13mo + 3wk old - please share your bath/bed time routine

[bluecheesefiend]

Hi

I have a 13 month old & a nearly-3-week old. DH went back to work this week & I am struggling a bit (a lot) at bath/bed time. I'm sure I don't need to elaborate - if you have two DC who are quite close in age, you're bound to know where I am right now!

I was wondering if anyone out there managed to establish a routine or an order of doing things that they might be kind enough to share with me?

I have a horrible feeling I may be told there is no magic answer & I need to wing it every evening... But I feel I can do nothing but a bad job at this point so any advice would be welcome

Thanks

Hey, someone in a similar (ish) situation as me!

I have a 14 month old (DD1) & a 10 wk old (DD2).

Generally DH is here at bedtime so he deals with our elder DD and I deal with the younger.

But, sometimes, I am here alone & this is how it generally works:

I make sure that DD2 has been fed at around 5pm, this should then keep her going throughout DD1's bedtime routine.

I then take her upstairs with us & sit her in her bouncy chair. Thankfully she's quite placid & will happily just sit there for a while.

DD1's routine is bath between 6.30 & 7, bottle & story & then in her cot by about 7.30. She's good at self-settling so never really a problem.

I then take DD2 back downstairs, give her a nappy change & last bottle. She falls asleep on the bottle & then goes in her cot. She is currently sleeping between 9-12 hours per night. (Please god let this continue ).

At the moment, I'm giving DD2 her bath at random times of the day rather than at bedtime. I'll probably introduce a 'proper' bedtime routine for her in a month or so.

How's it working for you at the moment?

As I say, DH is usually here so much easier. I'm just usually on my own on a Friday as he plays footie!

Hello! Thank you so much for responding!

My DH is never home for bed/bath time - ever. Even if he leaves work on time he can't get back to the house in time to be of help & something always comes up at the last minute. ("not bitter" emoticon!)

Currently I'm trying to breastfeed DC2 at 5pm, feed DC1 around 6pm, bath them together at 6:30 ish and then try to ignore one crying while I try in vain to settle the other to bed.

Not fun!

Bump

Disastrous bedtime this evening... Wondering if anyone out there manages theirs with military precision?

Hi, My dd is slightly older - i had a 21 month gap. But my routine from the very beginning has been along these lines...

• upstairs for bath time at 6 with both children fed
• speedily wash dd and leave to play in bath whilst i then wash ds, get him dressed and leave to lie on changing mat ( now he is crawling so gets a bit trickier!)
• into dd's bedroom by 6.30 for stories and feed / beaker of milk.
• ds into cot in own room and final story for dd who is very good at going to sleep.

In the early days i left ds to cry whilst i spentna final 5 mins with dd. I would then go and settle him. After a few months he would be asleep by the time i had finished with dd.

Those first few weeks were tough but i have always loved bath time and now ds is 9 months old they have lots of splashy fun together. Not sure if this helps.... Good luck.

no way DH can get back sometimes to help? or someone else - friend, relative neighbour - it was the one bit i felt I really needed help as often as possible - could DH go in eairlier and get back eariler for instance - for a few week and way
when my DS2 was that age we didn't do a bed time routine with him - he had a bath every few days normally in the morning
so could you give him a feed while DD watchs bit of bed time tv, then upstair - baby maybe watching you both on mat, boucy chair, then
I would do stories in my bed so I could feed DS2 as he normally wanted another feed by then - then into bed for older one - then younger back down stairs with us - till 9ish or so -when i went to bed

My gap is much bigger, 2.5 years, so I realise that makes it easier. Nevertheless, solo bedtime is often very difficult! How I manage is DD1 only has a bath twice a week, and one of those times is at the weekend so I only have to do it on my own once. Sometimes I do her bath before dinner if that works better. DD2 has a bath once a week mostly, at the weekend when DH is here, and just a wipe down the rest of the time. I usually put her in the sling while I'm bathing DD1, if I can I'll put her in a swing/bouncy chair/looking at her mobile, but more often than not she'll be in the sling which keeps her reasonably happy. However there are still often days where DD2 is grizzling/crying in the sling (as she wants me to put her to bed) while I'm reading DD1's bedtime stories. I haven't found a solution, although I might try AnotherName's suggestion of reading older DD stories in my bed while feeding baby.

I have 4, who are 5,4, 14 months and 1 month, so similar age for the youngest 2!

I think that it is impossible for one of them not to be crying at some point at this time of the day, and I also find it quite manic! DH is not home until 6:30 at the earliest, and sometimes not until later than that, so have to manage bedtime for all 4 on my own!

My 14 month old nearly always has a bath, as he is always filthy by the end of the day! 1 month, only bath if necessary, and try and work that in with a weekend when DH is around. 5 & 4 year olds, try and bath every other night, unless they are actually dirty!

Usually try to get tea out of the way earlyish, and do baths at 5:30. DC4 usually in her basket downstairs, sometimes asleep, sometimes awake and crying, but try to ignore to sort out the others into their PJ's. Then 6pm, DC4 has a bottle, also try and keep DC3 amused while this is going on - singing, stories, getting the older kids to play with him a bit. 6:45ish DC3 goes to bed, DC4 back in basket, again ignoring the crying if she isn't asleep! 7pm DC1 & 2 go up to bed for stories. Read to them both together. Then DC4 has cuddling time in the evening once all the others are in bed.

Have to admit, it is quite hectic at the moment. The worst thing I find is if tea is late, as it throws everything else out! Just keep telling myself this is the hardest time at the moment. Must admit it makes such a difference on the weekend when DH is around for the whole tea/ bathtime routine!

Thanks everyone - really useful suggestions!

An0thername - unfortunately there's just no way for DH to be home before 7:30/8pm at the earliest & I REALLY want to have both babies in bed by then! Sadly no family close by, & we just moved here 5 weeks ago so all we know of the neighbours is they have small kids of their own to deal with! Basically if I am to get help we'll be paying for it & I'm not sure we can afford it.

Call me daft but not bathing both babies every night has come as something of a revelation! It's also good to hear about bed time stories for DD1 while DS2 gets fed.

I shall persevere! Thank you for your suggestions.

And 4kidsnobump - bravo!