How do you manage the school run plus a new born? Tell me your morning routines!

[usernametaken]

It dawned on me this morning, whilst chivvying DD to eat her breakfast and get herself dressed that in September we will have a new born to content with as well. How do you manage to be out the front door on time?

Right now our routine is 7am everyone gets up, DD has breakfast. It takes her 45mins to eat 2 pieces of toast or a bowl of cereal (she is slooooooooow) whilst I make playtime snack. At 7.45am she goes to the toilet, gets dressed (whilst I get dressed), I brush her teeth and do her hair, then we have 10minutes of her playing, then we leave at 8.15am. At the moment it works well except DD needs constant reminding to eat, get dressed, stop staring into space, stop doing sums or spellings, stop dancing around etc etc! I have 4 weeks left of school this term to change a few things, 6 weeks of summer to undo everything, then a week of back to school (she will be starting in Reception) before the baby arrives (fantastic timing...not)!

How does your morning work? Is it like a military operation or do you send them to school in their PJs? I don't want to be encouraging/hassling her when there is a newborn to feed and get ready. I'm more than happy to get up earlier but DD needs an incentive to get her going and be on this planet first thing. She refuses to watch TV so I can't use that as an incentive!

She is currently 4.3yrs and likes to do everything in her own time!

[Fennel]

I used to take the baby, without changing her clothes or nappy, to get dd1 to school on time. Til the day the teacher asked to hold the newborn and got too damp and handed her back with a look of disgust

You can milk that newborn status though, everyone will expect you to turn up late looking dishevelled, make the most of it while you do have a newborn to blame for being late.

[MrsJamesMartin]

Get up at the same time you do now, she can get herself dressed while you get dressed, do hair and teeth etc before you even go downstairs, make breakfast you could give baby a quick feed while she eats and you have a cup of tea, then shoes on and out of the door.
I didn't get DS dressed before the school run, just changed his nappy but left him in his babygro then changed him when we got back.

[Scootergrrrl]

Up, change baby's nappy, get DD dressed before going downstairs, breakfast while you feed the baby, playing after that if there's time .
If need be, she can finish her toast on the way to school.

[princessmel]

I would say, do your dd as usual. feed Newborn as and when you can during the morning. While your sitting wth her eating etc.
Then baby will sleep in buggy (or car) and then you feed again when you get back.

Make the snack the night before.

Get her to get herself dressed, shoes etc. My 2 do this. (3 and 6 yrs)

There may be some time when the baby is probably crying (briefly) but that will have to be.

This is my plan from end of Oct....

[posieparker]

I would get up at 6am and have a shower, ensure clothes are out the night before for the whole family (although my last was dc4, with a 5, 6 and 2 year old). Having a shower this early means DH is still around!
All dcs can get themselves dressed and we do teeth before breakfast, otherwise they never get back up the stairs!
When all are dressed go downstairs with baby in carrier, if not asleep, and eat breakfast together. Between 7- leaving time baby will have a feed, that's why I leave so much time free.

[usernametaken]

Ah yes, newborns can go out in their PJs quite easily...it has been nearly 4½yrs since DD was a newborn, I have forgotten so much!
The school run takes 50minutes- from leaving the house with DD, dropping her off and then getting home so once home the baby can be dealt with. Good plan!

I'm trying very hard to be organised here! lol It'll all go to pot in September though, but I can try! lol

[princessmel]

Just go with the flow I say.

[LupusinaLlamasuit]

Alternative to sending to school in PJs: put her to bed in her uniform?

Seriously, you will manage. Baby in a sling helps while doing stuff in the morning and then walk to school. Warm fleece over babygro.

Reward chart for daughter to encourage independent dressing, teeth cleaning etc (it's never too early!)

Have a back up friend/plan for the mornings when it is a real carcrash.

[usernametaken]

DD is very good at getting dressed, just very slow and easily distracted. I haven't had to dress her in years but I still need to remind her to stay on task. Getting dressed before breakfast could work very well. She isn't a messy eater so no worries about mess on the uniform! The newborn can then be fed whilst DD slowly chews her food and sits in maths world!
This is looking more managable now!
I will start with getting dressed before breakfast from tomorrow. Could even have a toothbrush downstairs for after breakfast!

Thank you!

[seeker]

Buy a really good warm fleecy all in one for the baby. Don't even THINK about getting the baby dressed - just a new nappy then into the fleecy suit.

Perfect the art of one-handed standing up breast feeding. I could brush dd's hair while feeding ds.

Second babies are usually incredibly adaptable. They need to be, poor little things1

[BonsoirAnna]

Get an early morning mother's help who will mind your baby and clean up your house while you are doing the school run.

