Juggling Babies' Schedule with Older Sibling

So, I was just reading everyone's "routines" - many of which are much more predictable then mine...my twins will be 4 months this week (I need to get my ticker uploaded). A big part of my problem is that I have a daughter who will be four years this month, and has daily activities at various times. I am working on getting the twins to nap in their cribs, but everything gets thrown off everyday as we're out and about for big sis. We're also still up twice at night (eat at 7pm, sleep until 12:30am - eat again - sleep until 4:30-5am - eat again - sleep until 7:30-8am). I am struggling with getting them on a predictable routine (for my own sanity) and keeping them flexible so that my older child is not trapped in the house all the time! Another issue- one is a major cat-napper...the other will sleep for longer periods...at least one good long nap a day. Ahh...perhaps there's no good solution.

 

We had a pretty good schedule but that is gone now too. I don't know how it happened to be honest! Now our girls want to eat every 2 hours and they both cat nap as well. We also have an older daughter (she will be 3 at the end of the month). Obviously I don't have any answers either but I wanted to let you know that you are not alone!

 

You definetly aren't alone! I also have a 2.5 yr old and a 7 yr old to work around. Right now my mother in law picks my 7 yr old up from school at 2:45 because the babies always eat around 2:30-3 pm. But he still has baseball and other after school activities we have to work around.

I don't have a good "routine" yet, but the babies are slowly starting to fall into a more of a "eat at a certain time of day" pattern rather than "eat whenever we want to". Even once that happens I think flexibility is still going to have to be the key word, when you have older siblings you don't have much choice!

 

It can be tough for sure! What I did was sit down and figure out the older kids schedule first, and then put the babies on a strict schedule(feedings and naps) around that.

 

I just wanted to chime in and say you are not alone!! We also have a 4 year old DS. He goes to preschool at 9am, and needs to be picked up at 2:45. So in the perfect world, the babies would wake at 7ish...stay awake until we get back from school...take their two naps during the day, then be awake at 2:45 in time to get older brother. Ha ha ha ... oh I wish. SOME days, it works out. But most days now (teething babies and/or growth spurt...) they are up at 5:30-6...which means they are definitely ready for a nap by 8... which throws the whole schedule off. It is definitley harder when you have another schedule that you have to work into the mix. We just do the best we can from day to day... some days are more successful than others!

best of luck to you!!

-maria
DS1 4.5
DS2 DS3 8,5 months

 

You got some great suggestions and commiseration too. :hug: It is definitely tricky when you have a todder or older child in the mix. Some days are better than others. Hang in there. It will get better when you can get them all napping at the same time and the twins get into a more predictable sleep and eat routine.

 

I'm living this too with a 4 year old son and twins who have no real schedule L(

 

Thanks for all the input! I feel like I am juggling 3 different schedules because even the babies aren't doing the same thing at the same time! One seems to need more sleep than the other (or at least sleeps more....the other could probably use it, too!), so they're often off, too. Then add in the 3-year-olds daily changing schedule, and we've got a real mess! I guess I'll just keep going with the flow...