Toddler and newborn, how you coped.

Just wondering how those of you coped mainly with the sleep deprivation factor mixed with and energetic toddler.
When DD was newborn I'd always lie down when she had sleep, after her morning feed we'd stay in bed and go back to sleep together.
This time round no way can I do that. I'll be up all night feeding bubs then up early to start the day with 2 kids. DD doesn't have day sleeps but I do enc some quiet time in arvo.
I just worry how I'll keep up with her feeling so tired and I know I'll have to put in extra effort to make the whole transition of having new baby around easier.
Its not far off to go so I'm starting to stress about this.

honestly you just cope.. Its like your body just knows it has to.. some days you feel like your eyes are hanging out of your head..

and on those days let TV be your friend.. I coped by not stressing about the house.. I made sure the dishes were done and the floors were clean.. and then I spent the day just resting.. and when Dh was home I got his help and we did the big cleaning then

Good Luck.. not long to go now

Yup, no secret to it - your body just copes. Dunno how.

We usually have about.... ummm.. 5 hours sleep here a night - and usually thats with two wake ups minimum - one from each kid. Every so often I find it absolutely impossible to get out of bed at 5/5.30 for DS - so DH gets up with him and I sleep in until 6.45 when DD normally wakes up. Then I do the same for him when he is dead to the world. Doesn't happen that often though.

It does make it easier if your partner gets up with the earlier riser - and you stay sleeping until the other one gets up.

Oh, and did I mention my main intake of liquid comes in the form of caffeine? ;)

Yeah, not a pretty picture sometimes lol - showered - whats that - yep, at quiet time make sure you rest - do you have family who could take DD off your hands for an afternoon a week or something?

As they other posters have said - you just cope somehow, find your groove. I just contradicted myself a bit there cos after my second I had mild PND - I put too many expectations on myself, no one else put them on me - this time around - I have really relaxed - as long as everyone is fed/clothed/clean/happy - then I am happy too. The housework can wait - get the slow cooker out of the cupboard and live off casseroles and stuff for a while - and ENJOY them whilst they are little.

You have a good age gap - 29mths ????? Not too close, not too far apart. My DD#1 and DD #2 were 29 months apart too.
DD#2 was a very good baby, so i guess made the transistion from 1 -2 very easy. DD#1 was a little bit more independent too....she stopped her day sleeps (grrrrr) 1 month before DD#2 was born. So whilst i had a newborn to tend too, i also had DD#1 to entertain all day.
Your right, the time for sleep in the day will be almost non-existent. I just used to make sure i went to bed 8pm-830pm when the girls were asleep, even though i would be up during the night, i essentially was in bed from 830pm - 730am with 2 wake ups in between.....getting to bed that bit earlier reeeeeeeeeeeeally did help.

Sometimes i think its a case of mind over matter too....youve got a job to do, just get outta bed and do it...(well, thats what the little voice inside my head says). Somedays i used to think at 8am 'how am i going to get thru this day?'.....but you meet up with a girlfriend, or you take a short trip to the shops, you buy yourself a coffee, or your toddler makes you laugh etc etc and before you know it your tucking them into bed....and you have made it thru the day.....

Good luck...i feel funny giving you advice about this....coz deep down im stressing my butt off about having 4 children 5 and under soon and doing the school runs with a newborn....but thats another post.....

I was worried about this too...but somehow you just do it.

I think a lot of it comes from knowing what to do with a baby the second time around so you are naturally much more efficient. Now I cannot work out what I used to do with my day with just the one baby!

I have also been blessed this time around with a dream baby who sleeps well and has a beautiful calm nature. As soon as she is asleep that is when I try and get a few things done as well as play with DS. The one thing I am doing that I didn't expect is having DD nap downstairs in the loungeroom during the day rather than in her cot. I couldn't get her settled off to sleep in her room with DS barging in and out...and she seems comforted by knowing we are just there. She sleeps through all kinds of racket and I find that she will sometimes just stir, peek through her eyelashes to see we are there and then go back to sleep.

It's still a bit of an ordeal trying to get out of the house with the 2 of them. I used to go out twice a day with DS and now it's only once a day if we're lucky. Sometimes I'm just too tired and I don't feel safe driving or I just can't summon up enough energy to cajole DS into going for a walk with me and DD so I rely on ABC Kids or a DVD.

I also try and plan as much as possible what I am going to do the next day so I wake up and I'm ready for action and I know what I have to do to get out the door.

It's much harder now with the 2 of them to be spontaneous and say "right let's go to the park" like I tried today. I got myself dressed into acceptable clothes to be seen in public with and put shoes on, got DS dressed to his shoes and put sunscreen on him, changed DD's nappy, she threw up on her outfit so needed a change, put sunscreen on her, found hats for all of us, put a snack for DS in the nappy bag, filled a drink bottle with water, put DD in the pram, found that my watch battery had gone flat so made sure I had my mobile so I could be back in time for DD's next feed.

DS decided he wanted to ride his bike...so with misgivings I let him rather than put up with the tantrum. We got about 200m up the road when he decided he didn't want to ride his bike anymore and wanted to go in the pram. I couldn't manage the bike and pram so I just thought I'd nip back home and put the bike behind a bush and we would walk to the park in the pram. Oh the tears! He screamed and wailed and yelled "I want my bike I want my bike" and I tried to reason with him that Mummy couldn't carry his bike and push the pram. He then said he wanted to go home. This whole time we are walking back towards the park. I thought "no, we are going to park, stuff you" but the wails got louder, I got snappier and in then practically shouted at him "all right you win". Marched very crossly home, said angrily "there's your bike!"

And then he says "go to the park?"....

In the end it took longer to get ready than the amount of time we were out of the house.

But that WAS a bad day today.:rolleyes:

PMSL @ Curly

Ahhhh... thats my life exactly... nice to know I'm not the only one.

shellbell, i'm in the same boat as you- we are even due on the same day!
i'm feeling so anxious about how i'm going to do it. luckily i've got a very good friend who lives down the road with a dd the same age as my ds who has offered for me to go to her house lots and go to the park, playgroup together etc. to help me occupy ds a bit so i can spend some time with the newborn. have you got lots of support around you?

Caffine, match sticks, a hubby to COMMAND instructions to and oh did I mention caffine???

You'll honestly be surprised how quickly the day goes with 2. When I noticed I was getting tired, Id pop both kids in the pram and go for a walk. I felt fresher and I got the hell out of the house.

YOu'll be right hon...you wont even notice the bag's under your eyes :ROFL:

mauws

Im starting to feel a bit better, thank goodness for this thread!! I am dreading the tiredness... but I feel good knowing others are doing this every day!! xo