Routine with 3 year old and newborn

[Ohwhocares22]

Dd is 3y4m and ds is 9 days old. Prior to mat leave, I worked full time and dd was a mixture of nursery and family care. Shes always been clingy tone but this has, understandably, gone through the roof since ds was born. Shes frightened of going to bed since I went to hospital over night and no longer has a nap. Dh is on paternity leave and I couldn't manage without him but it all feels very intense and enforced at the moment. I'm struggling to keep dd entertained and theres been a good few tantrums along the way. I feel like I need to rethink her routine but the days are so long and shes not great at playing by herself. What are your routines with 3 year olds at home?

watching as I have a nearly 4 year old and DC2 is due in 2 weeks.

Luckily DH is taking 4/5 weeks off! My plan is to pop the baby in a sling and go out as much as possible on DSs home days!

I had a similar gap. Any chance of your nursery or family care continuing for part of the time so her routine continues? Failing that, you need a new routine-an outing every morning e.g playgroup, library, soft play, park trip, that you can take baby to. Then maybe see friends/do chores in the afternoon. Good luck.

Just saw you were working f/t - did you know you are still entitled to the 30 free hours the 1st term you are on mat leave (not sure about the next one) DS will be staying his usual 3 days at nursery - he's off to school in September so I think its probably better for him to stay used to it.

Dd is carrying on at nursery for 2 days which us a huge help. I'm sure family would continue but I've been wary of her feeling like I'm shipping her off to spend time with the baby. They are visiting and entertaining her though.

I got good advice when I was having number 2. Focus on the 3 year old. The baby needs to be fed changed and leave them down to sleep. Colouring books jigsaws TV will occupy while feeding and changing baby

I am 4 months in to the exact same age gap, and I can't lie, most days that it's just me and the kids have moments of absolute chaos. I feel bad for my three year old, I know she needs me, but I just cannot give her everything at the moment, and we have had to deal with some really shitty jealous behaviour from her because of this.
My saving grace is that she goes to nursery 4 days a week. If you're on maternity leave, your EYE is based on the hours you normally work, so you'll likely get 30 hours free. This saves my sanity.
The rest of the time, I lower my expectations, watch DVDs, play things like puzzles where I can still cuddle baby and try to get out of the house as much as possible.
Good luck!

Ok its good to know its not just me and that some not great behaviour is to be expected. Maybe I need to give us all a break.