Sleep needs

If my 20wk old if in my arms, she will nap for a couple of hours easy. Put her in bed and she struggles to link her sleep cycles so we rarely break 40mins, which really upsets her later in the day

It's a battle. I've started putting her down for her first nap, which can go between 30m to 1h20 (usually shorter than longer). Sometimes I'm able to help her link cycles, other times not. Same again on the 2nd, but if it looks like I can help her link them I race to pick her up and save the nap. The last one is always contact at the mo. It's hard work!

My baby is almost 21 weeks and since week 12 he only takes 30min naps. I always try to extend one though otherwise he is overtired and hard to deal with.
I started to put him into his bed for first nap last 2 weeks but with no success - I mean, only half an hour naps still.
2nd nap will usually be in the car/pram and half an hour only. 3rd is the one I always try to save and planning to be home so I can do that 😅 so it’s like 1 hour or 1.5 hrs - could sleep longer but it will mess up timing etc so I have to cut it max 1.5hrs, then 4th 30min contact nap. 🤷‍♀️ and bedtime.

Just go with what your baby needs. My toddler was a high sleep pressure baby, barely napped as a small baby, drove me insane. He dropped his naps completely the week after he turned 2. He's still not sleeping through the night but at least without the nap he goes to bed and straight to sleep!

In comparison my girl needs a lot more naps. Wake windows have only just lengthened to 2-2.5 hours (she's end Oct baby 5.5 months) and will only do short naps unless she's knackered. She will try and have 3- 4 naps but will happily have a 10 min snooze if able. Just go with what your baby needs x