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I think he's probably kind of young to have a totally set routine. my LO didnt' fall into a routine until past 6 months I don't think! but I can't remember.

even these days, some days she'll go in her bed at 6 and pass out in 5 min. some days she rolls around for over an hour. if she isn't screaming I just let her be..she generally has a solid bedtime of 615-645 depending on the day, I put her to bed and let her do her thing

@Danizaur: it's not selfish to try to want some control! the infant stage is tough. but i'm going to be honest and say that we didn't have any definitive bedtime until 6+ months and even then, it was loose. even now (at 18 months) DD has random nights where it's just not working and she's having a tough time. those nights, we give her a pass and chalk it up to having a rough night like all people do. babies just have more of them!

hang in there mama! this too shall pass! you're doing great!

No advice, because our sleep was crazy around here until we sleep trained around 6 months. But I really hope things settle down for you!

Ok so you know my 2nd DD is your baby's age, and this is what worked for both of mine: wake times between naps during the day of no more than 2 hours at this age, bedtime at 6 or 6:30. Don't put baby down for a nap past about 3:30 PM. Keep the simple routine the same every night (bath, pjs, nursing for us), and baby *should* adapt. Earlier bedtimes seem to work better and allow for sounder sleep, but initially it may take a couple nights of rocking for quite a while, or having to go back in and rock more/ replace a binky. I hope your LO starts accepting a schedule that works for all of you!

I know it's not for everyone, but we Ferberized (basically CIO with checks) shortly after setting a bedtime and routine, and it made a huge difference for us. Our routine always started the same - bottle, book, PJs, song...but then to actually get him to sleep I would be driving myself crazy past that point. We had to struggle through about a half hour of crying the first night, but after like three days he was settling down no problem (a light up soother in the crib also helped a ton with that) and soothing himself to sleep, and within just a few weeks he was almost always acting tired and sleepy by his set bedtime. At that time he was probably about 4.5 months old and his bedtime was (and still is) 8.

My advice is the same as erinpye's. When my LO was 4.5 months, he could only tolerate 2 hours of wake time before bed and he was solidly on 3 naps by then. He preferred a longer wake time in the morning before his first nap, so 2-3-4 never worked for us. What does the rest of the day look like? Is he getting tons of daytime sleep and taking a late afternoon nap? A nighttime schedule is highly dependent on the daytime schedule - and then a solid bedtime will help you guys get in a groove.

I stuck to bedtime no matter what, but LO's bedtime was MUCH later, largely because it was hard to get him down early. At 4.5 months LO's bedtime was 9:30, and I went to bed at the same time. He STTN 8-9 hours. Naps were totally on demand until he went to a solid 2 nap schedule at about 8-9 months. The number of naps ranged from 3-5 at 4.5 months depending on length and level of tiredness.

@Danizaur: YESSS! Hope your pumpkin sleeps well tonight

@Danizaur: thats how it is for our LO. Most naps end at 3:00 and he passes out the second the bottle touches his lips.

ETA: don't judge but we let him watch 30 minutes of the Goodnight Show on Sprout from 6:00-6:30 because he is soooo cranky. It makes him happy and I get to breathe.

@Danizaur: huge fan of The Chica Show over here. I don't understand why. It's about chickens and Chica the chick only chirps but whatever!