bedtime routine with 3yo and 4mo

[GirlWithTheMouseyHair]

DS (3.5) has a great bedtime routine (usual bath, stories, bed) and usually chats/sings/reads to himself for an hour or so before actually going to sleep - he's generally said goodnight to by 7:30pm. So sounds like he's up late but he still naps 2hours a day, tried dropping it and it results in horrendous tantrums!!

Aaaaaaanyway, DD is 4months and a screaming wreck by 6:30pm if she's not at least being fed. She doesn't have any kind of routine, how she knows to settle for the night I've no idea!! I guess I always sing the same song while changing her nappy, putting her in a grobag (which she doesn't use during the day) sometimes she has a bath, sometimes not - all depends on whether DH will be home to help with DS.

Argh help! We're moving and I'm going to have to find a better way of managing them which doesn't mean DS watching tv til 7:30pm, missing his bath (thankfully he's got really into having showers with us in the morning) and DD I'm sure would do better for all her sleeps if I had a better way or leading into them - she still does that annoying 40min nap thing (hence overtired at 6:30!), er so help with that too maybe!!

Ugh I dunno, it was all so easy with one child! And eventually they'll be sharing the same room.

Maybe I should bath them together earlier, sit DS infront of the telly while feeding DD (can take 20mins and sometimes have to go back in 5mins later to extra feed her to sleep!) then do stories with DS?

I'm in the same position my ds is 2.11 and dd 5mo an she is still doing 40 minute naps every 2-3hours our routine goes something like this (although timings can vary depending if we're out or I'm not organised

5.30pm dinner
6.00pm dd has nap
7.00pm both bath together, I wash them both and take dd out immediately so she gets around 15mins in water
I then leave ds to play in the water by himself (this only works if child is v v confident in water) while I feed dd and put her down.
7.30-7.45 get ds out of bath and dried dressed story and bed this means he's usually asleep by around 8.15pm

These timings are a bit later than yours but my ds still has a 2.5hr nap around 2pm and if he goes to bed any earlier he'd never see his dad.

My DS loves his bath so maybe I should just leave him there - trouble is DD took 30mins to feed to sleep tonight!!

I just need to be better organised - we didn't even get home from the park today til 6:15pm!

I lie out both their towels/nappies/pjs etc while I'm running bath, and my ds is usually left up to 30mins in bath, although lately he has started climbing out by himself, when this happens I stop feeding dd early and put her down, she usually settles herself to sleep anyway but needs dream feed earlier on these nights. HTH

This was some years ago for me now, but I seem to remember this is how it went........
wind down time/tv 6.30 -7.00
dunk both in bath at same time 7.00-7.15
on with the pj's
quiet time/read older one story and have milk while feeding youngest 7.30-8.00
both upstairs, teeth and to bed.

Similar age gap to yours. Ah, brings back memories!!!

I do bedtime solo almost all of the time with a 3.9 year old & a 6 month old.

bath is around 6.45 & I put both of them in together. DD2 comes out quickly & I leave DD1 to play in the bath for a while. Ideally she carries on in the bath until I have got DD2 dried & dressed, but if not she comes out by herself & puts her own pyjamas on... DD2 is generally knackered by bedtime, & I boob her to sleep while DD1 watches an episode of something quiet/short on my phone (generally Driver Dan!). Then if I am still busy with DD2 she plays in her room for a while, & when DD2 is down I go through & read her her stories. Then I come down & do the washing up

I would love to find a routine that didn't involve TV for DD1, but she won't play quietly by herself for as long as I would need her to. I figure it will all shift as they both get older.

I have a 3 yr old and 6 mo and do a mix of things dependent on how the day is going. Either I give lo a feed and short nap around 6.00 to give him enough energy to do his bedtime routine alongside his big bro at 8 ish or if this doesn't work out for some reason I bathe together then get lo fed and ready for bed with bedroom door open so can listen out for 3 year who stays in bath playing till baby is put down asleep. I really struggled with bedtime with two initially and sometimes still do but it does get easier as time passes. Very quickly the baby will get more stamina to stay awake, will be able to sit supported in a bath chair, will start to enjoy story time instead of bellowing through it etc. Hold on in there it will be less of a juggling act soon .

Thanks for replies. Just keep thinking DS has always been a dream at bedtime and therefore mega easy for babysitters because his bedtime routine has been the same for a long time, and worried that for DD (apart from singing hallelujah while I get her into her sleeping bag and feed her!) it won't be so easy