Managing bedtime mayhem with 4mth and 5yr old

[KatyBeau]

Our evenings from 7pm to 9.30pm are a bit of a nightmare. Baby starts to get fussy and wants me a lot. My older daughter objects a lot to strong ready for bed. She often wants me too. Somehow we need to eat dinner between all the crying!

How do other people with babies and older children sort everything out in the evenings?

Watching this one with interest. I have a baby with reflux and a 2yo who has hit the terrible twos. I'm planning to work with the 80/20 rule (or probably 50:50!). My dd went to bed in a skirt, top and 4 pairs of pants the other day because I was too tired to argue. I'm clearly not one to pass advice on, but I think aiming for 'clean, fed, in bed' is all I can do. The 'in bed' thing is bloody tough at the mo!

We eat tea with dc, or at least I do if dh isn't home. Then his just needs reheating when he gets a chance.

Bath together then I take dd2 and dh takes dd1. If she's kicking off and wanting me or if I'm by myself, we all sit in our bed and I feed dd2 while reading stories. Or if it looks like dd2 won't take long, dd1 sits on the bed quietly with a book and waits her turn.

It sounds really easy written down, the reality has a lot more "sshh don't wake the baby" being hissed!

We all eat dinner together then get the girls to bed so at least I am not feeling hungry, we also have bedtime chaos as both my girls want me too.

Trying to eat earlier is a good idea. I'm thinking slow cooker meals.

I wondered about bathing them together, but at the moment baby won't settle to sleep until gone 9pm, so it would mean bath not being part of her bedtime routine. I guess I could make something else mean bedtime, eg a cuddle, book and feed.

Thanks for the ideas!