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It’s foggy for me now, but I just went with the flow for baby 2 and that’s my plan with baby 3. I’m not a go with the flow person at all though and scheduled sleep is very necessary for me, but not until they are at a sleep trainable age. Which to me is the 16 week point, I know everyone feels differently about that though.

Definitely put your older kid who has a routine and schedule to bed first and deal with the baby after. I remember trying to keep my second awake until 10;30 so I could have the longer stretch match my sleep patterns, this is what we did with our first, but the baby had other plans and would crash hard for the first and longest stretch of sleep at 8 right away. So, in my opinion, you kind of have to follow their lead on sleep and feeds for a few months and then start shifting things. That’s my plan anyway!

We keep baby in our room for 6 months. My older two will go to bed first and then I’ll see what the baby wants to do.

I’m in the thick of this right now, DS3 is 2 weeks old. I’d love to feed him every 3 hours but right now during the day it’s closer to 2-2.5, and 3-4 hours at night. I agree with the others that they aren’t on a real schedule for a couple of months. I’’m not sure how many naps a day he takes, he’s still a sleepy newborn so it feels like a lot. Also I think it’s easier to get the big kids to bed first then the newborn usually goes to bed around when we do, I like to try to feed him right before I go to bed. We’ll probably transition him to his room around 6-8 weeks. It’s hard for the first couple of months!

I agree with the above and that attempting a schedule with a newborn will probably end with more frustration than anything :meh:. When I tried to force a schedule before baby was 3ish months, it just failed miserably and would only make me more upset. Sometimes he needed to eat every 1-2 hours, sometimes he could go 5-6 overnight. Once I let the idea of a schedule go and just went with the flow, my mindset was a lot better. I craved a certain flow to our day but just had to resign to the fact that I needed to wait it out.

I’m 28weeks with #2 and I love my 1 year old’s schedule. But I know my scheduled down time and sleep will be derailed for a few months once new baby comes. Just have to prepare myself mentally for that. I have heard good things about a book: “Moms on Call.” I believe it sets up a loose schedule beginning at like 2 weeks. Worth a try if you feel like it’s better for everyone to have a plan! I’m skeptica it would work so young, but I’ve heard others who’ve had success with it and really like it.