mums of two dc, please come and tell me how you get them both into bed at night!

[waytoomuchchocolate]

hello!

so how do you get 2 off to bed at night?!

ds1 is 2.4 and goes to bed about 7.30ish. he has been having milk, then bath, then story, then bed.

ds2 is 9 weeks and happy going off at about 7ish now - but i can't seeem to work out which order to do milk/feed/baths/stories etc with two of them involved!

start to finish it's taking about an hour a half and ds1 is running riot whilst i try to feed ds2 after the bath!

and tonight i have an egg-sized bruise on my shin from running into the bed corner darting from one to the other as it all went pear-shaped!

argh! please help and tell me how you do it! i think i need an entirely new plan, rather than trying to do the old one for ds1 and squeeze in ds2...

thanks a million for your help

No tips but I'd be interested to know too! I've been doing normal bath for DS (2) whilst DD (6 weeks) is in her bouncer dunk her in at the end, dress her and return to bouncer, then hope she lasts there without screaming whilst I dress DS and put him in bed and then feed DD and put her down.

My two are older now and it is much easier - those early days were a bit of a mess! IIRC the way I got thro it was not to worry too much about the routine for DC2, concentrated on keeping things straight for the older one instead. In fact DD (the baby) didn't have a bath regularly until she could sit up and they both went in together. I would quite often be feeding DD while reading DS's bedtime story.

I also played it by ear in terms of a 'proper' bedtime for DD, she used to stay downstairs with us until around 4 months, by this point she was much more settled in the evenings and I knew we wouldn't be up and down stairs too much.

In a longwinded way I'm trying to say make it easy on yourself!

thanks crumpet! i know what you mean about hoping they manage to last without screaming - story of my life (and the dc's) at the moment!

i might need to consider a quick 'dunk' for ds2 rather than the leisurely bath he has been having! poor ds1 is sitting cold water by the end

i need to get ds2 off earlier than ds1 though as ds1 usually has a late sleep in the afternoon (can't make it all day without a sleep still).

so maybe i just need to dunk ds2 and put him straight down, with no leisurely feed before bed....eek, not sure if he will sleep without that?!

Agree with Rhinestone (hi ) that it maybe easier if you concentrate on DS1 and let DS2 stay downstairs with you in the evenings rather than trying to get them both to bed iyswim.

DS1 was 2.4 when DS2 arrived so similar age-gap - as it was DS2 has always loved baths since day 1 so I was able to bath them both together and DS2 would happily lie on a bath support wriggling whilst DS1 played around him. I would get them both out after about 15 minutes, let DS2 lie on the bathroom floor whilst I dressed DS1 and then dress DS2...bring them both downstairs, let DS1 watch telly whilst I fed DS2. When it was DS1's bedtime, I left DS2 downstairs on the playgym whilst I took DS1 to bed - although this was easy as DS2 was (and still is) such an angel baby when it came to sleeping that he would be happy to lie there quietly and would just fall asleep at some point in the early evening.

2 years later, our routine hasn't really changed much since then although obviously DS2's bedtime routine is a bit lengthier as he expects to be read a bedtime story - the cheek of him

At about 4 months, it became obvious that DS2 was falling asleep just after 7 so I altered it a bit in that I fed DS2, left DS1 watching telly whilst I quickly took DS2 up to his cot (literally took a minute to put him in his grobag and say goodnight) and then go downstairs and snuggled with DS1 for a while.

Oops the bottom 2 paragraphs should be the other way round - no idea how that happened

thank you rhinestone and ceebee!

good advice, and really helpful to hear how others have managed it.

i think less baths for ds2 seem to be in order

I used to do DS2 first. DS1 would be in the bath as I was feeding DS2 (right by bathroom as only 19m gap!). I would then put him down in the crib and get DS1 ready for bed. DS2 was luckily a very calm baby and would drift himself off to sleep.

I found the baby a lot easier to mould round DS1's little routine.

Wow, people have this so much more sorted than me. I have DS who is 2.6 and DD who is 14 weeks. I've tried various routines over the last 14 weeks with varying degrees of failure....I'm currently leaving the older one downstairs watching TV/playing with toys/trashing the place while I bath the baby/dress her/feed her and put her in bed.

Then start on the toddler because he takes about 45 mins to an hour to bath and get to bed and is doing all the getting out of going to bed excuses under the sun so I can't see how I'd manage to juggle them at the same time.

