I am looking for some practical tips as to how to get my four month old to fall asleep, and once asleep, how to get him to nap longer.
When I try to put him down, it seems as if he is looking for anything interesting to focus on to stay awake. Everything distracts him. I tried covering his eyes to literally give him less to look at but it only makes him mad.
Before you suggest systematic solutions - we have a pretty stable sleeping schedule and well-established sleeping rituals (curtains closed, relaxing music, we use pacifier only for sleeping, he always sleeps in my bed or in the crib, etc.) He sleeps well during the night. It is the nap-time falling asleep I would like to change.
He either only naps in his baby carrier, on my chest, or on the breast. He wakes up if I put him in his crib or, when left alone, sleeps a significantly shorter time. If allowed to sleep in a carrier/on me, he takes two naps a day - one before noon (45 min) and one in the afternoon (up to 2.5 h). If put in the crib (he does fall asleep by himself in the crib) and left alone for a nap during the day, he starts to either play or scream. He won't fall asleep even in a dark room with all the sleeping rituals.
He is capable of falling asleep alone because in the evening, I just put him down and leave him. It takes him a while but 90% of the time he falls asleep on his own and he usually sleeps for 10-11 hours waking up once to nurse.
The trouble is he is sooo active. He can go without sleep for the whole day, and he never stops moving! And now even the naps he takes on me and in the carrier are getting shorter.