how did you go with the bedtime routine / ritual?

my baby is younger than yours so this might not apply. he is 5 months now.

but

it used to take up to an hour of constant rocking to get him to bed at night; sometimes two hours, with a few attempts at feeding-to-sleep thrown in. (this was at 4 months)
Then,
I implemented a set bedtime and a routine of bath, pyjamas, feed, story, wrap, lights out, music on, cuddle, cot. And stuck to a target of a 6:30-7pm bedtime every night. I even woke him up for the bedtime routine! At "official bedtime", i would not give up on getting him to sleep even if it took hours. After "official bedtime", all wakings were either resettle-to-sleep or, feed then straight to bed - no playtime. I got this idea for implementing bedtime from the no-cry sleep solutions book.

After 1-2 weeks of this, the nighttime struggles stopped. No more evening crying sessions.

Maybe he grew out of it, but I think it was the routine.