How to do bedtime 2 under 2 alone?!!

[Leeloo22]

Bedtime is hell in our household and a real challenge with settling and re-settling and juggling between kids. Sometimes we have no evening to ourselves at all. How do people do it alone?!
I have a 6 month old and a nearly 2 year old. Me and partner normally take one child each to bath and settle but how do you do this when you’re alone? Partner has a work trip coming up and I feel bad relying on family for something I feel like I should know how to do.. annoyingly both children still need help settling to sleep - is the key to move away from this? But don’t want to use CIO
any helpful suggestions please from a desperate mum with no one to turn to! Times feel really rough

Bath them together to start with which means it’s a one person job. Just get organised before you get them in the bath. Unfortunately for the actual sleep part you do need to move away from them needing you there to settle - it’s not possible to be in two places at once

Start routine much earlier put both in bath together read to them in bath or sing to avoid splashing and getting hyper. Take milk up with you before and take pjs for youngest into bathroom , get baby out first and dress them into pjs and BF or give bottle
Get 2 YO out and put baby straight into bed. Then do story and pjs / milk with toddler one on one can guarantee they would love this special time with tou

For sporadic, I'd settle whichever seems furthest from sleep down with an iPad/similar with something like Night Garden on. Yes, I know the effects of screens close to bedtimes, but in the trickiest sleep phases of 2u2 alone (one parent bedtimes most of the time here), it was the only way sometimes. It meant I could focus on one at a time, which they also loved. For a few days, if it works, I wouldn't worry too much.

Thank you everyone. They’re really helpful suggestions and I’ll give them a go. It’s always at the end of the day when you’re energy levels are the lowest that you need the most energy!!!

Get everything ready FIRST and bath together.

How are you currently settling them for sleep? There may be ways of adapting it to make it easier to do both, or you may need to haveone being distracted while you Get the other down depending on how things arecurrently working.

Sleep training is obviously an option for the older one. How would you feel about that? I have to admit it's not something I personally go for, and that does make bedtimes does make 3 challengingon my own (DH usually out up to 3 evenings a week). If necessary, do you have someone thatcan pop in to help? When my twins were 6 months they were difficult to settle so my mum would come ifDH wasn't around as otherwise they'd end up disturbing their sister and it would all go a bit wrong!