Napping and bedtime routines with 2 under 2 - help!!

LegacyUser

Hi all, I have recently had our second child and now have 2 under the age of 2. (23 months and 7 weeks.)

No.1 is in a good routine sleep wise,she goes for a nap in the middle of the day and goes to bed around 7-7:30pm. She sleeps well at night.
No.2 is sleeping ok at night now too - wakes for one feed around 4am (regardless of bedtime!!) I've been heading her for bed between 7 and 8 but it can take a while for her to drop off due to reflux.

I'm looking for any tips anyone has on managing bedtime for 2 in this age group on my own. It's very much a 2 person job right now, so if anyone has any suggestions on how best to combine them, I'd be delighted

And any suggestions for getting no 2 into some sort of napping routine during the day would be great too! She's showing patterns of napping and feeding now, but it takes a while for her to drop off. She's not really the kind of baby you leave in a basket or pram and let her drop off herself (yet I want to try and start teaching her that, but I think she's a bit young yet). And of course, there's the presence of the toddler - I can't sit beside a bed for ages trying to get her to sleep, my house would be destroyed in that time I'm using a sling a lot during the day at the moment, and she sleeps in it or a bouncer, when she does drop off.

Any ideas anyone???

Moonbeam

The 7 week old is too young for a fixed routine yet and I would feed her on demand.
There are only 15 months between my #3 and 4.
#1,2 and 4 had reflux too. I could not have survived with out my sling.
I left all of mine to sleep in the basket or bouncer from day 1 and put them to their upstairs bed at night usually about 11 when I was going to bed and from about 6-8 weeks they would sleep the night (defined as about 6 hours at that age) until about 6/ 7 and then it would be time to get the others(3 and 5) up for school anyway.
When I came back from the school run all 3 of us would nap:)

fro9etb8j5qsl2

My little boy was just turning one when my daughter was born. For the first few months, I just kept my little boy in his routine and let the newborn sleep whenever she slept. I was breastfeeding so things were erratic for a while. When she was 4 months, I started to establish her routine, putting her up for her snooze when my little boy was going up (around 12pm). She was a bit fussy going down by herself at the start but soon got into it. We had a nice mobile with music/lights etc. She would wake sooner than my little boy but would then go for a second snooze at 5pm.

At around 8 months, she dropped the second snooze and now sleeps for the same amount of time as my little boy (most of the time!). I have pushed nap time out to 1.30pm and now they get their lunch straight before their snooze. The general rule in our house now is anything that needs to be done- walk/town/shops/cleaning etc gets done in the morning. Then the kids snooze, I relax, and the afternoon is for playing with the kids. I think the key is finding a routine that works for you and sticking to it

jlm29

My five and a half mth old is starting to develop a bit of a routine regarding napping. He is currently napping on the rug in the middle of the sitting room floor though. I knew if I tried to move him, he would wake up and stay awake. He had his first nap in the car this morning. The biggest trouble is having to put him in the car a couple of times a day for the school run. He has never really slept in his cot by day, which I'm going to start tackling this at the weekend. He'll be starting with a childminder in September, and while she's very tolerant, I can't expect her to be bringing him for a walk to get him to go to sleep!

LegacyUser

Hmm, thanks all.

I put a lot of work into the routine for no.1 because she did not naturally drop off herself during the day.It took me til about 11 weeks to realise this (i was generally clueless!), and them I made it my business to be at home for the morning nap and was often out for the afternoon but in the car or buggy so she could sleep.She goes to sleep by herself fine but it did take some hours of sitting near her bed to get into that habiy.

This one looks to be the same.I can read her cues much easier and have a much better idea of when she needs to sleep, but I have to put her to sleep as opposed to her just dropping off herself.All I end up with is a screaming baby otherwise.She's dropping off in the sling mostly now, or in my arms.Problem is she wakes the instant I put her down, amd I find the sling hard on my back too I can't wear it on and off all day.I suppose that's why I was looking for suggestions about how to get her into some sort of pattern while with the toddler around.The reflux is not helping here either, but I hope to get that sorted a bit this week.

I think you're right, I need to wait a few more weeks.I suppose I'll try and get the reflux sorted first and aim to get her to stay asleep once I put her down, and then go from there.

Sligo1

Everything what mrspostman said. My 2 and 3 year old take the one nap in the afternoon now at the same time. In the early days I let the younger one sleep when she wanted but I tried to implement a routine by going for a walk in the morning at the same time as she would sometimes drop off and take her morning nap on the walk. Then I would put the 2 of them down in the afternoon after lunch. I would usually have to feed (breastfed) the younger to sleep to get her to sleep after lunch feed. After the morning walk / morning duties were done, it was lunch then nap, then afternoons were for playing.

Moonbeam

swooshty wrote: »

Hmm, thanks all.

I put a lot of work into the routine for no.1 because she did not naturally drop off herself during the day.It took me til about 11 weeks to realise this (i was generally clueless!), and them I made it my business to be at home for the morning nap and was often out for the afternoon but in the car or buggy so she could sleep.She goes to sleep by herself fine but it did take some hours of sitting near her bed to get into that habiy.

This one looks to be the same.I can read her cues much easier and have a much better idea of when she needs to sleep, but I have to put her to sleep as opposed to her just dropping off herself.All I end up with is a screaming baby otherwise.She's dropping off in the sling mostly now, or in my arms.Problem is she wakes the instant I put her down, amd I find the sling hard on my back too I can't wear it on and off all day.I suppose that's why I was looking for suggestions about how to get her into some sort of pattern while with the toddler around.The reflux is not helping here either, but I hope to get that sorted a bit this week.

I think you're right, I need to wait a few more weeks.I suppose I'll try and get the reflux sorted first and aim to get her to stay asleep once I put her down, and then go from there.

What kind of sling do you have?
It can make a huge difference to your back and hips.

LegacyUser

It's an ergobaby.With an infant insert, obviously.I think my posture may be more the problem than the sling.

LegacyUser

swooshty wrote: »

Hi all, I have recently had our second child and now have 2 under the age of 2. (23 months and 7 weeks.)

No.1 is in a good routine sleep wise,she goes for a nap in the middle of the day and goes to bed around 7-7:30pm. She sleeps well at night.
No.2 is sleeping ok at night now too - wakes for one feed around 4am (regardless of bedtime!!) I've been heading her for bed between 7 and 8 but it can take a while for her to drop off due to reflux.

Are you bottle feeding? If breastfeeding, just sleep beside them. Problem solved. They will rouse for a few seconds, before latching on and going back to sleep.

If bottle feeding, that must be a nightmare.