18 months and new born, top tips?

[Sparrowlegs248]

Ds2 was born Saturday. Currently I'm.finding things a bit frantic. Ds1 is a busy active toddler, and a bit out of sorts. Ds2 is a big ebf baby.

Any tips for coping with them both on my own? On limited sleep? Ds1 gets up very early so I miss out on snuggling down for newborn cuddles after 5am.

Also htf do you do bedtime on your own?

If friends or family iffer to take DS1 for a bit, let them
Plenty of tv time for dS1 while you feed ds2
If you can get on with a sling - use for DS2 to do bedtime for DS1
Plenty of quick/easy meals and have snacks for DS1

No tips for bedtime I'm afraid. But I found the best thing was to just get of the house. I am a SAHP so we already had a routine of playgroups etc so we just continued with that (once I could drive after ELCS) and DD2 just got dragged along. She is 12 weeks old now and each day is still exhausting but it's so much easier than it was in the early days. Does your older one still nap?
Congratulations! :) it's still early days, it does calm down soon!

Top tip from me (22 month gap with elder 2 children) is to make the tea in the morning if you can. So if you have 20 mins when toddler is busy and baby is sleeping and you are already showered etc, then chop up veg/brown mince/peel tatties etc. This makes the 4pm onwards hell a bit easier!

However your baby is still tiny so please chill out a bit and let people/DH help. I've just had my 3rd baby and was so desperate to prove to everyone I could cope that I hit the ground running and didn't accept enough help in the very early days. I think I didn't want to rely on people helping with the elder two and get too used to it, I wanted to know what it was like to juggle three children from day one. Whereas now I know that I should have accepted more help and taken the chance to recover.

20 month age gap here

Online shopping
Make a meal in your slow cooker in the Morning
Embrace bee bird
Get a cleaner

Mine are 4&2 now and SO much easier

16 months here. Yes to making tea in the morning , slow cookers are a godsend. Lots of CBeebies for toddler , I felt so guilty about this at the time but he is no worse for it! Abandon all but essential housework. With regards to bedtime it depends on how the toddler goes down, I used to put baby in bouncing chair whilst I did bath time , then cuddled both for story then usually ended up feeding baby in dark whilst sitting in with toddler who eventually fell asleep ! I found it the hardest time in my life those first 6 months and I had some dark days but it gets easier week by week. Mine are 2&3 now and it's busy but fine and I'm expecting no 3 so I'm obviously not too scarred !! Be kind to yourself and lower all expectations , you will be fine.

You baby is so new! Give it a few weeks and you will have settled into a 'routine' of sorts

I had 16 months between my eldest two and we all survived!

I now have four. 9, 7, 3 and 4 months. I can do everything on my own by now. I am an expert juggler. I honestly could join the circus

Don't sweat the small stuff (toy mess, pyjamas on past 9am, too much tv)
Get yourself a double buggy. When it's dry, get yourself out for a walk. De everyone some good.
Accept offers from friends and family. Let them pop in even if you're not up to it. It's good for the eldest to get some attention from granny/neighbour etc.

Enjoy those new born cuddles.

Bedtime? Tv and snacks for the toddler whilst you get the baby to feed and sleep.

Or if you need to get the toddler to sleep first then put the baby in a sling to do this.

It's so hard. It does get better. Mine are 4&2 now and I didn't think I was going to get through those early days but somehow we managed.

Congratulations on your new arrival!

I'm 2 months in with a 21 month age gap and it's already got easier although the witching hours have now started with the baby making dinner time pretty horrific with a screaming baby and a tired and hungry toddler!

My tips so far... Get the toddler to help with the baby, fetching nappies etc and get them used to doing things for themselves or at least trying to with your help (getting dressed, putting their shoes and toys away etc).

Prepare dinner during the day as 5pm is horrific otherwise. On a bad day it won't kill you all to have bread, cheese and fruit or porridge for dinner!

Get out the house as soon as you can, otherwise you get dragged into the downward spiral of nappies, feeding, settling baby to sleep.

Accept that there will be times where one or both of them has to be left to cry for a few minutes because you only have one pair of hands.

I put the baby in the sling at breakfast and dinner time and she will generally sleep for a couple of hours while I feed us all, tidy up and play with the toddler.

As for bedtime, DH is fortunately usually home in time but I get the babysitter in to put the toddler to bed when he's working away. First the cluster feeding baby made it impossible otherwise and now the witching hours have started. If I try on my own it usually ends up with two screaming kids.

BTW how was the birth? We were often on the same VBAC threads from recollection!

17 month gap here. Toddler is now 25 months (2 and a bit) and baby is 8 months. First 6 months were v v hard. A bit easier now. Things I do to remain sane are:

• toddler groups. Baby in sling (well he was when he was smaller) and toddler burns off energy
• sling around the house to do jobs
• lowering standards! Don't expect to do a load of housework when you have them both alone.
• kids tv!
• toddler goes to nursery 2 days a week. Everyone benefits. He loves it, baby gets one on one time, it gives me a break.
• try to think about when they are older and playing together! I cling to that some days!

Thanks all. Sadly, ds 1 does not watch TV. At all.

I have a sling and I did use it a lot with ds1 so will be trying that out tomorrow. Today ds2 has done some impressive sleeping. Ds1 woke every time he Wass put down so this is a novelty