advise please!

[Emma321q]

I have a 20 week old son who generally sleeps well through the night but who is terrible in the evenings. My husband and I are trying to follow SIDS guide lines and keep him downstairs with us until we go to bed at 10 - 10:30pm. This used to be fine and after his 7:30pm feed he would sleep in the lounge. Now though he gets over tired, very agitated and will not settle at all. After a long day this is absolutely exhausting for us and certainly no good for my son either. What should we do - put up with it till he's 6 months old? Should I go to bed with him at 7:30pm meaning I won't see my husband at all in the week? Should we go against recommendations and put him up in our room in his cot with the monitor on for a couple of hours each night?

I know we have to go with what we think is best but would live to hear your opinions.

I started putting Ds upstairs at around that age. Being downstairs was too disruptive for him. Baby monitor on and frequent checks to begin with til i got used to the idea!

They change the rules all the time .... What was the guidelines for my DD (now 7) were completely different for my DS (now 2) .... You do what you are most comfortable with and what works best for you as a family. There are some great camera monitors now which we found really helpful

I started putting both my kids to bed in our bedroom from around 12 weeks or so. They were just getting disturbed by us downstairs and ending up over tired!

Thanks for your replies. The past two nights I have tried doing the 7:30pm feed downstairs and giving him 30 mins after it before taking him up for a bath and trying to settle him in his cot in our room. The only way I have managed to settle him though is by lying on our bed with him till he gets sleepy then transferring him to his cot. This usually brings us to about 9:45pm. Then I have been giving him a final feed around 11. Comments and suggestions on this attempt at a routine are welcome!!!