5 month old evening routine advice

[DisneyGirl2387]

I'm just asking for some advice from all of you experienced mums out there. My DS is 5 month old and our evening routine has gone to pot a bit, the hour has made everything later and I'm not sure what to do! He has 5 7oz bottles a day around 7ish, 10ish, 1/2ish, 5/6ish and then 9/10ish. He doesn't feed through the night. He has an awake window of around 2 hours. We have been keeping him downstairs in his moses basket with us until his 9/10ish feed and then we all go to bed together. He is becoming increasingly difficult to get to sleep after his tea time bottle. Last night he had his bottle around 6.15pm, did bathtime and then we got him to sleep at 8.30pm downstairs in his moses basket. It just seems so late and I'm wondering if he needs to be in his bed at this time! He then woke up at 9.30pm for his evening bottle so we then fed him and took him upstairs for stories and he went to sleep easily in his next to me crib at 10.30pm. He has reflux and is a very sicky baby so we have to keep him upright for a bit. He has also recently started to have short 30 mins naps at morning and lunchtime and then a long nap from 3ish until 5ish. He is also going through the 4 month sleep regression (still) and wakes up and needs resettling. Last night he needed resettling 5 times on a bad night it can be over 10 times. Am I overthinking all of this? Should I just go with the flow? He will be weaning in a few weeks and I imagine that will change his daily pattern too. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. From a bewildered first first mum who seems to just be winging it! X

I would just go with the flow tbh - he's still quite young for a fixed routine and things will probably change quite a lot anyway in the next few months! We put babies to bed quite early in this country compared to many other places, so if he doesn't want to sleep until 8.30 and it's not a problem for you having him up at that time then I'd just leave it. Fwiw my baby was the same, as she got a bit older she started to want to go down earlier, I just followed her sleep cues.

Another bewildered first time mum here too! My DD is 8 months next week and the 4 month sleep regression did us in too. She’s breastfed so still wakes more in the night but from my experience I found doing the bedtime routine and put to bed upstairs helped keep her in routine for when the sleep improved eventually! So maybe start putting him down to sleep upstairs after the 6pm feed so he starts to understand that upstairs means bedtime. When my DD sleep improved (still 3/4 wakes so nothing amazing haha but better than 13 wakes on her worst night!) I like to think the fact I stayed to ridged with her nighttime routine helped solidify in her mind that soon as we go upstairs and start it it means bedtime. Hope this improves soon! And enjoy weaning! It’s a lot of fun haha x

@Nowisthemonthofmaying

I would just go with the flow tbh - he's still quite young for a fixed routine and things will probably change quite a lot anyway in the next few months! We put babies to bed quite early in this country compared to many other places, so if he doesn't want to sleep until 8.30 and it's not a problem for you having him up at that time then I'd just leave it. Fwiw my baby was the same, as she got a bit older she started to want to go down earlier, I just followed her sleep cues.

I agree with that, mine was the same. I used to like him being downstairs with us and it meant he saw more of his his dad during the evening, played etc.

Before long you can sit him in his high chair at the table with you.