Bedtime - sorry so long

[Chitowngirl]

I've been folowing along the bedtime thread, and I can't help but wonder just how you do it. My DS is only 2 months old, but as I am already back to work (as of last week) and he is in day care so I feel it is going to be important to get us both on a workable schedule. I have to get him up by 6:45ish so I can have us both in the car by 7:20, and I really want to make sure he gets enough sleep. I get home around 6 or 6:30. From there I have to wash and prepare his bottles, wash my breast pump, pack both our bags for the next day, and eat a quick dinner for myself. By that time its already 7:30. Currently, we then play until around 9 when we get ready for bed. We co-sleep so I go to bed when he does. But what happens when he gets bigger? I feel comfortable with him going to bed at 9 now since as an infant he naps a lot in bay care, but as he gets bigger that won't be the case. Also, when he esolder I'll need to prepare him dinner too? I don't see how to do all that, spend time with him, and still get him to bed at a decent time so he can get up in the morning. Work out of the home moms, how do you do it?

[eagle]

But what happens when he gets bigger? I feel comfortable with him going to bed at 9 now since as an infant he naps a lot in bay care, but as he gets bigger that won't be the case. Also, when hes older I'll need to prepare him dinner too? I don't see how to do all that, spend time with him, and still get him to bed at a decent time so he can get up in the morning. Work out of the home moms, how do you do it?

i hear a lot of stress and worry in your post. you should be worried since youre taking care of a new baby person, but really, you will be alright. the main thing is to worry and to follow through with a plan. your babys needs will CONSTANTLY change, but change slowly, so youll have plenty of time to figure it out. just take things one day at a time.

when your son gets older, youll put him to bed a little earlier. with your work schedule, it is true that your evenings will probably be rushed and you may feel that youll miss staying up with him until 9, but it will work out.

youll need to prepare dinner for him too, but you know, kids dont eat a whole lot, really, so basically, youll have a lot of time to figure it out. really it depends on when you introduce solids and/or wean; you might have to start in a month or so, or if you are able to delay, you wont have to worry too much until your baby is a year (no judgements at all here. it all depends 100% on your baby and your situation!).

when you decide to work on solids: what do you cook for yourself? depending on what it is you feed yourself, you can often prepare a modified version of that for the baby (no sugar, less/no salt, less spices, etc). if you have a blender or an immersion blender, you can blend the food or you can simply mash with a fork. OR, if youre simply not up to it, you can purchase prepared baby food!

i admit, i am not a working mom but i think that this is how working moms do it. they take it one day at a time. maybe together time is rushed, but it will work!

:hug: you can figure it out! you can always ask here too! :cheerleader1: and hopefully, some working moms can chime in with actual experienced advice!

[BDKmom]

My kids go to bed at 7 and I get home from work between 5:30 and 6. Thankfully my DH is home and can get them dinner, which is pretty simple and quick. Sometimes our leftovers from the night before. Sometimes something quick that we can pop in the oven or microwave. Then I play with them for about 30 minutes and we start bedtime routine. Everything else I have to do, including eating dinner, happens after the kids are in bed. We have chosen to keep a pretty early bedtime because my kids are ones who are just miserable if we don't. DS hasn't napped regularly since just after he turned 2. You may have a child who naps longer and is OK with a later bedtime. As PP said, you figure it out as you go and make the most of the time you do get with them. And their needs are ever changing, so it can be a challenge, but you have all of us to help you figure it out!

[vonfirmath]

Ideally, you figure out a way to stay up later than your child goes to bed!

Then you do some of that stuff after the kid goes to bed, and focus on kid when kid is awake to get the most out of their awake time.

[123LuckyMom]

Yes, please don't worry! Your child will be able to nap in school or daycare until nap is no longer necessary. Also, as your child grows, you'll be changing your routine to adapt to new needs. Wait to worry about these things until they actually become issues. There's no need to waste energy pre-worrying ;). You may find that it all works out just fine. If you do have an issue down the road, there's lots of help to be had here!

