Milk and bed routine issue...2 kids under 2

[runtus]

How do you put 2 children under 2 to ed at the same time? I'm due my second in May 08 and I'm panicking about how it'll work in practise as my DS1 is still a real cuddler and sits on my lap to have his bedtime milk.

I don't want to suddenly make him drink his mlk in bed without me because his sister has come along but I also don't want to have to make her sit outside on her own......

Was thinking about a small sofa in his bedroom which he can sit on next to me and she can sit on my lap. What does everyone else do???? Does that sound a stupid plan or am I over thinking the whole situation?

Help!

I'd say you are over thinking it!!! I did worry though when my DS came along (DD 23mths).

We muddled through, often he'd lie on the bed while we carried on our bedtime routine. Sometimes DS stays with my DP for a shorter story as he won't listen as long as DD will, she's now almost 3. I kept as much the same as possible and found she wanted to include new babe as well as she was very excited.

The sofa idea sounds nice but you'll probably find there's room for them both on your knee anyway.

Good luck.

your dc2 will probably be already asleep or wide awake whilst putting dc1 to bed. TBH (had a 14 month gap) the baby got dumped in something somewhere whilst we put the older one to bed and the baby got dealt with on demand when the screaming was loud enough

you are overthinking too much!

I really don't want to go down the ignore the younger one for the older one route - I know its bound to happen to some extent but want to try and avoid it being the routine from the off.

Plus, DP rarely home pre-8pm so not a poss that he can have eiter while I put one to bed

From memory we would all cuddle up on the sofa, eldest one would have milk then take them up put to bed but remember the baby probably won't be going to bed at the same time for quite a few weeks.........although you may have to pretend to put them to bed IYWIMM.

15 months between mine and we didnt really get into a routine with DS2 for a while.

we felt it was important to keep up with DS1 routine as much as we could. So we bathed them together (from day 3) which they both loved and then DS1 had milk and cuddles ad stories while DS2 was popped into his pram/travel cots or cuddled too.

It was never a matter of ignoring either one of them - they just fitted together

20 months between mine and DD1 still cuddled on my lap until the day I gave birth for her milk.
We do have a small sofa in her room and now after dressing them for bed I feed DD2 and cuddle DD1 on the other side. She sort of lies back on me and then holds her bottle and my free hand holds the book.
When she is done I chat until DD2 is finished, put her on sofa and lift DD1 into cot, then take DD2 into the other room to finish feeding her.

I do bath them most nights even though we had got it down to every 2 or 3 days with DD1, then I lift DD2 out first and dress her on bathroom floor, then dress DD1, that way we go dressed into her room.

I was terrified of doing this beofre DD2 was born but on the nights DH isn't here and I have to do it it works like a charm, the problem is 2am when they both wake at the same time!

I thinn=k thats what I had in mind, glad I'm not the only one! Guess I just have to find a small sofa to go in DS1's room now.........

Thanks everyone

There is also a single bed in her room (nowhere else to put it!) and when I have covered the sofa in washing and can't be arsed to put it away we sit on the bed, works well either feeding lying down and reading story with her on other side of DD2 or sitting up.

Also if they really want cuddles pile ucshions next to you and feed LO rugby ball style (if you are BFing!) that way you have a whole leg free, this worked when DD1 was ill but she doesn't alway s need it

Hmm the more I think about it, a sofa or something like it is the only way forward. My other half isn't convinced but I can;t see a way round it without really disrupting DS1 really good bedtime routine or totally ignoring the little one when she comes along.

hmmmmm going back a few months, but I'll try and remember. Breastfeed ds on the bed while singing nursery rhymes or reading to DD (who already has her sippy cup of milk). Put ds in his cot to settle first, then dd. Absolutely no baths until the weekend when DP was at home! (way too much stress)

14 months between my two and bedtime routines weren't so bad. DS1 always had bedtime milk and story and one of us would settle him to sleep in his bed while the other was with DS2. There were nights when my DH was returning from work to join us for dinner and then back out in his office to study until the wee hours, during those nights i settled them both on the sofa and transported DS1 up to his bed when ready. Think DS2 was only months old then - very tiring doing bath/bed alone.

It was more go-with-the-flow when b/f DS2 though, DS1 would sometimes have to fall asleep listening to story while his brother fed for hours on sofa. I think we just did what we did at the time, nothing planned and it all worked just fine.

HTH and was not a waffle.

annoyingdevil - yup agree. Is so much easier now when they are almost 1 and 2 but in the early days it could be a nightmare bathing, drying, dressing, putting them to bed. I don't know why i braved it alone - something my mother must have instilled in me - bath, clean clothes and bed