HELP!! Need some kind of bedtime routine for baby, 3 and 5 year old. Any ideas?

[pollyr01]

I've a 5 wk old plus 3 yr ds and 5 yr dd. Now dh back at work and no 3 not sleeping ALL the time it's not so straightforward....
It's getting pushed back later and later with everyone getting tired and the elder 2 feeling they aren't getting any attention...
They generally come upstairs at 6pm with bath/quiet play in room and then books and light out for no 2 c7pm and then I read/chat to no 1 with lights out c730pm. But I've no idea how To slot a baby into that.i tried taking baby up at 530pm but then she seems to feed and feed on and off till 730pm, plus she is still so young she wants to be held to go to sleep otherwise I'm running back and forth putting dummy in. I need some sort of order!! Any ideas?

Baby in a good sling so you can be hands free?

Ds was 7, dd 5 when ds2 was born. I struggled with bedtime (still do 17 months on!) and would do things differently if I could go back! I felt the answer was ds2 going down around 7pm and worked to that, rather than slotting him in around their bedtimes.

Can dd2 feed as you do stories? Do you have a bouncy chair she can sit in for a while whilst you do bath and bed? Appreciate at this stage she'll probably want to be held more than sit, but even if she starts off with just a few minutes in the chair, it may well increase. And if she sleeps to the background noise of stories and bedtime, even better.

I wish I'd just got ds2 used to the general routine of bedtime and held him / taken him downstairs with me until my bedtime, rather than spending the evening upstairs and unable to leave the house after 6pm for the last 17 months! You'd think I'd have it all worked out third time around eh?!!

Good luck with whatever you try, I'm going to watch the thread for ideas

Sorry, can't help but just placemarking as have 3 and 5 year olds and no 3 due in June so have been wondering about the bedtime routine!