How do you co-ordinate bedtimes?!

[Sunflower999]

DS is nearly 3 and baby is 18 weeks. When DS was little he went to bed around 5:30 pm and was very tired by then. Now DS has his dinner at 5, then bath so bedtime is about 7.30. Baby is having to slot into this routine even though she's really tired by then but DS is so noisy that even if she does go to sleep he'd wake her up. What do other people do about bedtimes?

I have 5 month old and 2.5 year old. I've managed to coordinate bedtimes (only recently) and now they both go up for bathtime at 6.30 and into bed 6.50-7pm. When the baby was a bit younger I'd put him down for a short, late nap at 5ish to keep him going til bedtime. Might that be an option?

At 18 weeks I'd have had a teatime nap (say 4.30-5.30) while I made dinner and then baby would have a later bedtime.

In fact- you are aware baby should stay downstairs while you are until 6 months old? It's a SIDS recommendation.

thankyou both, a late-ish nap sounds like a good idea, only thing is I've never had much success with put-baby-in-cot-and-baby-falls-asleep. She'll fall asleep on me but as soon as I put her down she wakes up. Last week 3 firemen came round, set off 3 smoke alarms and a heat detector and she didn't stir, 10 minutes later I tried to put her down and she was wide awake! But a late nap and me hands free especially around tea time (toddler meltdown time) would be great.

I didn't put baby to bed before us at that age.
When ds2 was 18 weeks, ds1 was 20 months. 5pm was naptime here not bedtime.

Dinner around 7-8pm for toddler and adults, baby napped or drank milk.
9.30pm toddler in bed. Baby either joined storytime on lap if alone, or stayed with other parent in living room. Baby ate or slept in living room until we went to bed and took them with us

Can't baby have nap whilst your prepping dinner, then you can do storytime together around 7.30pm. Eldest to sleep, then take baby back with you to living room and settle them to sleep a few hours with you