First solo bedtime

[Whichschool1]

Dh is out which never happens (lucky I know) and I completely underestimated how useful it is to have another adult at bedtime!!

So far it has taken me 1 hour to settle the baby as the preschooler never stayed quiet long enough for me to feed the baby to sleep (this included playing with sellotape just outside the door - never realised how loud sellotape was!! And shouting "mummy!" a thousand times from downstairs).

Once baby was finally asleep I got preschooler into PJ'S, teeth, read stories, spent 10 minutes hunting down the very specific train he wanted to sleep with.
I walked out of the room and just as I got downstairs baby woke again as she had been asleep 30 minutes and she always has these false starts after the first sleep cycle.

I am currently feeding baby back to sleep and I can hear the preschooler getting louder, no doubt he'll walk in any minute now so the baby will go from drowsy to wide awake again.

This is light hearted, but how do single parents do this? Am I missing something?

For us the trick was to train the baby to sleep through anything. Now they're 3 and 6 and he just passes out even when she's having a drama. Good luck. First time is always the hardest.

My 14 year old has just got her three siblings-one with special needs-to bed as we are both working this evening. She's a hero

Too late for tonight, but preschooler to sleep first. Baby in sling or arms while dealing with the oldest.

This is how it's done 👍🏻

Yeah, toddler first, then baby.

Agree, I used to snuggle or BF the baby whilst putting the toddler to bed (preferably in her wrap so I was hands-free). Then baby to bed. Whatever you can call bed time with a baby!

Thank you! The baby isn't really so baby-ish (9 months) so tends to need an earlier bedtime than the 4 year old but I can see that that would have been much easier!

They are usually both good sleepers but it was just a perfect storm today. Baby is teething so needs optimal conditions to fall asleep this week, so the noise, light evening and heat were not helping!

Preschooler has a bad cough as soon as he lies down, his bedroom is boiling hot and he was a little unsettled as daddy is usually always here to read a story.

I am however now enjoying some cake while watching TV as they are both peacefully asleep so I am winning at last! :D

@DemBonesDemBones your daughter sounds wonderful!

Can you maybe have a bedtime box and strict routine for 4 yo? They can have the same bedtime to. Anyway, bedtime box, clear rules etc if the 4yo must go to sleep later.

I seem to recall sitting on toddler's bed reading stories while feeding the baby as a phase in our bedtime routines. (Long past that now, bedtime is "I'm going to bed, don't stay up too late" lol)