tips for settling 18 month old and 3 week old for bed?

[buddum]

I have had the luxury of a very easy 18m old dd who goes to bed after a bath and story at 7pm with a minimum of fuss.

now i have to do it with my newborn ds too and its proving very tricky. my dh tries - but often fails - to get home to help so i have to find a way to do it with only one pair of hands.

so far i have been relying upon dd good nature, bathing, feeding and settling ds at about 6.30 whilst she potters round. but he's now 'woken up' from his newborn sleepy phase and is proving v tricky to settle, needing lots of soothing and often waking after a few minutes of falling asleep so i need to start soothing all over again.

as a resut, dd cant get into the bath and often i cant give her any attention for a good hour. by which time shes tired and understandably narked off

has anyone got any good tips for making this work better?

trying to remember what I did at this age, I had one of those rocking swings that I used to put DD2 in whilst DD1 had a bath but very quickly I bathed them together, put the 18mo in first do hair etc then get baby undressed in bathroom put them in for a dunk take them out get them ready then get 18mo out.

Another compromise is keeping your DD up a bit later so your DH is home. Our two have always gone to bed at 8pm, this works for us as they have Daddy time once he is in and finished his dinner also means he can help out with baths etc.

Also remember children don't need a bath every day, I bath mine every second day unless they really need it, I believe that bathing every day is unnecessary and can do more harm than good re: stripping skin of natural oils etc If your DD only gets 3 baths a week it won't harm her.

Remember too this is the worst time with the two of them you will quickly find your routine to suit you, best of luck x

thank you - it seems utter chaos has to reign before we work out what to do. am crossing fingers that DS mutates into one of those 'easy' 2nd children that just fit in with the rest of the family....x

Hi there. I have 14 months between my two and we just sort of popped DS2 in to the routine.

DS1 was having a bath and a story everynight, so I bathed DS2 at the same time, got them both ready for bed and then we would have story/cuddle time on the sofa or my bed and with milk for DS1 and then he would go to bed.

I would then take DS2 back donestairs with me and he would sleep in the travel cot or pram till I went up to bed.

I used to bath my two together (they are two years apart so slightly larger gap) then we'd all sit down in front of a video while I fed ds (dd would have her milk in a cup). I would settle ds in his cot then go and read a story to dd in bed. Ds would sometimes grizzle for a bit, but I would leave him to it while dd had her story (prepares to be flamed by those who consider leaving baby to cry tantamount to child abuse). Almost invariably by the time I'd finished with dd, ds would be asleep if not I would go and give him a cuddle/another bf. Didn't really like leaving him to start with (never did that with pfb!) but I am convinced that that is what turned him into a champion sleeper. DH was also rarely there in the evenings - funnily enough once I'd cracked my routine it was almost easier if he wasn't there as he would generally arrive just as the dcs were winding down for bed and then wind them up again prolonging the whole procedure at a time when I was just desperate to get them to bed so I could have break.

so true! . dh arrived home early last night to help and dd got so overexcited she had a tantrum that then set off ds...so much for 4 hands better than 2!