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Austin Babies
Moms of 2+
(As in two or more kiddos, not kids older than two.)
Flying solo with both kiddos all week has made me realize something. DS is on the verrrrry brink of mobility. He can get where he wants to go if he really wants to go there, and he's super slow about it. But sometime in the not-too-distant future, he's going to be on the move all.the.time.
How on Earth do you bedtime routines by yourself? Right now I can just plop him on a blanket in the hall while I do bath, and he hangs out in her room while I do books and songs, but what about when he's graduated from the potted-plant stage and can move when and where he wants?
What do you do with your newly mobile kid during the bedtime routine?
Dear Bump: You suck.
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Re: Moms of 2+
Well - we have a wider age gap, so we don't have quite the challenge. A goes down later than N. So - A gets to watch a show while I put N down (if DH is out of town like this week.) Or she can play, color, whatever really. She's almost 5, so it's not too big of a deal for us. I don't leave N unsupervised for more than about 2.5 minutes b/c that's just asking for trouble.
However - last year when we were displaced from our house for 8 weeks, I couldn't leave A alone while putting N down (b/c it took forever and she was only 2 months old) so it was a real challenge. I tried to keep her near me - where I could check on her. Or with me - so in the bathroom or wherever we were so that I could watch them both. It was definitely difficult - but I couldn't leave her unattended in a strange environment that wasn't child proofed for 45 minutes to an hour every night. So - while difficult, we made it work. I usually tried to giver her activities to keep her busy while I took care of N. Could you put DS down first before DD? Would that make things any easier?
I only have one kid, so hopefully you don't mind me chiming in with my complete inexperience...but could you do his bedtime routine first? Ali would probably "help" you with everything and then once he's in bed (maybe a little bit early), you could do the rest of her bedtime routine. If bathtime is your worry then I would either bathe them together or skip it...Will only got one bath with DH gone this week and that was tonight
I let DH handle it
When Tommy was nearly crawling/ an early crawler, we would give him his bath first. Jack was allowed free reign of the upstairs during T's bathtime. Then, Tops had to stay in the bathroom while Jack got his bath. It really wasn't a big deal, it's where he wanted to be, anyway.
After bath, Jack would have quiet play in his room during Tommy's stories and then he would join DH and Tops for prayers. Tommy went down, Jack got his stories, and walla!
ETA: When I say "we" I mean DH. It's his gig. I just fill in when he's OOT or not feeling well.
mine bathe together (dh does bath time while i clean the kitchen from dinner). then we grab pj's and i get them all dressed in the same room at the same time. annie is usually crawling around while i get the girls settled then i give her a bottle while they read in their own rooms (or sometimes together in one bed/room).
after i put annie down, i put them down one at a time with songs, prayers, goodnights etc
Bathing them together is really the easiest way. Then you can dress them at the same time, read stories together, and they are more likely to accept a little space while you get one of them in bed. Of course, DS goes down first in that case, so he's not crawling around getting into things. If that's not an option, I would pick whichever one is easiest to get down and wait to bathe the other one until after the first is in bed. Ideally, you could get DS clean and in bed while DD hangs out with you. You can read them both a story and then it's her bath time as he goes to sleep. If you're nursing to sleep and have a baby that needs dark and quiet (like mine was), then that's not really an option.
If you need to entertain DS while DD is bathing, I'd put him in the jumper or give him a rice cake thing. What are those called? Numnums or something? Damn that seems like so long ago.
When it got just too hard, I'd lock us all in the bathroom and give DD a speed bath. She thought it was fun, but we only did it when we really had to so it didn't lose it's appeal.
yep, once J was old enough to confidently sit up by himself they started bathing together. Then I would do bedtime routine, story, song and snuggles with J. A would join us for the story then go and do her night time routine on her own. Once I had J down I would do a story and snuggle with A.
Another bath together family here. And we stuck the whole infant tub in the bathtub when C wasn't old enough to sit up yet. That worked nicely, too. (especially nice on nights where we had a Code Brown situation--it was contained)
We also put the little down first and then do stories with the big girl before her somewhat later bedtime.
But doing dinner, bath, and bed alone is the worst. I hope you get relief soon!
Mine too :-) We did a combined bath starting around 9 months. Before that Ryan just bathed 2-3 times a week in the sink. Or I got in the bath with Megan and Ryan. Granted I never had to do multiple nights without DH, just an occasional night here and there so I just usually didn't bathe Ryan on those nights.
For bed, since I couldn't get Ryan to sleep if Megan was around and I didn't feel comfortable with Megan somewhere while I was in Ryan's room with the door closed, I had to put Megan to bed first. At the time she was easier to get to sleep too. We would do her whole routine with Ryan crawling around on her bedroom floor. It was distracting and less calming, but I explained why and Megan seemed to get it. Then I would kiss her good night and tell her I needed to go get Ryan to bed. She would often protest and ask for snuggles and I would tell her I'd be back in once Ryan was asleep. Most of the time she would just fall asleep before I got back :-) But sometimes I would have to go back and forth between the two of them a couple rounds before everyone was sleeping...
DS goes to bed first. I usually plop DD in front of the TV for an episode of yo gabba gabba and put DS down while she watches the show. Then I do her.
In your situation, maybe you can put him in an exersuacer or jumpy thing. Or even a PNP with some toys in it. Or can you just shut you all in the bathroom together and let him crawl around there. For the stories/songs part I'd include him in it. Put him in her bed and do the stores/songs for both at the same time.
and yay for almost mobility!
As soon as Emily could sit up well, I bathed them together, with the water barely covering Emily's legs. Abby has a towel with a hood so I'd put that on her and hand her a book to read while I got Emmie in her jammies . We keep a changing pad on their bathroom counter so it was easy to dress the baby and still safely brush Abby's teeth. Then we'd go into Emily's room with the door closed and I'd get Abby dried off and dressed while Emily did whatever (usually it was getting herself stuck under her crib). I managed to nurse Emily and read to Abby at the same time. Then Emily and I would put Abby to bed (ie, I told Abby that Emily and I were singing goodnight to her). Emily was usually still nursing at that point. Then I could go into the chair in Emily's room, finish the feed or top her off with a bottle and sing to her a bit before putting her down.
I think you can keep most of your routine the same, you just need to lock him in the same rooms with you. If you have tile in your bathrooms, invest in some more rugs I guess! I bathed both the girls in our bathroom for a number of months because we have *gag* carpet in there.
You go crazy! Trying to get them down for naps and bedtime by myself was the worst part of the day. I did everything others have suggested, depending on which child was most tired/needed the most attention. There were a couple of times when I thought I got the younger one down, only to begin books/songs/rocking with the older one and then screaming from the crib in the other room would start. DS was older and needed my attention, so sometimes when that happened, I would ignore DD's cries and try to make DS's bedtime routine as calming and happy as possible (you know, with a baby crying in the background). Ugh. It happened the other way around once in a while too, but DS could open the bedroom door while I was trying to rock/nurse DD and wake her up. "I wanted to tell Baby nigh, night. I need one more kiss/hug. Can we sing a song tomorrow?" and any number of random questions just to peek in, would ensue. Worst time of the day!
Atleast I felt I definitely earned my glass of wine. Good luck. This period of time really does go by quickly.