Morning routine with 20 month old

[firstimer01]

Hi, hoping someone can help me with a new morning routine. My husband has been WFH since before we had our DS so I've always had help in the mornings, but he's about to start going away. I need to get myself, DS (20 months) & our dog ready in the mornings so I can get for work. I need to leave the house by 7.45am to drop DS at nursery. Currently DH looks after DS, gets him dressed, gives him breakfast etc, while I shower and get ready. I then leave for nursery drop off and head to work. I work in an office, I can WFH occasionally but can't rely on always doing that when my DH is away.
If you have a similar aged child what is your routine? Do you breakfast first then get ready? What do you do with them while you shower? My DS is incredibly clingy with me and cries if I leave the room, but am still in the house (he's ok if I leave the house and he's with DH) On the odd occasion I've had to shower while I'm on my own with him he's had a meltdown when I've gone into the shower, even if he's in the room with toys!
The dog isn't too much work as we have someone who comes in throughout the day to play/walk him, so in the morning I just need to let him out the back to pee and put his food down before I leave.
Any tips for making life easier for myself? What routine do you find easiest? Thanks

Do as much as you can the night before. Lay out clothes, make sure bags are packed, have a plan for breakfast. Personally I would shower the night before as it's one less thing to cram in in the morning.

Thanks, I was thinking about showering the night before so that's a good idea!

I'm not a fan of night showering so I get up early and shower before I get the toddler up. Prep everything the night before, then we just have to have breakfast and get dressed in the morning. Again, I tend to do things while he's in his high chair eating.

DH and I have to be out the house for work by 7:50, with DD with us for nursery. At 20 months our weekday mornings started with the alarm at 6:20. DH would jump in the shower while I got up and dressed (I'm a night showerer), then got DD up and dressed. I'd then take DD downstairs and park her in the pram while I gave her her milk, sorted the cat, emptied the dishwasher and had breakfast. During this DH would come down, have breakfast and make work lunches for both of us. Then we'd hang about a bit waiting for DH to do his morning poo ( 🙄 ) then all in the car and gone. DD had breakfast in nursery.

Thanks @DragonbornMum & @CoalCraft
Unfortunately I can't shower or do anything before DS wakes up, we're having sleeping issues at the moment and he ends up in my bed 99% of the time and wakes up as soon as I do. If I set the alarm to get up earlier it'll wake up him at the same time.

I'm lucky enough to have a toddler who doesn't wake up until we wake him, so I can get dressed first. In your situation I would shower the night before and get dressed together. I then have breakfast at the same time as DS. To be honest he doesn't need breakfast as he'll get it again at nursery, but it keeps him still and quiet while I have mine. If I'm on my own I do have to walk the dog round the block for a poo so I get up 15 minutes earlier and do this with DS in buggy after breakfast. Then just get in the car and go. I pack my work bag the night before.

Easier said than done I know, but I’d tackle the sleeping issues. The only way we make leaving at 7:40 work is by DH and/or I (we work shifts) getting up at 6:30, getting ready then getting DS up at 7:00 and having 40 mins to focus on him. I also shower the night before and have my clothes laid out with my bag and the nursery bag already in the car or under the pushchair. No breakfast at home - DS has it at nursery and I have it at work. Sometimes if DS isn’t playing ball with getting dressed we’ll bribe with Cbeebies. Needs must at that time of the morning. I can’t imagine trying to get myself ready with DS in tow, even now at 3 but especially not at 20 months.

This. Otherwise the morning descends into chaos. Do all the things you can at night when toddler is in bed and you’re not juggling the two. I also used to make sugar free porridge and blueberry bars for DD’s breakfast - instant breakfast, no mucking about making anything. DD loved them as well, here’s the recipe in case you fancy giving it a go:
https://www.sneakyveg.com/blueberry-and-banana-porridge-bars/

I also bought a thermos flask and made a flask of coffee the night before and left it by my bed, so I could have a quick caffeine hit before getting up…

I shower the night before and get my bag and nursery bag sorted.

We tend to wake at 6ish so have about 1 hour 20 to get ready so I have a coffee whilst LO has a milk and some dry cereal as a snack (nursery does breakfast but if they didn’t then I’d do breakfast straight away and reduce milk) and then we’ll go and brush teeth together, get LO ready and then I’ll get ready whilst she plays with some toys in our bedroom and out the door and to nursery for 7.30. Works well for us, if LO has a lie in then I’ll just try get ready as much as I can before they wake or enough a quiet coffee. Not sure what it’ll look like when I’ve got a newborn in a couple of months to be honest.

I shower and get everything ready the night before. I wake at 5:40 to get ready, alarm doesn’t wake my almost 3YO surprisingly (she sleeps in my room still) I then wake her when I’m ready, get her ready, breakfast and out the door at 7!

I’ve taken my little boy for a shower with me every time for the last few months. It just kills multiple birds with one stone and means I can enjoy my shower without having to dive out the door every 2 seconds to see what he’s doing. We just have breakfast, shower, I have both our clothes sat out on the bed so I put his on first and quickly dry his hair then he goes to potter about while I get ready

Shower and blow dry hair night before I never shower in the morning unless it's a heat wave.

We are trying to deal with the sleep issue but a bout of illness has thrown us of track, we'll hopefully see some improvement soon

These look great, thank you!

Thank you so much for all the messages, I really appreciate it.
On this occasion I'm going to try, showering night before, getting all our things ready, breakfast together in the morning, get DS dressed and then have some toys ready for him while I get ready.
Might be a bit of 'try it and see' until we find what works