[PZMommy]

My boys go to sleep around 7. I wash the bottles, dishes, prepare things for the next day after they go to bed. When I pick them up and we get home, I want to just focus on them. Not on cleaning duties or other household chores. Even when I was co-sleeping with my youngest, I would put him to sleep in his bouncey seat or pack n play, and then move him into my bed once I was ready to go to bed. We didn't move him into his crib until he was around 10 months old. His crib in still in our room though (16 months old now).

[BabbyO]

I agree that things will change and you will adapt - that's what we do as parents! I WOH and have a long commute. My friend is pre-planning - everything from the clothes we wear to the food we eat. Things that make my world work (and may or may not for you):

-Put the kids clothes for the entire week on the weekend (we use these hangers (http://www.lillianvernon.com/Product/Daysoftheweekhangingorganizer))
-Make lunches for myself and kids on Sunday night that will last the whole week
-Make 2-3 dinners each week with leftovers so we never have to wait for dinner to cook...we just reheat. Sat or Sun we make a big meal or two. Then we can eat that while cooking dinner for later in the week.
-I BF'ed my kids till they were 1 yo and introduced solids BLW (Baby Led Weaning) style. We found this method quite by accident but I truly believe it made our lives WAY easier. We only cook 1 meal for the whole family - including baby. No purchasing or preparing special foods/jars, etc. If you want more info on BLW there are lots of threads, check out babyledweaning.com, or feel free to PM me. Basically, you wait until baby is 6 mo or older then introduce solids exactly as you eat them...not purees. There are some guidelines to follow but we found them easy and they worked well for our family.

I do many things after the kids go to bed. My boys are 1 and 3 and Peanut (1 yo) started going to bed earlier (around 8 pm) as he approached his first birthday. I miss the time with him in a way...but I do love that both the boys are in bed by 8 pm.

[AshUVA]

I found I wasted a lot of time cleaning/sterlizing bottles so I swtiched to only dirtying two a day. I would pump and then immediately empty the bottle into a plastic storage bag and put the empty bottle and full bag in my fridge at work. At the end of the day, I'd drop off the milk bags at day care when I picked DD up so she'd have them for the next day and then I only needed to wash the two bottles I used to pump into. I know you can also pump directly into bags and skip the bottles all together. I only left one bottle at day care and they would fill it with the milk from the bags when DD wanted to eat and clean/sterlize it between uses.

My DD is now 21 months and goes to bed at 7 and I VALUE the couple hours I have to get things done and a few moments to myself once she's sleeping. I try not to stress about the house and chores while she's awake so I can spend quality time with her.

[BabbyO]

I found I wasted a lot of time cleaning/sterlizing bottles so I swtiched to only dirtying two a day. I would pump and then immediately empty the bottle into a plastic storage bag and put the empty bottle and full bag in my fridge at work. At the end of the day, I'd drop off the milk bags at day care when I picked DD up so she'd have them for the next day and then I only needed to wash the two bottles I used to pump into. I know you can also pump directly into bags and skip the bottles all together. I only left one bottle at day care and they would fill it with the milk from the bags when DD wanted to eat and clean/sterlize it between uses.

My DD is now 21 months and goes to bed at 7 and I VALUE the couple hours I have to get things done and a few moments to myself once she's sleeping. I try not to stress about the house and chores while she's awake so I can spend quality time with her.

Although I couldn't pump into the bottles my kids liked, I figured out the second time around that if I just refrigerated the bottles I pumped into and the flanges...I didn't have to waste time cleaning/rinsing pump parts and bottles at work AND I used fewer flanges/bottles which meant I had fewer to clean.

Also...if you use wide nipple bottles...try to get your DS to accept the standard nipple bottles....that would have saved me a ton of bottle washing.

Finally, I can say that I washed bottles nightly...but I only sterilized my bottles 1 time. After DS1 was done using them, but we knew we'd be having another baby...I sterilized them before storing them for about 1.5 yr. When I pulled them out for DS2...I just washed them with hot soapy water.