How do you get yourself ready on a morning with the children?

[CapaldiL]

I am soon going back to work and wondering how people manage to get themselves ready for work when they are also getting a child dressed/ fed etc.

DD is one and DH goes to work early before she gets up around 6am. I need to get her dropped off at nursery at 8am and then get myself to work. When do you shower, do make up etc? She doesn't play independently for more than a couple of minutes and I could shower the night before and then put a bit of mascara on in the morning but I'd just feel a bit grotty.

What age are your kids once they can dress themselves and leave you for 20 mins to get ready?

If you know a rough time your child wakes up, get up half an hour earlier.
Mine are older now so it's slightly easier but I still wake up at 5.30am before waking the kids up at 6.50am.
In that time I shower/hair/makeup etc get their uniforms out, pack my lunch, maybe throw some stuff in the slow cooker for the evening. While they eat breakfast I usually do their hair or load the dishwasher, stick a wash on etc.
You do just get used to juggling it all. Get in a routine and it works.
I could make it easier myself by sorting stuff out the night before but I'm usually too tired.

I used to do make up at the kitchen table while the kids ate breakfast. I just left them playing to have a shower. Maybe in a bouncy chair in the bathroom if young enough. They get used to the idea if you keep doing it.

I do the ironing, pack bags, make packed lunch etc the night before. In the morning I get up an hour before baby, do my make up, shower, get dressed and do hair. I have breakfast with baby and then get him sorted then leave.

Hi op, I'm a SAHM so not in the same position as you but I do get out of the house by 9 every morning mon - fri for one and a half ds' baby groups / activities. Fiancé out the door long before we're up so I do have experience of getting myself and a young child ready by a certain time just the 2 of us. Here's what helps me:

• shower before bed in the evenings instead of in the mornings.
• routine so doing the same thing in the same order each morning helps things run quicker.
• ds and I eat our breakfast at the same time. I sit with him at the table while he's in his high chair so breakfast time is cut in half plus he tends to eat more if he sees me eating.
• get stuff ready the night before! Every evening I lay my son's outfit out on the coffee table and also have some breakfast options laid out on the table. Sometimes I choose my own outfit too.
• I have a see-through bag with the essential make-up only inside so no rooting through lots of things in the morning. Make-up takes 5 mins and I do it while c bee bies is on.

I appreciate 9am obviously isn't the same as 8am but I hope this helped! Good luck

I shower the night before. Do hair and make up when little one is having breakfast. My DS is also in nursery for 8am so I know how hectic it can be. The TV always helps for 10 minutes if I really need it.

DS is 12 months now but I've been back at work full time since he was 8 months. Routine is key! I sort his bag for nursery and my own work bag, lunch etc the night before so I just have to grab them in the morning. Even better, if they can be put in the car the night before so there's less to carry out in the morning.

We co sleep, so I tend to wait until DS wakes around 6:30/7, get him up and dressed then he sits and plays with a few toys in the bathroom/bedroom with me while I shower and get ready. We then leave the house between 7:30/8 depending on wake up time and he has his breakfast at nursery. Breakfast is the one thing I can't ever seem to fit into the morning routine for myself at home, so I tend to have it at work. Luckily my work are also flexible about start time, which can vary from 8:30-9:30 depending on traffic.

Life is hectic Mon-Fri but doable if you're organised about it

I used to shower the night before. I know what you mean about feeling grotty though so I bought some flannels for pits and bits.

Either get up before she does or pop the baby in a travel cot or playpen near your bathroom so you can at least hear if not see her. Then jump in shower - ok she may protest but you know she's fine - there's a difference between 'I want some attention' cry and 'help me I'm being eaten by the cat' cry. Then out and chat and engage while getting yourself dressed - a good thing is to describe what you are doing 'So I'm going to wear my yellow blouse with my blue skirt today what do you think baby?' Blah blah blah.
I think I was still helping my kids get dressed when they started school...

Shower the night before, do hair the night before. In the mornings we get up between 6 and 6.30 (he always wakes me up never the other way round), and are out the door by 7.10.

I work in an office so have to be semi presentable, and it's just me and DS so there's no OH to help.

I get DS up, changed, put cbeebies on, get myself dressed (clothes ready the night before mostly), make up and hair get done in living room, then grab lunch out the fridge and go.

