Almost 2 under 2, how do you handle bedtime solo?

sidey1 · December 2015

Neither DH or I have been out after 6pm in months, now that the Holiday season is here, we have work parties ect, we're trying to figure out if the situation comes up how we can negotiate bedtime with our two little ones alone.

DS is 2.5 and DD is 2 months, DS goes to sleep first which I usually handle, he can take anywhere from 5 minutes to 45 minutes to fall asleep, unfortunately we usually have to stay in the room for a bit until he goes down. While I'm doing that, DH usually works on getting DD her last feed and also down for the night. The issue with being solo is what to do with DD while getting DS down for the night. She's usually pretty fussy between 6-9, and DS has some jealousy issues still and doesn't like having her in his room (little does his know they'll be sharing a room soon!) I'm wondering if we shoud switch the order and get DD down first, trouble is it's kind of hard with a loud toddler running around. Any tips for someone who has to do this nightly? How are you handling it?

Bigboobsmcgee · December 2015

My son was 2.5 when my daughter was born and when I would do bedtime alone, I had to get the baby down first, then work on the toddler. The bedtime routine for my older kid is much longer (books, talking, etc) than the baby so I had to do the baby first.

How much earlier is your son's bedtime than your daughter's bedtime?

I thought it was relatively easy to put the baby down first because our normal routine was feeding her a bottle in my bed with it dark and quiet. My older child could quietly watch TV or play on his kindle right next to me on the bed while I fed her and got her sleepy, then I'd put her in her room and then work on getting my 2.5 year old to bed.

I was really lucky in the sense that my older child would actually listen to me and sit quietly while I fed the baby. He knew he couldn't talk or be all crazy because the baby was trying to fall asleep but not all 2.5 year olds are that way! lol

Knottie1442268460 · December 2015

I have a nearly 18 month old. Are his bedtimes going to get this bad next year that we have to stay in the room?

When I'm alone I carry baby in k'tan while we change diaper & clothes. Then we read story and in bed with white noise and I shut the door. Ends up about 15-30 min.

Our older one isn't jealous with me because it's just our routine. I don't cater to the jealousy-baby needs attention now I'll be right with you. Same with baby. Sometimes cries in the swing for a minute while I change a poopy diaper. Older is still jealous with dad, therapist, visitors because they're not routine-(not as much time).

sidey1 · December 2015

DS was really easy to get to bed until about 1.5 almost 2 yrs old, he started to get a little more high maintenance then, don't ask me why, it's something we need to work on but haven't had a chance since the babies arrived.

Routine now is baby has bath I hand her off to Dad who get's her ready for bed, then DS gets bath and I get him into bed after. I'd love to get DD to bed first, but she's been taking a while to get down, sometimes an hour or more, maybe when she gets into more of a routine it will sort itself out?

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Almost 2 under 2, how do you handle bedtime solo?

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