What did you do with DC1, after DC2 was born and your partner was on maternity leave

[angel24711]

Just looking for other people's wisdom.

I'll have my DS1 in full time nursery for 4 weeks after the baby is born and my partner at home for at least one week, maybe two. My DS1 had his second birthday 2 weeks ago, so is still pretty young and very active and doesn't really understand a new baby is about to arrive.

Should I keep DS1 in nursery after the birth for the week my partner is at home? Thinking it might be better for him to keep his routine, but also feeling like maybe it's a bit mean when we could all be at home together. Know I'll also need to recover from the birth.
Just hoping to learn from other people on what they did.

DD1 is 4 and DD2 is 4 weeks. DD1 had a day off nursery when DD2 was born as she was with my parents. She then went back to nursery as normal, except taking an afternoon off to come and get me and DD2 from hospital.

I think it has been really useful to keep DD1 in her routine. She would have been bored at home and resistant to going back to nursery after a break at home.

Bump

Does he do whole days I would probably do just mornings for that week

Ds1 was 2 when ds2 was born and was in nursery 2 days a week. We kept sending him as normal, to keep his routine as stable as possible and to give us chance to get our heads round the newborn thing again! He just did shorter days as didn't need to be there 7 til 6. I had planned to keep him off he if he asked or was showing signs of being jealous that ds2 was at home and he wasn't but that didn't happen for us, he was happy to go in.

Having said that, 4 days is quite a lot - have you considered doing less days/half days for that period?

My dd1 was a bit older, and pt at nursery. We sent her for shorter days, i.e. in a bit later and home after lunch. If she was ft I think we would have kept her home for some days (esp if gps visiting etc) and maybe sent her for shorter days a couple of days a week.

DD went to nursery, but only 3 days per week rather than 5 days per week for the 6 months I was on maternity leave with DS. It worked really well for us (DD and DS are 19 months apart).

DD was 2.3 and kept going to the CM for 3 days a week.

Thanks for the replies, he's doing 5 days at the moment 8-4pm. Half days or shorter days are a good idea. i don't want him feeling excluded from family life, and he loves nursery.
It's a shame we can't afford to keep him on at nursery 2 day a week when I'm on maternity leave, but London daycare is so expensive, by the time the baby is 8 weeks old he'll be at home with me full time.

I'd send DS 1 to nursery as normal, but try and set things up so you can spend some time at the end of the day focusing totally on him when he comes home.

Could you drop him down to 2 days now, but keep him going for longer? Just read your follow up post. Also, you can still accrue & use childcare vouchers, if you get those, during mat leave - would those allow you to keep him in even if only for two half days or something?

Thanks Tendon, that's a good idea. 2 days a week is nearly £800 a month at my current nursery. Which feels very expensive.
I've got him a place in September for a couple of mornings a week for much much less. So it will only be the a few months over the summer with no additional childcare, and I'm hoping it will be easier in the summer when we can all be in the garden