Hi,
We're really struggling with bedtime for my little boy, he just won't settle in the evenings. He's not generally upset, he just doesn't go to sleep. We have the same routine before bedtime - bath /wash followed by wind down but he just doesn't seem sleepy and no amount of shush-patting will get him there. I've tried feeding a little again after his bath to try and make him sleepy but even that doesn't work.
Daytime naps are also not great. In the mornings he goes down pretty well but only ever sleeps for about 40 mins, I just can't get him past it unless we're out walking, in which case the motion does keep him asleep. We tend to struggle more with naps from mid afternoon onwards and it can be a real struggle to get him off to sleep. Again, he's not generally crying or complaining too greatly for the most part, he'd just rather be awake and looking around.
We tend to be on a two and a half hour routine and he's exclusively breastfed. Timings vary a bit each day but a typical day might look a bit like this:
6.30: Awake and eat
7.40: S (likely not to actually sleep until about 8.20)
9.00: E
10.10: S (again, probably not asleep until 10.50)
11.30: E
12:40: S (as above)
2.00: E
3.20 S (as above)
4.30: E
5.45: S (tends to be more of a struggle)
7:00: E (activity time includes bath)
8.15: S (if we're lucky)
9.30: E (can't call it a dream feed, he wakes for it as normal)
10.15: S (usually goes off pretty easily)
3.30ish: E
6.30: start again...
The above E times include activity time and the time that 'S' starts is dictated by following his yawns. I do generally get him ready for his nap on the first couple of yawns but it can be difficult to tell as he generally finishes a feed yawning so I ignore those ones!
His bedtime after his bath is downstairs in his cot as we're following all the SIDS advice to keep him in the same room as us until 6 months so guess that might make it harder for him to sleep easily but it's not generally a problem for him during other naps.
Thanks in advance!
