straight away) for the last three weeks until around 6:30am

at night he is a relative angel, but during the day I am upset that he has these regular frightening meltdowns!

how can I help him go to sleep without having the meltdown during the daytime?!

[Mom to M&M]

Hi there.

At 14 weeks your first A time sounds a bit too long to me - hence an overtired and angry LO. Especially for a mostly touchy baby. I'd try to shorten that A time and start winding him down before he goes from happy to sad. Maybe at 8:00, take him into his room (darkened) and cuddle, read books, diaper change, etc - aiming to get him into his crib by 8:15.8:20.

Ideally that first nap would be at least an hour, preferably 1.5. After that, I'd keep A times no longer than 2 hours (and preferably 1.75 even) and be sure to wind him down before he gets overtired and angry - with a touchy baby you don't want to wait for tired signs when this young.

Also, is his room dark? Do you use white noise?

[OriginalSunshine]

Ladies - thank you so much for your replies!

This morning I tried cuddling him in his room at around 8:15am (ie 15 minutes before the usual meltdown) and he was dozing off in my arms, so he has just gone down for his morning nap with barely a whimper!   

I'll let you know how the rest of the day goes......... 

(his room has an air-con unit in it which is quite 'white noise' and it's not dark but it isnt bright either  would this be a problem  )