2023 Author: Anita Thornton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-22 03:30
Want tips on how to shower or nap with a baby under three months old and a toddler? Read this!
The period from 0 to 3 months is undoubtedly the most difficult. The baby drinks often, takes up a lot of our time and wakes up at night. During this period, take the time to take small naps, as you will need them to replenish your energy. Forget cleaning and everything else. There will be plenty of time when baby is older and has learned to play alone.
Also, it is very difficult to make a routine since it often changes. Other than drinking every two or three hours, baby doesn't really have a schedule! It is therefore normal to feel disorganized, disoriented and unable to do anything in the house. Forget all that and give yourself time to discover your new baby and tame it. It is not because we already have a child that we have become the bionic woman! So here are a few tips so you don't totally lose your mind.
Bedtime
Bedtime becomes a little more complicated with two children since often the oldest will have been used to a bedtime routine with both parents. To continue this tradition,I offer two solutions. The first is to go and breastfeed baby in his room while dad tells a story and sings a song, then to give baby to dad so that you can go and spend a few minutes with your child too. The second is to put baby to bed during your child's bedtime routine. Otherwise, we can also alternate between mom and dad each evening. This allows the child to have a special moment with each parent and allows us to do some dishes at the same time…!
Night
When baby wakes up at night, we are always afraid, at first, that he will wake up his brother or sister. We get up much faster so as not to let him cry too long. Fear not, you will find that toddlers sleep very soundly and it often takes more than crying to wake them up.
Moreover, the night has always been for me, a privileged moment with my baby. In the second, we sometimes have the impression of not being able to enjoy it during the day, and we are almost happy that it wakes up often at night. Everything is quiet in the house and we can finally take our time…
naps for mom
As long as baby is not sleeping through the night, it is essential to take time during the day to take a nap. This allows you to be in better shape, but also more patient. However, depending on the age of our child, this can be difficult. Hence the need, in my opinion, to send one's child to daycareabout 3 days a week at the very beginning to help us recover. Believe me, I learned that the hard way! My son only went to daycare once a week when I had my daughter. After only a month, I was exhausted.
And if baby doesn't want to sleep with your child, try sleeping with you. My children have always slept at the same time as me when they were less than 6 months old. It's as if they felt it was time to sleep. When I half-opened my eyes, I saw them looking at me, seeing that I was asleep, and going back to sleep immediately!
It is also important to ask your family and friends for help on a regular basis, so that you can breathe a little. Down with the “superwoman” fashion! My grandmother told me that her mother-in-law came to live with her for two months when she had her second child. So why should we do it all alone? For my part, my mother-in-law came to pick up my son to take him to daycare. This help was invaluable to me since I didn't have to dress myself and my daughter to drive him home. I could stay in my pajamas and go back to bed as soon as he left!
I need a shower
Taking a shower is often a challenge when you're alone with your baby and child. I give you three choices here:
- Put baby in his bed and take the child with you to the bathroom (or to the shower!). If your child is able to open the doors, I suggest you put a gate in frontthe door to the baby's room.
- Put the child in his room with a game or a toy he likes and bring baby with you. In this case, if the child can open the doors, you can put the barrier in front of his door or in front of the bathroom door.
- Waiting for daddy to arrive!
My baby is sick
In addition to a busy schedule with a second child, you will soon see how easily germs are transmitted. Whether baby is born in winter or summer, unfortunately, he will not escape the bacteria that his brother or sister will bring back from daycare. It is therefore normal for babies to catch colds a few times, if not all the time! (And to think that doctors assure us that breastfed babies are not sick before 6 months… sometimes I wonder if they have children.) At least, at the second, we already have experience. The nasal bulb and the Salinex have almost become our best friends.
All the same, I advise you to wash your child's hands as soon as he returns from daycare. Having myself had the experience of my daughter's gastroenteritis when she was only two months old, which cost her 10 days of hospitalization in Ste-Justine and 1 kg less, I can tell you that if I had been able, I would gave my son a bath every time he came home from daycare!
