4 month old wont nap...help

is your 4 month old sleeping on their back or stomach? Sometimes switching them to their stomach helps them sleep, I would never allow a 4 month old to sleep on their stomach at night unless they can roll over, however during the day there should be no problem since you can go check on them. Does the 4 month ol like to swing and nap, you could do that and that way they sleep longer and you can have peace.  good luck

My son did the same thing, and you could tell he was still tired cause his eyes were so red. He was up though and he wanted to play, very curious little man. Give it a while, he'll start sleeping more again. Cameron is now 5 months and he takes one longer nap during the day again.

Well I don't know how much help I am going to be.  My LO hasn't started napping until this week.  He usually does the 20-30 minute thing.  Well I have decided that he needs a good nap atleast 1 time a day.  So he sleeps 20 minutes or so at about 10am and then at 12 he goes down for a couple of hours.  What I have been doing is putting him in his crib and he will mess around for a little bit.  Not really crying just fussing.  I go in and give him his binky and he falls asleep.  He usually wakes up after 20 minutes and I go back in and give him his binky and play his music and he goes back to sleep.  Since I have started this he has slept 3 hours.  After the second time I give him his binky he just sleeps.  I have just been trying different things until we find one that works.  For my LO he needs a nice long nap during the day to make him happy.  Some babies are ok without a nap.  I hope that gives you some ideas. 

From most of what I have read they say the baby should be napping at least 45min to an hour in between feedings...when baby is fussy its time for a nap and the less sleep they get during the day the harder it is to get them down. Some people let the baby CIO (cry it out for 5 to 10 minutes) until they go to sleep and after a while the baby is trainned to go to sleep when you put them in the crib. (This is a touchy subject with some moms so i won't say whether I recommend it or not cuz I don't want to get bashed). If you don't want to the baby to CIO then make try rocking him to sleep or walking him in the stroller, whatever tricks work best for you:) Good luck!

My DD was doing this around 4 months. She had been a really good napper and then all of a sudden she was cat-napping instead. I think it last two or three weeks and then she went back to her normal napping.

Somedays it is still not always normal but for the most it is. I think part of her problem at this time was her learning to roll and it was disrupting her sleep because she was doing it in her sleep and waking herself.

I heard that sometimes when babies learn a new skill it throws off their routine for a bit as they want to work on the new skill but idk.

At any rate, I was told that it was pretty normal for her to do this and she did go back to regular naps.

Good Luck!

My daughter did that until she started eating cereal.  I don't know if it was a coincidence or not.  It may have also been related to the gas issues she had and then outgrew it at the same time she started eating cereal (around 4-5 months)

I agree with the binky thing. My son wakes up usually around 2:45 AM crying and I give him his binky a couple times and he continues to sleep until I wake him at 5:45 to nurse before I go to work. I don't like the CIO option only because it doesn't work for my son. He'll cry for 25 minutes and not stop (last night he cried in my arms 2 hours because of colic). But try the binky thing for sure!

my dd was a short/bad napper (she's  a year now, and still hates sleep)

I would suggest reading "healthy sleep habits, happy child" by dr. marc weisbluth

It really helped me... but he should start consolidating his naps into 2 to 3 naps per day around this age... some you need to push a little in the right direction (like mine) She got better, takes good naps now, but it'll take a little time

Thanks for all the info and advice! The last couple of days he as been taking about 1 hour to 2 hours in the afternoon.  My son wont take a binky, he sucks his thumb.  I guess its just a phase he is going through and will outgrow soon i hope.  It was bothering me b/c i knew he was tired b/c his eyes would be red and he would just become really fussy and he would be all dry and fed.

Are you me?  LOL!  My 4 month-old won't nap either.  He catnaps two times a day for about 20-30 minutes.  It  is so frustrating because just when I am ready to get some things done he starts crying.  My son won't take a paci either and he doesn't suck his thumb, so it is hard to get him to go to sleep in the first place.  He just fights and fights me on it.  I'm afraid that he is going to be one strong-willed little boy!  On a positive note, he does sleep though the night and usually for 10-11 hours, so I can't complain there.  I know what you are going through...hang in there mama!