Two under 2 - how do you cope?

[excitednerves]

Hello

My DD is now 7 weeks old and I have an 18 month old DS. So far I’ve been lucky that DH has been at home since DD was born but will be starting a new job in 2 weeks.

I’m dreading him working all day but I know I will have to cope and obviously loads of people do. I’m worried I rely too much on CBeebies especially as I’m breastfeeding so I’m sitting around with DD a lot, so I’m also feeling like a crap/lazy mum.

Please give me some tips to keep DS entertained and stimulated and generally tips for coping when it’s just full on, all the time.

Thank you!

Just to clarify - when I say I rely on CBeebies, this is on days when DH has been out/busy, obviously not when he’s helping looks after the kids.

Nothing wrong with CBeebies. Don’t feel guilty about what it takes to get you through the day. It’s freezing cold outside, we are in a lockdown and a lot of tv (some education) is absolutely fine.

My eldest two have a slightly smaller age gap but the pay off is how close they are growing up and how many similar hobbies and interests they have. It’ll be fine. Relax, don’t worry or feel guilty about tv, and enjoy your time with them.

We did toy rotation which helped a lot.

This was long ago so of course we went out a lot to toddler groups tbh

The baby spent a fair bit of time in the pram or playpen.

I'm in the same position - a 6 week old and a nearly 2 year old. My toddler has become a huge amount better at playing independently over the last month or so, so you have that to look forward to soon! Lots of TV here as well, and lots of long walks. Trips to the park work whilst the baby is sleeping. Every day is a battle and it's survival at the moment with no activities to go to!

I used to sit and read with my older child while the younger was breastfeeding. Made sure he got my total attention when the youngest was napping.
The main thing that saved my sanity was, once the baby was old enough to have semi-regular naps, to "fix" sleep schedules so that both children napped at the same time (toddler only napped for about 40 minutes by that time, but better than nothing). And then spent that time purely resting/doing something for me.

Thanks everyone. Yes, the lockdown doesn’t help so we have nowhere really to go except for freezing cold walks!

@RedskyAtnight yes , their naps coincided today and it was blissful!

A good double transport system and the dog needing to be walked saved my sanity