I'm currently in your neighbours position and sorry to say I think you are unreasonable. And you were unreasonable to "just ignore it" when he was first making it known. Did he really only ever shout up or has he complained already before? Before you moved in? Your partner may not have told you.
In fact he has it worse than me! Because you've only got floorboards - that means NO sound insulation AT ALL my neighbours have laminate/wood flooring. And I'm at the end of my tether! One of the causes of noise I'm dealing with is their toddler apparently training for the flipping olympics! Running up and down their hallway sometimes for hours. Your neighbour has 12 feet causing noise for him plus the baby!
It's the never knowing WHEN you're going to be disturbed by the noise, how long it's going to go on for... You say it's only "a few times a day" I'm keeping a diary, my neighbours have said similar - the reality? Close to a dozen times a day every day - it sets you on edge. Plus I bet you've NO idea how loud it is for him, have you gone down to his when the dogs are running about to hear how loud it is? Have you apologised?
2 dogs and a baby is a LOT of noise. It's "thump thump thump" plus crying at I'm guessing all hours? And does the baby crying set the dogs off barking? Whining? Running about?
Get carpeting down in the hallway and make sure your other rooms flooring is as well insulated as possible too.
Train the dogs - pps post highlighting you've had the 2nd dog 2 YEARS no excuse for not addressing the dogs behavioural issues - for the dogs sake as much as anything else! personally from an animal welfare perspective I think it irresponsible to have dogs in a flat. However often you walk them. It's not enough space for them, it will not help THEIR mental health that's why they go "a bit crazy" when they're getting the chance for a walk.
Lack of money is no excuse - you've assessed you have the finances to support 2 dogs and a baby, plus many free goods sites and fb pages often have rugs, runners, carpet off cuts going. In at least 2 years there's no reason you couldn't have saved up/arranged obtaining carpeting/insulated flooring.
And yes the "he should move" comments piss me off too -
1 why should he? He's done nothing wrong!
2 flats tend to be cheaper and in cheaper areas and close to facilities. He may not be in a position to move financially, it may be close to work etc for him.
3 it could easily be argued it be OP'S family that move as they are the ones that want to live a certain way and it's their behaviour impacting on another. If they want to be MAKING that much noise THEY should be in a detached property. If you live in a flat you need to be considerate of your neighbours that's basic human decency!
IF You get vinyl get cushioned and lay decent insulation underneath.
In all likelihood after at least 2 years of this he's tired, anxious, stressed and it's affected both his physical and mental health. I've "only" had it for about 6 months and I'm starting to have falls and other accidents due to the sheer exhaustion from not getting a decent nights sleep! Try and look at it from his perspective.
"Poor bloke. Sounds as if you are driving him quite literally mad."
Personally, based on my own experiences (this is the second time I've had neighbours with hard flooring, the first ones were unaware of the impact and did all they could to not be noisy once they knew. The flooring wasn't their choice they rented) I think it should be law that upper floor flats all have properly insulated flooring. Would greatly reduce neighbour disputes of this type, reduce the stress caused to the neighbour underneath (which would save money in terms of council and police involvement, nhs costs in getting support for the stress etc). It's not a right having hard flooring.
"and every sigh and groan from every thrust, all feckin night long (they were young and very fit, obviously!)." Funnily my neighbours are very angry, aggressive types - guess what's the ONE thing we NEVER hear them do? 😂 - but you have my great sympathy that must be horrendous!
To the pp that suggested giving neighbour earplugs - even earplugs PLUS earphones playing white noise or gentle music doesn't drown out my neighbours. Anyone that hasn't experienced this has no idea just how loud it can be!
Dogs do fine in flats. - very much depends on the size and temperament of the dogs and the level of input from the owners.
However no one walked around in outdoor shoes - ugh can you tell my neighbours please? All 3 of them pretty much permanently in outdoor shoes. The guy is a tradesmen of some type so it's usually steel toecap jobs and she is usually in platform heels!