Shower the night before. Get clothes out with a nappy so saves time on a lo ring. Take my make up to work and do it in the toilet

We need to be out of the door for 0720 for breakfast club at 0730. DH usually leaves around 7, and just gets himself sorted.
I get up at 0530 so that I can shower, have breakfast and a cup of tea in peace before the rest of the house wakes up. The DC get woken at 0630 if they're not already up. When I've finished my breakfast, I sort out packed lunches. I fill in reading records and sort school bags the night before. Once the packed lunches are in, I dump them by the front door so that I know they're done. I try to have it all done by 0630 so that I can focus on getting the DC fed and motivated.
Mine are 6 and 8, so more independent, but I have found that telling them that they can have an episode of something on TV is motivating for them. They know that they need to have had breakfast, be dressed and have teeth brushed before the TV goes on. They will dress themselves, which is helped by them having extremely organised wardrobes, so they know where everything is.
Whilst they're watching TV, I clear up breakfast mess and try to get the kitchen back into a presentable state so that I don't have to deal with it when we get home.

I second the getting up earlier than your child. Let's you sort yourself and then you can just focus on getting her ready.

How long does it take to drive to nursery?

Thank you all for the ideas, it's good for thought. Nursery is a 10 minute walk away then I walk ten minutes to the tube to work. We live in central London so no car.

I think I need to consider getting up earlier than LO, either that or shower the night before. She still wakes in the night so I try to prioritise sleep but I guess it won't be forever!

I get up at 6 to get myself ready, but about once a week DS still beats me! 😣 I close all the bedroom doors and let him roam the landing and bathroom while I (very quickly) shower, and similarly let him roam the bedroom (with the door shut, so that he can't go cause havoc elsewhere) while I get dressed and put on makeup. He's 18 months now, but I've been doing this since he was too big to go in his bouncer while I showered. Tbh it's fine (not as nice as getting ready in peace, but fine!) and I'm always surprised that other people list showering as an impossible task with a baby/toddler, but I don't know if I'm just lucky? He's not a very chilled toddler in general but he is happy to charge around like a lunatic as long as he can see me.

I shower the night before and then she watches me her ready and bumbles around the room.

I shower the night before and get everything ready the night before.

Mornings are like a military operation!!

Dd is at school now but when she was at nursery she was given breakfast there and they brushed teeth afterwards. So for her it was nappy, dressed and milk.... really basic!

I wash my hair in the evening (every few days) or at the weekend, so am about three minutes in the shower.
Makeup I also do really quickly and a bit later on.

My plan when I went back to work was to get up 20 minutes before DD and be ready when she woke up. Unfortunately she then started waking before me so I used to put her in her cot or pram with toys and have a quick shower then she’d play on my bedroom floor (often causing havoc) while I got dressed and dried my hair, get her dressed and I’d do my make up while she ate breakfast then often eat mine while I did last minute stuff in the kitchen.
As she’s got older this has evolved a bit into her playing in her room or playing on my tablet.
My main advice is to put on your top or dress last as there were far too many times that DD got breakfast or toothpaste or general mess on my clothes when I got dressed too early in the whole process.

Good advice above. As for what age they can dress themselves - my daughter was great at dressing herself at 2 1/2, but seems to have lost those skills at 3 and needs constant supervision and encouragement or it doesn't get done!

Ew showering the night before is a bit grim surely?? Get up before little one or just get ready anyway and ignore the crying. Has to be done

@Looneytune253 a shower in the evening is still a shower once every 24 hours. I can assure you I smell / am just as clean as when I used to shower in the mornings and it's not very nice to describe someone else's hygiene routine as 'grim'.

I shower the night before.
Get up at 6:30, get dressed, do make up, let dog out for a wee and feed him.
Wake dd up at 6:50
Get dd dressed and in the car by 7:05.
Leave house at 7:10 latest to drop at nursery at 7:30
Dd has breakfast at nursery and i eat at my desk.

My DH leaves at 7. He showers first while I have 18 month old DD, then I shower while he has her. DD likes watching me dry my hair (she loves the hairdryer!) so that makes that easy. If I still have to do make up after DH has left (I wear minimal make up so it literally takes 5 minutes or less!) DD sits in the bathroom with a drawer full of safe items she can go through (she loves random stuff! She takes it out a little drawer and puts it all back in again). She often wanders off, but I just bring her back in if she does that and distract her with something else! If she won't sit still and constantly wanders, I give her Hey Duggee to watch on the tablet.

5 year old and 3 month old come in the shower with me. Baby lays naked on the bed to air dry while I blow dry 5 year old hair. 5 year old gets herself dressed in her uniform while I dress baby and out my makeup on. All down together for breakfast. Takes an hour tops.

@Looneytune253 You could argue that not showering at night is equally grim. Just think. When you shower at night, you get into your bed all fresh and clean. When you don't, you're taking the day and putting it all over your sheets.

I personally can go either way, sometimes at night, sometimes in the morning. On a Friday I shower at 3pm because of the nature of my work on a Friday so I literally stink by the time I get home. I can't get worked up about specific shower timings.

Everything ready the previous evening. Children were always evening bathed until old enough to sort themselves out properly.

As babies they were put on the floor in the bathroom whilst I got ready.