On becoming Mary Poppins... Toddler and newborn support thread #2

[ThePinkNinja]

A place to continue the complaining conversation about the hair pulling days and sleepless nights fun and frolics of life with a toddler and newborn

hooray!!!

Hello! DS is six days old and DD is almost 20 months old. At the moment, I'm enjoying a quiet, sleepy newborn and a toddler who's being well spoiled by her visiting grandparents, but I expect to be clinging to the last threads of my sanity and seeking the wisdom of the masses very soon.

Ooh can I join please. Dd is 3w tomorrow and DS is 20m too. At the moment he is waking as frequently as she is, and is a nightmare to put to bed. On the plus side he's moved on from looking at her and saying 'gone' to looking at her and saying 'wah wah wah' (as in babies on the bus go wah wah wah!). My mum is staying with us for another 5 weeks but I am already dreading managing without help.

Hello all, can I join too? Not sure of DS qualifies as a toddler anymore- he's nearly 3. DD is 11 weeks- so not really a newborn either! We have good days and bad days...

Ninja thank you for starting this again, was starting to feel a bit tumbleweedy on the last thread!

DS2 is now 5 weeks exactly, DS1 turned 2 on Saturday! Each day is such a rollercoaster of ups and downs. My childminder is off for 3 weeks as of now, so I no longer have 2 days a week with DS2 alone. ARGH!!

I'm really focussing on trying to stay on an even keel and not let my emotions get the better of me. I tend to swing wildly from "everything's simply marvellous" to "the end of the world has come, abandon ship" over the course of...well, minutes, frankly. Trying to remember that as bad as things get, they can be lovely too - sometimes....

I'm still really missing my time with DS1 and still feeling so guilty about how his life has changed for the worse at the moment. DS2 has just started smiling though which is lovely

And flipping nora I could do with some sleep....

Hello to everyone else - glad you're here!!

Hello. We are doing surprisingly well after a rocky start with 2.10 y.o. DS1 and 3.5 week old DS2. DS2 is a champion so far and even slept for 7 hours the other night, though it was preceded by 4 hours of non-stop feeding. DS1 was a fantastic sleeper till 3 weeks and has been dreadful ever since, so I'm not counting my chickens yet...

Our biggest challenge is getting up & out before 11am - I bf them both and it takes well over an hour after waking before I can actually get out of bed.

Yay!! Am so pleased everyone is finding their way here....
And I should have put toddler and baby/ newborn in title :) that's more the point isn't it....

Hope everyone has a sleep filled night.... My little milk monster ds2 doesn't seem to understand the concept of sleeping for more than 2 hours in a go...

Gnight x

Good morning, do you mind if I join? Am currently blearily feeding DS2 who is 4 weeks while encouraging DS1 aged 4 to EAT YOUT CEREAL PLEASE! Today is my first day of doing school run on my tod! So far so good..... Not feeling too bad consider DS2 kept me awake from 2-5am!

I'm in! Ds is 3 weeks and dd 22 months - had my first day of double trouble yesterday, dd is back at nursery today - phew!! Days with just ds are a dream....

Can I say hi? I popped in and out of the other thread, but my 'newborns' are 7 months old now (dts) and my DD is 26 months today, and I am only just now, maybe possibly, coping a bit better with all 3 if I'm only alone with them very briefly! Do i qualify?! I'm certainly barely muddling along.... I have roped in loads of help though and have still only had a handful of full days with no help. Mornings are ok, but with dts dreadful sleepers I am barely functioning by the afternoon...

Wow, dreaming, hats off to you - twins and a 19 month age gap?! Not surprised you're only just keeping your head above water...well done you!

I'm thinking of getting a bit of help for a few hours a day a couple of days a week Finding it really hard to cope with 2 littlies...another useless emoticon! In my defence I have absolutely no family support beyond my (very wonderful) DH...

Whoahthere do you ever wonder why you found it so hard with just one newborn? Coping with one child or the other is so easy, but 2? Gah!

oh also can I ask how people do mealtimes? At the moment I have DS2 in a sling and bounce madly round the room while he screams a bit and DS1 sits and eats looking a bit lonely and fed up It means I don't get to eat much/at all and it's not much fun for anyone. Is there a better way or do I just have to keep bouncing until DS2 cheers up a bit?!

Crazy - I always give DS (22 months) finger food at lunch so he can wander round eating. Granted, the carpet is in a bit of a state but what the hell. At dinner time he is on the highchair and he has his meal with dd (14 weeks) sat in seat on table opposite him as she likes to watch him. I eat lunch on the hop and rely heavily on snack a jacks. Often eat when dd is on gym. I eat dinner when they have both gone to bed, ds at 7 and dd 8/9 ish.

thanks misschicken. DS2 is only 5wks so too small to find much interesting but you give me hope for the future! My DH would have an actual breakdown if I let DS1 roam free with food...

Erm, for me, bounce til the dts cheered up, which was only about 4 months old or so. Sorry... There may be a better way but i haven't found it. classic dm helped calm us all a bit, even though i don't like classical music... Yes, my DD was nearly 19 months old when the boys were born. Tough times, feeding was a nightmare- all 3! But she's a bit more independent week by week now, though clumsy for her age.

Classic fm I meant, lots of singing from me & counting to 10 in my head while chanting this too shall pass

Definitely hope, the dts adore watching DD now. I'm struggling with meals as I need to help all three. I'm doing a mix of blw and pouches. Time to cook is hard though, so not ideal.

crazy yes - looking back now I've no idea why having a newborn the first time was so difficult - it's ridiculously easy by comparison!!

God, the sling bouncing - ds seems to be a very grumpy baby, it's the only way I can get through mealtimes too....

When do they stop crying ALL the time again?

crazypaving for mealtimes DD (now 12 weeks) usually sits in this. As long as she's not hungry or too tired she will sit happily in it by the table. Actually she's fallen asleep in it a few times even if she is tired! She can move it herself but I can also jig it with my foot. They are really comfy, multiple seat positions etc and we got ours cheap off ebay...

Oh should have said she was in it from around 4/5 weeks.

rosanna snap, we have one of those, they're great, I could jig one twin with my foot, feed or sling the other, feed DD if alone. I usually had help when they were littler, so I'd feed both or feed one and foot bounce one to try and stop them screaming and putting easily distractable DD off eating (she hates them crying...). Didn't solve the problem for me but they do like it.

crazy, with DS1 I used to stand bouncing by the worksurface eating one-handed with a spoon while everyone else sat at the table as normal. Odd, but allowed me to kind-of join in.

Hi all,

Dd2 was born on Tuesday and I have a 23mo dd1.

We have been home for 3 nights and feel like we're still in a bit of a honeymoon period but I'm still quite sore from emcs and dd1's behaviour is starting to push the limits a bit.

If I ask her to do something and she point-blank refuses, what the heck do I do??? I'm obviously not allowed to lift her at all due to scar...

Luckily dd2 is sleeping and feeding like a dream so far ...it's the toddler causing the headaches!

Oh and dd1 wend into a bed about a month ago and my idiot dh taught her how to climb out of it so we've got bedtime antics to contend with every night

Rosanna thanks, we have one of those. Very of people with babies who fall asleep in it. DS is going in it now for periods of time happily - just have to be lucky for them to coincide with mealtimes!

AngelDog one day we will have a kitchen diner...one day...

My childminder is off for the next 3 weeks - that's 2 days of peace per week down the drain, and 5 full days to fill! Aaaaaaaaaagghhhh!!