Routines - newborn & 3 year old

[FlirtyThirty]

Please tell me all about your average daily routine with a newborn and a 3year old!

I am about to have my second, and whilst I'm reasonably relaxed about finding our way into some form of pattern, I'm just trying to get my head round remembering exactly what a newborn requires and how our lives will adjust.

So...I'm interested to see how others do it...

Thanks!

Play it by ear, is my advice, having had a newborn and a toddler three times! You have no idea what this baby is going to be like. I wrote a tips post a while ago on my blog - let me go and have a look for it and I'll put a link here. Have picked up heaps of tips over the years

Watching with interest, I have a 2.5 year old dd, and a 5 week old dd, & dh goes back to work tomorrow!

part one and part two

Hope they help!

I think the main thing I had forgotten was how much they feed in the first few weeks and that those feeds can take quite a while and that you have to factor that in to what you're doing - you can't just hand a newborn a packet of raisins or a banana to eat in the pushchair/car seat whilst you go from A to B but you actually have to stop, sit down & feed them for 30 mins or so.

The other thing to realise is that DC1 will probably continue to dictate the routine, especially if there are pick ups & drop offs to factor in. As a result, my DC2 has more but shorter feeds than I think DC1 did at this stage as DC2 has a quick feed just before drop off to tide him through the 25 minutes or so that that takes and then has a longer feed when we get home and then, again, has a quick feed just before bathtime and then a really long feed once DC1 is in bed (which I love - we curl up in bed together & I read whilst DC2 sucks contentedly).

Can your DC1 go to the loo (or potty) independently? Get snacks? Get a drink? If not, when you sit down to feed I'd suggest getting one ready for them if there is any chance they may want one as otherwise you'll be having to get up & down during a feed.

Good luck!

DS is 20 weeks now and DD was 2.9 when he was born. I worried and fretted constantly before he was born as I couldn't imagine looking after both, but it's been pretty straightforward. DD was still napping for the first three months which made things easier, and she's at nursery some mornings a week so I could spend my time one on one with DS. When DD is around I pretty much focus on her unless DS needs feeing or changing, but then shes very helpful and wants to be involved with him.
DD at this age had a proper routine with daytime naps structured in etc, whereas DS does not, apart from his bedtime routine. It doesn't seem to have caused a problem; he's a very easy going chap, but I will need to get to grips with that soon as I go back to work in five months and will need to get him settled before he starts at nursery.

We had our 2nd DC a few months ago. So at that stage I had a just gone 4 yo and a newborn.

What I quickly realised was that I needed to get as much as I could done as early as possible in the day, so that if anything got delayed or went 'wrong', I would be ok for a while, eg I made it an absolute priority to prepare DS2's bottles before I did anything else. I also took whatever opportunity I could to dress, wash and clothe myself, as if we needed to leave the house or were running late, at least I knew that I was ready. To the point that i put on my shoes, rather than slippers, when I got dressed!

CBeebies is your friend. For the first 12 weeks I was happy / ecstatic to just get through each day.

Encourage your 3 year old to be independent and choose own clothes, try to get dressed.

Try if you can get out every day. Even for a walk to the park / shops. Don't make too many firm plans. But meeting friends in parks etc are ok as long its not raining / snowing.

Luckily DS still napped when DD was born and sometimes they managed to sleep at the same time - so I slept too. In fact when DS was at playgroup I would often sleep and not go to classes etc.

Buy a sling. Not a baby bjorn but something like a close carrier where baby can sleep and you can pay your 3 year old lots of attention / get on with jobs.

We had lots of really easy dinners to make some we still make now.

We have it ok now DD is 15 months and on the whole if the wind is in the right direction it seems to go ok. Some days are a delight. But the first 3 / 6 months were the hardest thing I have ever ever done.

Sorry that was a bit of an essay.