what to do with the toddler for the 1st months after a new birth?

[SoExcitedMumToBe]

Hello

I'm having a second baby in a few months and I wonder what I should do with his 18 months brother during the first months after the birth. As I am currently working full time, he is with a childminder and I am looking forward for my maternity leave to spend as much time as possible with him, while looking after the new baby (and saving money on the expensive childcare as well)... but I wonder how feasible this is? I would like to hear what other mums in the same case did. Did you arrange some part-time childcare (1 day a week maybe?) to have some time to rest and focus solely on the newborn? What would you recommend? This is only for the 4 months after the birth as I will then be back at work. Thanks a lot for your help.

I was in the same situation, but 3 days a week and my DD went to nursery. She was slightly older - 20 months when her little brother arrived. I kept her in nursery 3 days a week for 2 weeks, then 2 days for a couple of months and now a day and a half until I return to work in April.
Ifoundthis worked really well as I had time to spend with my newborn (and have a few catch up naps) and also, if it had been a bad night, on nursery mornings we all had to get up and out by a certain time which helped with routines for everyone! Plus DD had time and attention focused solely on her at nursery (afraid there is no painting going on in this house with a 2.2 yr old and a horrendously refluxy 6 moth old)
Is tricky as is impossible to predict how they will react to the new baby, how the new baby will be and how you will be feeling!! I think how I staged down nursery worked really well for us as everyone had time to adjust.
That, and lots of toddler play groups and coffees with friends and their toddlers :)

Good luck!!

I only dropped from 4 nursery days to 3, and as I am lucky enough that financially this works for us I'm intending sticking with it for the duration of mat leave. For us it gives the right balance of stimulation for the toddler, one to one time with ds, rest and recuperation for me, playgroups and fun stuff and family time at weekends. And it's still tough, I have no idea how people cope with no childcare!!

DS was older, he was 3. When dd was born the preschool was shut for the summer holidays so he had the first 5 weeks at home with us and then went back to preschool for 2 days a week.

A little continuity of care may be good for DS given the early return to work for you and it would give you some one to one time with baby but either way is good

Will you be putting him back with the same CM after your leave? If so, you may need to pay for his place regardless.