[Guitargirl]

Our routine changes depending on what time DD and DS wake - not the same time every day but goes roughly like this:

Wake 6:30 - 7ish. I have fed DS throughout the night (5 months) so he doesn't wake very hungry. DS goes under his mobile in his cot and DD (2.5) plays upstairs while I clean (my) teeth and get dressed (I shower in the evenings). Then I grab clothes for them both and we go downstairs. I change DS and then give DD her breakfast, she eats and I feed DS. Then DS goes in his bouncy chair while I change DD. Then we're all ready to go, depending on how much time there is left DD either plays while I wave toys at DS or we all do boogie beebies until it's time to get in the buggy to go to playgroup. After I've dropped DD off we come home and I have breakfast and tidy up. I have already resigned myself to the fact that when I return to work the place is going to be a tip. When DS was a newborn I did find mornings quite difficult as he needed to be held all the time. It's much easier now he will sit in his bouncy chair or under mobile. We start weaning in a month and then I will let him loose on a banana for the morning...

[usernametaken]

Unfortunately school is 10miles away (lovely and rural here) and no one from school lives near us.
I'm a little anal fussy about teeth brushing, but she could do it herself. Dressing is not a problem, she is completely independent there, thankfully!

[seeker]

I wish I was a smart Parisian maman!

[thell]

Must agree that even with my 3yr old that for some reason everything runs much quicker and more smoothly if she gets dressed and hair brushed etc before we go downstairs. She used to enjoy having brekkie in her pjs and dressing gown, but 'twas a nightmare to get her ready on time.

[Reallytired]

If I was you I would invest in aitchen timer like this

Make it a game and see if she can beat the timer. Prehaps you could have a star chart and she gets a start if she gets herself dressed in 15 minutes. Or give her another star if she has her breakfast in 30 minutes.

In someways the newborn is harder because feeds can take up to 40 minutes.

I am lucky in that my husband does quite a bit to help me. I find that evenings and the bed time routine is harder.

[Fennel]

I don't expect you to copy this, but what I used to do with super-dreamy-slow dd1 at 4, with newborn dd3 and toddler dd2, was to chuck dd1 out of the back door with her clothes, if she was refusing or just too slow getting dressed. I'd only let her back in when she was dressed. Worked a treat. Especially in winter.

(Fennel wonders why people so rarely take up her parenting tips, they're very efficient).

[lucysmum]

Have done it twice with an april born and july born when the older one was going into reception iyswim. Put out breakfast, uniform, do snacks, put stuff including changing bag in car the night before. Feed newborn even if doesn't really need it to tide it over school run. Don't dress baby - youngest still sometimes goes to school in PJs at nearly 3! Don't worry about being late, nobdody will mind. I used to get up at 6.30 for 8 o'clock school run. can now do it even if kids not up until 7.30 and sometimes wake littlest one at 7.50 so it does get easier with time.

[EachPeachPearMum]

Is it worth asking if there is a MrUsernametaken?
I find mornings 100 times easier when DH is around, as we can divide up the tasks, meaning I get to shower and eat breakfast before school run at 8. We get up around 6:40.

[LupusinaLlamasuit]

lmao at Fennel

Why not go the whole hog and get a whip and bowl of gruel (she could just pour rather than spoon) while you're at it?

[Fennel]

Well, that might be seen as unnecessarily mean, mightn't it Lupus? Whereas a little fresh air first thing helps a child to wake up.

It cut down on the yelling and stress, and saved having to drag her down the street in pyjamas.

You get quite bracing with 3 small children and a job. or rather, I did.

[usernametaken]

Fennel- love that idea! It has crossed my mind several times!

MrUsername is out by 7.15am most days....hence me now starting to think more about September. The bedtime routine doesn't faze me at all as he home by 5.30pm and loves having his time then with DD.

As from tomorrow we are trying the getting dressed before breakfast routine, I think it'll work!

[LupusinaLlamasuit]

Just to say, I have actually taken a child to school (or nursery, can't remember which one it was) in pyjamas. OK they were in the car and we did take the clothes with us and they did get changed on the way. But it was very close.

And I would do it again

[Fennel]

Once we took dd1 into the street in her pyjamas (walking to school), and she got dressed there, but really I preferred the getting dressed in back garden to getting dressed in the street, it was more private.

[bronze]

I get up 45 minutes earlier. Get dressed and feed baby and change his nappy then wake two eldest. They get dressed (clothes laid out night before) while I dress dd. All eat breakfast (I top up baby if needed} all clean teeth and do hair then leave.

Uniform, pe kit, book bag, packed lunches etc all sorted out the night before.

Cereal bars for breakfast if it all goes wrong for some reason.

It can all be done relatively quickly now they know the deal