My preferred solution has been getting DH to get home by 6.30 so he can take one DC and I take the other but that's not very reliable. Oh to have a nanny for an hour every evening......

oh for a nanny - YES! don't worry lovelymama, i definitely don't have it sroted AT ALL! ds1 isn't in a bed yet even though he's 2.4 - bed is hard enough with him without adding in him actually being able to get out of it

thanks too smokin, v helpful.

waytoomuch don't worry about DS1 not being in a bed yet - 2.4 is still very young. If he is happy in his cot, definitely leave him there. Biggest mistake we made was moving DS1 into a bed before DS2 arrived...the combination of realising that (a) he could get out of it and (b) me, DH and DS2 were all in one bedroom and he was in another room all by himself created lots of interrupted nights!!!

thanks ceebee, that's kind of what i thought might happen to us! hope to wait until ds2 is in his own room before we try it...

thanks all

hello there

just thought i would share my bed routine with you. I have three!

I bath my 4 and 2 yr old together while my 6 mth old is lying on a changing mat being entertained. ( did this from 2 mth onwards) I put a nappy on my 2 yr old and she can go and get her own pyjamas on whilst I am drying the 4 yr old.

When they are all dressed, I take them down to watch a DVD whilst I bathe and put to bed the 6 mth old.If they are in an argumentative mood, I bring the 4 yr old up to help me with the bath. The 6 mth old is usually in bed by 7.15pm, the 2 yr old by 7.30pm and the 4 yr old by 7.45pm.

Eventually, I aim to bath all 3 of them together but want to wait until my youngest can withstand all the splashing first!

By the way, all this is happening whilst my husband is in the kitchen clearing up. I deliberately got into a routine to do it on my own as he goes away sometimes and I have no family nearby.

Ds 2.5, DD 7weeks.

5pm put supper on table for ds, b/f DD.

5.45pm bath. Both get in together, DD out after quick wash to be dried and dressed in bathroom whilst ds plays in bath.

6.00pm DD in xhair/on playmat whilst I get ds out of bath and dressed.

6.15pm everyone downstairs, ds gets beaker of milk and and tv. DD gets b/f.

6.50pm everyone upstairs. DD is hopefully so full of milk she dozes in chair or Moses basket. Clean ds teeth, one story and bed. Then sit with him whilst he falls asleep.

7.30pm me back downstairs for large glass of wine keeping ear out for DD wanting top up.

One more view here, my first was 2.9 when second was born, so a slightly bigger gap.

We do bath every other night due to dry skin, and so would always bath both when it was a bath night. I put them in together using a towelling bath support for the baby. Put up with the odd bit of crying if I had to while helping the toddler get dry/dressed.

The rest of our routine happens in the toddler's bedroom: is then to have milk on the bed, then brush teeth and sit together for story. The key that I remember was to be feeding the baby while reading with DS, so he hardly noticed she was there, and by the time his story was finished she was practically asleep and quite easy to put down.

Lots of ideas for you on this thread, good luck in getting it sorted!

I have two DDs (4 years and ten months) and find the best routine is approximately:

5:30pm - dinner then tidy up time
6pm - DD1 watches 10 minute TV programme
6:15pm - all go upstairs, lie DD2 on old towel with nappy off
6:25pm - put kids in bath (by this time, DD1 has undressed and put her clothes in the wash while I get the towels and other stuff)
6:35pm - take DD2 out of bath and DD1 washes herself while I get DD2 dry and dressed
6:40pm - DD1 comes out of bath, I dry her and she gets dressed
6:45pm - DD1 chooses her bedtime books and starts looking at them while I read DD2 her story and give her bottle
6:50pm - DD2 is in her cot and goes to sleep herself, while I go to DD1 and read stories and she drinks her milk
6:55pm - DD1 brushes teeth and goes to toilet before I tuck her in to bed
7pm - go downstairs to cook dinner

I started doing this more or less when DD2 was a couple of weeks old and DD1 was three a half, and it works for me - they are both calm and so am I. It can be done!

What i did with a similar age gap was
a)they shared a bath from about 6 weeks on. dd2 came out quicker, and I dried and dressed her in the bathroom while dd1 splashed happily about. Top up feed for dd2 if hungary.
b) all went together to dd1s bedroom.
c) dried and dressed dd1 there
d) put dd2 in boucy chair while read dd1 story gave milk and put her to bed
e) took dd2 to out room, fed and put to bed.

Which all sounds a lot more calm and less tearful than it in fact was, but generally worked pretty well.

10 month age gap here and I'm on my own :)
5pm ds1 (4 months) goes down for his nap
5-5.30pm dinner for dd1 (11) and dd2(14mnths)and tidying up
5.30pm dd2 (14 mnths) gets bath into PJ's and sits in buggie to watch cbeebies (I know, I'm a terrible person don't flame me)
6pm dd2 has bedtime milk
6.30pm ds1 gets woken, bathed and ready for bed
6.55pm ds1 in bouncer while dd2 gets story in bed
7pm dd2 in bed and done
7.05pm ds1 last bottle of the day
7.30pm ds1 in bed
8pm collapse on sofa with dd1(11)