Poll - Help! What do you do with a baby and a toddler?

[Beartime]

OK I'm going spare and at risk of suffering from postnatal depression trying to figure out what to do with my 2 wk old dd and 20mth old ds. Especially when they are both crying at the same time! But then it occurred to me that lots of people do it - so can you tell me your answers to the following to give me some ideas pleeese? Even if you only answer one it will help!

What do you do with your toddler when you are:

bfing your baby
putting baby down for a nap (upstairs)
giving baby a bath

What do you do with your baby when your toddler is:

having a bath
needing help to go potty
eating a meal and needing supervision
being put down for a nap/bed
having some 'mummy time'

What do you do with both when you are:

doing the housework
making dinner/lunch
clearing up after meals
doing deskwork

It just seems like i am constantly putting ds in the playpen while I deal with dd, and he starts crying, or dd in the cot while i deal with ds and she starts crying!

Thank you in advance

bibis - why would you put the baby in the cot everytime you need to do something with the toddler? im sorry but that would mean running upstairs every 5 mins. what is wrong with putting baby on a chair (at 2 wks baby wont roll off) or on the floor? i used to put a sheepskin on the floor and baby would lie and kick. its not like they are going to go anywhere

I found the playpen very very useful. I used to lie the newborn in it so at least I knew ds couldn't get to her whilst my back was turned.

It didn't stop him lobbing stuff over the top though

Also useful to chuck toddler in whilst you get milk in/answer the door/ do the millions of other things that you will be trying to do.

And if you haven't got Cbeebies get it now!

Nailpolish

We had a travel cot in the sitting room as well as a normal cot upstairs, so used that when downstairs. Also I was probably thinking what we did with the last baby (number 4) so there were 3 older ones to consider, just felt it was easier and more reassuring to have baby out of 'harms way'

Also, certainly in our house the babies seemed to suddenly be able to roll or wriggle places and it is easier to get into a routine from the start, everyone does things differently.

When I left dc4 on the sofa once I almost sat on her as I forgot she was there, safer in travel cot methinks

18 months between mine. Definitely agree that naps downstairs are easiest. My ds naps in his pram whilst my dd and I read a book together on the sofa (mummy time) and then she naps too. This took a while to establish but it now means they are both asleep for two hours.

Dpending on my level of exhaustion, this time is when I either nap, do the housework/paperwork, make calls or prepare something for tea (recommend casseroles, jaket pots, tuna pasta bakes, baked fish/chicken etc that can be prepared in advance and then shoved in the oven to cook themselves when tea time approaches)

As others have said, it really does get easier in time. It took a few months but now my two do everything at the same time. The first thing me dd asks for in the morning is her brother. They play together, eat together, bathe together, go to bed at the same time. The baby will fit into whatever routine you put it in (eventually)-stick to what works for you!

I keep a small box on the fireplace with a selection of toys/ books/ bits and bobs in, and change them every few days. When one needs plonking down for a bit- nappy change, potty emergency etc there's always something immediately to hand to entertain the other one. Car boot sales are great to get mountains of things cheaply so you always have something with novelty factor to hand.

It is awful when they are both wailing at the same time, but it happens. I still get flustered when they do this- love your TBM phrase Kathy, will remember that one!

Oh, and cbeebies is invaluable, esp when bf!

mine 14 months apart and naptime was the biggest trauma for us for 1st few months, as ds2 v poor at napping, esp on his own. So, new regime as follows. ds1 at nursery in the mornings, so i lie down with ds2, feed him and we both snooze. ds2 comes home at lunchtime and goes straight to sleep, ds2 and me then go and lie down. once both asleep i sneak out if not asleep and potter about, cook dinner etc. Cleaning gets done when ds1 is at nursery. We all eat together in the evening, earlier than we'd choose, but stops dp and me getting stressed about whether we'll actually get any dinner! dp does most baths and lots of cooking too - I'm lucky!

bibis @ you sitting on the baby