5 month old routine

So DS is 5 months next week and I want to get him into a routine... but we've never had one and I have no idea what to do. Prior to getting sick/going on holiday over the past two weeks he'd been having one good 2 - 2.5 hour nap and usually one last 1.5 hours. Everything has gone out of the window since being away when he slept in a pram etc... How long should he be up at this age? And how many day time naps? how long? He's FF and we're about to start solids.

My DD2 (5mos) has roughly three naps a day, sometimes four, and they always tnd to vary in length a little but that's never worried me too much.

She is up on average for two hours at a time, give or take 20mins, and will sleep for anywhere from 40mins to 3hrs.

What is it that is motivating you to change things? Is it just struggling to settle back in after the holiday? And is he sleeping OK at night?

We were away in your neck of the woods for 8 days and things were always up in the air because of her sleeps but that said, if we wanted to go out we did and DD2 just slept in the sling.

Things are still a bit out of sorts now we're home but I was expecting it, and imagine it could last a few more days.

We've just started solids but that hasn't really affected things yet, and we're taking more of a baby led approach to this too.

In short (sorry for the novel!) we're planning to just roll with it, as the way things are now is working really well for us - and I don't want to screw that up LOL

The routine we had (from Save Our Sleep) went:

7am - up and feed
9am(ish) - nap
11am - feed
1pm(ish) - nap
3pm - feed
4-4.30 - nap (usually in stroller)
6 - bath and feed
7 - sleep

When solids were introduced, we gave them at midday, then later added 8am and also 5pm. DD is still on this routine and it works well for us - most of the time!

Good timing! Ashley was feeding 3.5 hourly in the day and sleeping 11 hours at night from 10 weeks to 16 weeks. Then I started to top her up before her naps and it all went to custard. She has since been feeding 2 hourly in the day, 4 to 6 times before bed and waking twice a night. I am certain that for her (not for all babies) the top-ups before sleep are to blame as it has created an association that I struggle to maintain as it means Elle is left on her own far too much.

As of today I am feeding only when she gets up which equates to 3.5 to 4 hourly. It has gone REALLY well today so fingers crossed tomorrow is just as good.

Once I get the nights sorted and hence the day starting at around the same time each day I will probably look towards the Save our Sleep routine outlined above as it will work in great with Kindy runs etc etc and will suit Ashleys emerging pattern. At present I can't get to that point as she often feeds at 1am and 5am and then wakes for the day at 6.30 but isn't hungry....this then throws things quite a lot.