Usually DH bathes the baby then I take him to nurse/swaddle/rock to sleep. This takes 30-40 minutes. In the meantime DH bathes the toddler and when I finish I put our toddler to sleep. Tonight DH is going to be gone and I'm at a loss. What do I do with the toddler so that I can get the baby to sleep???
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Here's what I do when I put both kids to bed:
1. Bathe them together. When DS was a newborn/young infant, I would put him in the baby bathtub on the floor and DD in the big bathtub, or I would put all three of us in the big bathtub together.
2. Wash the older one first, then s/he can play while wash and dress the younger one.
3. Get the older one out and dressed as quickly as possible.
4. I would allow DD to watch a 10-20 minute video from Netflix or YouTube either in our bed or in her bed (on the Nook). Lately, I've been letting her watch episodes of Kipper the Dog on Netflix, because each episode is only like 7 minutes long, and it's a very slow, quiet show.
5. Put DS to bed. Right now I just give him a bottle and put him in his crib (takes about 10 minutes). When he was very little and took a long time of rocking to sleep, I would put on a movie for DD, instead of just a tv show.
6. Once DS was asleep, I would go finish DD's bedtime routine and put her to sleep.Depending on how old your toddler is, and depending on your feelings on tv, you could try just putting him/her in his/her room with stuffed animals and books to "read." From the time DS was born (DD was 21 months), I've just left her in her room to play nicely by herself. It usually worked, and she's only recently (at 3 years old) starting getting into mischief if I leave her too long.
Also, when DS was a newborn, I would simply bring him into DD's room and read to her while giving him a bottle. He was so little, he would fall asleep at the bottle no matter where we were, so he had no issues going to sleep in her room while I was also doing her nighttime routine. We started using tv when DS was around 4-6 months old, because then he only wanted to play in his sister's room, and wouldn't go to sleep.
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How old is your toddler? I stick my 3 year old in front of the TV. Only way to keep sane night after night! Since it's only 1 night for you, you can try to keep him in the room with some quiet activities and books. This worked in the beginning for us, but then she just got bored of being in the room with me and baby.
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@Honeybee: Thanks for the detailed response! I definitely can bathe them at the same time. I've done that before on occasion and it's a juggle but do-able. I'm thinking I might have to do TV, but I'm not sure if he'll last long enough, and our only TV is on the first floor and bedrooms on the second so I'm a little afraid of what mischief he'll get into if I just leave him for half an hour down there. Leaving him in his room might work- he's definitely played there on his own before (while not napping) but again not sure if he'll last...
@Andrea: My toddler is 23 months so he'll definitely watch TV if I let him but usually looses interest within about 20 minutes. I'm also positive that he won't stay quiet when I'm in a dark room trying to rock the baby to sleep. Baby is only 3.5 months so that's my predicament. I only have to do this today and once next week. Then hopefully not again for a couple months at the earliest. I'm happy I've gotten this far without having to do this but I'm nervous.
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@Baby Boy Mom: I hope everything is going well!
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@Honeybee: Thanks! It took longer than usual but all went well!
My toddler didn't want to go to bath time so early, so I told him he could help me bathe Baby Brother and then I would let him watch a movie. He was really excited, since we really limit screen time and he never gets to watch it at night. So we did baby bath, and then came down and set up a video, and I gave him a water bottle. The most important part though was that I brought down our video monitor so if he decided to leave the couch I could run down! I nursed/rocked the baby while watching the monitor and he was just dozing off as the video was ending so I got on the intercom and told my toddler to hold tight and I would be right down. I quickly swaddled and put the kiddo to bed. Then I started the whole routine for my toddler. He ended up going to bed about half an hour later than usual but overall I consider it a success. I just can't believe some people have to do this on a regular basis! That was exhausting!
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i always play a video for charlie and put olive down first. putting two kids down is pretty hectic!
glad to hear that it went well!
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@Mrs. Bee: Sounds like videos are the way to go. I'm just wondering what people did before there was TV...
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@Baby Boy Mom: maybe cosleep?
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@Mrs. Bee: As in all go to bed at the same time? Not sure how that would work. I cosleep with the baby but I think my toddler would be insanely jealous of how much the baby gets to nurse. (I'm tandem nursing but baby gets first dibs).
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@Baby Boy Mom: sounds like it all went well! Yes, sometimes I take a nap after putting the 2 kids to sleep. It is really tiring some days. Good job!
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@Andrea: Thanks! So happy I don't have to do it again...at least until Monday
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