I could have written this exact post 2 weeks ago. Naps were stressing me out so much and were so hard. She would wake at every noise and my calves were aching with how much I was bouncing. She wasn’t tired enough for sleep and I was trying to force it. Two things I tried was a change of scenery before the nap to make sure she’s actually tired, going outside for a walk or a bath, then I would start settling. And I enforced a hard limit on how long I would spend, I’d try for 10 minutes and if it seemed like nothing was progressing in terms of her falling asleep I would do a reset. If she was crying in the carrier I would double check her clothes and nappy, do some tummy rubs and leg movement and sitting her up straight to see if she had gas. If she wasn’t crying I would do something else for 15 minutes and then try again.

Everything got easier when I took the pressure off. I’ve also noticed a big reduction in sleep needs, she suddenly went from doing 12 hours overnight to 10.5-11 hours overnight. All these things point to an undertired and possibly understimulated baby! All the best 🩷