Hi moms!
I have a 2 month old son and a 2.5 yr old daughter. With my 2.5 yr old it was a lot easier to schedule her and we did really well with having her sleep through the night. However, now with our 2nd child it is very challenging to get the 2 month old to sleep well. I am not sure, if its too early to "schedule" him and also at times it feels that it is challenging to have a bedtime routine because of the older daughter. Since my husband work 2 late evenings (until 830) and I will start in a month (wiht one late eve- until 730 ): ) right now, my older daughter gets a bath bwn 630-7, story time at 8/830 and bed by 9. it has now extended because of my husband's work hours.
My question is 1) my 2 month old - not sure when to really start the bed time/what time ? it is hard to give him a bath around the same time as my daughter.
2nd question) 2 mos old seems to cluster feed at nigth and not sure how long this will go on? I am trying to get him to eat every 3 hrs during the day and does not always happen. he tends to eat a bit early at times. at night, starting 7/8 he will start eating every 1.5-2 hrs and this will go on until midnight. between 9-midnight he tends to be more alert and we try to keep the light dim and talk softly. he sometimes wakes up at 630 and sometimes 730 (if he last eats at 1am).
I am looking for an advice to help me scheudule the toddler's schedule and a baby's schedule. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!
No suggestions.... sounds like you are doing great! Your 2 month old is sleeping "through the night"!! Congratulations!!
:))
(Through the night = 6 hours or more at a stretch)
What is going on between bath at 6:30 storytime at 8 and bedtime by 9?... I'm sure you can get that whole routine down to 30-45minutes max. Try and do a 15 min bath, a 20 minute story time and about 10-20 minutes getting her in bed. I don't see how it takes almost 3 hours :) Does she need the bath to help calm her at night? You can always give the bath earlier in the day to help cut down the night routine.
The infant doesn't need a nightly bathtime, so I wouldn't worry about scheduling that right now. Mine usually got them during the day or morning (or when needed).
As for feeding, it's been a while since I've dealt with that. He's still a little young to schedule. Feeding on demand is pretty important, especially since he may be going throguh a little growth spurt. Really, he is sleeping through the night which is very rare at his age, so I wouldn't be worried. You can read about nighttime feedings for babies here:
http://kidshealth.org/parent/growth/feeding/feed13m.html
http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/feeding-infants-toddlers...
Good luck!
I would try to feed him every 2.5 hours during the day. If he gets more calories during the day, he may stop the cluster feeding and go to bed earlier. This is what I do with my 3 month old and he usually eats for the last time around 8:30 or 9 and sleeps until 3, then he eats and sleeps until I have to take him to daycare at 7.
I agree with Victoria about the night. My only suggestion is to try to feed more frequently during the day so he needs fewer calories at night. I've got kids of similar ages and put the older one down first and then give the little one a bath.
Our daughter was 2 1/2 when our son was born. Her schedule was always snack time at 6:30. Quiet play until 7:00 followed by stories (about 20 minutes) and then to bed. Ultimately my husband is out of her room by ten after 8:00. Bathes are done on a needed basis, a lot of times I do it during the day. When our son was born we figured we would do it all together, but he never wanted to be up that late. We gave him a bottle at 6:45 and he was happily in bed by 7:00. This probably started around the 2 month mark. He would get up around 1:00am and 5:00am for a bottle until about 5 months and then only up at 1:00am until 9 months. Then I stopped the night bottle and he has been sleeping the whole night since. He is now almost 3 years old. For you right now I would just try to shorten your daughter's bedtime routine so when the time comes to figure out what his schedule will be you won't feel too overwhelmed. I know she probably drags it out quite a bit like my daughter always did. We pared down an hour and a half bedtime to about 45 minutes after our son was born. It really freed up some time! Good luck.
C.
