I think bruce is forgetful, because of a mix of lack of vitamins from lack of self-care, untreated depression and self medication, aswell as the lack of sleep,
he's not forgetting big things like a chemical formula or contingency plans, no these are carved into him, but small mundane things, so he compensate by making files and reminders and sticky notes, for example a reminder about how dick's shoe size changed when dick was younger, or jason eyeing sneakers he didn't dare to ask for, tim's new favorite soda brand or cass' pointe shoes are disintegrating, buy new ones.
after jason died it got even worse and he was basically scheduling everything everytime something happened, it was borderline obssesive,
it got better but then bad again when alfred died, because alfred remembered what bruce forgot to note, birthdays, who was mad at whom, the fact damian's favorite color is burgundy and not green, so now bruce is standing pathetically at the grocery store not knowing which cereal brand to buy, or buying the wrong coffee creamer for tim because they looked the same, or accidentally mixing up selina's cats names
obviously he hates it, he hates that he can't show how much he loves his children because of himself, sometimes he'll stay late after patrol scrolling trough files on the bat computer about absurdly mundane things, and feeling regret about the fact this machine knows more about his kids than he ever could remember.