Childcare logistics with 3 under 4?!

[cheeseandwine2019]

Hi everyone,

I am excited to be having my third child in September but I am currently worrying about the logistics of looking after my other children and my newborn!

I will have two girls, one age 3y6m and another 2y when the baby is born. Both girls go to preschool 8am-1pm Mon-Fri and my husband is able to drop them each morning and most days could pick them up and drop them home, if he doesn't have a meeting. They would then nap for a bit, so I appreciate it's not a huge amount of time each day where I would have all three of them alone, probably 3pm-6.30pm each day (it seems silly typing it, but I'm worried about coping!!).

Does it sound feasible for me to easily entertain the girls all afternoon whilst looking after a newborn?

We live abroad where childcare is extremely affordable so we do have other options...I could send them to preschool until 4pm everyday, but i would prefer them to be in the home as they're still small. I am trying to find a nanny for afternoons to assist me, but am struggling to find anyone at all to respond to my adverts as it's summer season and no one is looking for a job!

I should add, we live in a HOT country so it's not so easy for me to drag the children out and about to parks/walks all year round!

Does anyone have experience of looking after 3 every day, to make me feel more reassured? Or anyone have any suggestions to make my life a little easier?? As I said, labour is cheap here so I do have options eg. I could have a cleaner come twice a week to do cleaning/laundry. There are no food delivery services here (like Tesco!) so it's small jobs like this that seem hard to me.

Anyway, thanks for reading and apologies if it sounds ridiculous, but I just worry about those initial newborn months, once the baby is 6 months I'm sure I'll be ok!!

Not quite as my eldest had just turned 5 when my youngest was born, but I would have all 3 to look after during all the school holidays, for full days, and sometimes, when dh was working away, for 24/7.
It sounds harder than it is.
I understand your worry, but you worry less with the 3rd. What took an age when you only had one new baby and you just expanded the task to suit the time, doesn't happen when you have 3. I actually found my 3rd slotted right in - so much of an easier transition than 0 -1.

You will really only have them all for a very short time each day, and I genuinely think you will look back and wonder what on earth you were worrying about.

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply and you’re absolutely right. I just needed someone else to say it and it’s made me feel so much better! Thank you 😊 I think until the new baby is here you just have no idea how much impact it will have on your life and setup!!

I had three under 4, fairly similar age gaps to you, and I found a sling a godsend. My eldest went to school nursery 3 days a week and my youngest stayed in private nursery 2 mornings and we just found a nice balance. Don't be so hard on yourself in the early days, we watched a lot of TV in the first month! Getting outside once a day and having some sort of routine really helped us.

Thanks for responding, it’s so helpful to hear how other people have their childcare set up, and to reassure me that I should (!!) be able to cope. It’s those initial 3 months I worry about as I found them so tough with the other 2, but hoping and praying this will be a baby who likes to sleep!!! Thank you.

I had a 3yr 4m old when my twins arrived. It was tough work juggling in the early days (still can be, 14m on!) but you find ways of managing.
DH took annual leave after pat leave finished on the two days I had all 3 at home alone, for a couple of months and then a day/ half day a week. Full days were hard but you might find it ok having all three for a couple of hours. My parents also took my eldest for play dates for a few hours to break the days up.
The hardest part about 3 is not having enough hands! But you will manage.