Just seen this! you know my situation's similar with the walking! i had a smaller age gap tho (1yr 17 days!) so there wasnt much K could do to help out!
1. what do you do with your toddler/newborn while your giving the other one a bath and do u bath them one after the other or at the same time?
at first i bathed K as normal, and as harsh as it sounds, if E work up, I'd just leave her in her bed/seat wherever even if she was crying. it does sound awful, but you've got to give the older one attention aswell, and baby will need to learn from an early age aswell that mummy needs to see to them both! i used to bath E when K was asleep!
when she could sit up for herself, i started to bath them together, but the she started crawling and pulling herself up and it got a bit dangerous, so i did start putting one in the playpen whilst i bathed the other! now i just chuck them in and let them do what they want
2. while making dinner how do u keep an eye on them both, do u keep them in kitchen with you or what?
i lived with my parents til E was about 5/6 months and wasnt allowed to cook, but now i leave them in the living room, if needed the playpen gets put to use, if not they can roam free and i just pop my head round every few minutes - luckily my living room and kitchen are right next to eachother! for a while tho there was no way i could, cos they were just too clingy and it was fish fingers/nuggets and chips most nights
my slow cooker is a godsend tho, i can just chuck everything in in the morning and then its ready for me when tey need feeding!
3. While feeding newborn (i will breastfeed) how do u amuse the older one?
i only breastfed E for 2 days, but everyone said books etc, but K wouldnt have sat still long enough
i used to put her in the travel cot i was using as a playpen and sit next to it and talk to her and sing her songs etc!
4. this is the major issue i have, how do u put toddler to bed if your newborn is crying etc?
do u put the bigger one to bed first or the newborn?
like before with the bathing, i left E if K needed putting to bed! the first few days or so, the older one will wakeup when they cry in the night, cos its a new noise, but within a week, K wasnt waking anymore! i did have some hairy nights to with 2 crying babies in the middle of the night tho and living with my parents and my sister who was in the middle of A level exams, it was a nightmare!!
i think the main thing is routine and preparing your older one! i made sure there were times i left katie for a little while when she was crying if i knew she was ok and just wanted attention! she needed to learn before E arrived that mummy couldnt drop everything for her, so she didnt think that it was all the baby's "fault"! i made good use of my playpen/travel cot so she got used to that too!
another thing i always did was put her in her cot every morning whilst i showered, even when there were people around to help, i needed her to know thats how it was going to be! that said, i did it with E right from when she was born and she's still not used to it
i've given up and they go into the playpen now cos i'm sick of the crying!
i made sure i stuck to Ks routine as much as possible and E fitted in around it, i've always been a big fan of routine anyway and it really made things easier for me! before you know it, baby will establish their own little routine, and you should find that if you're working them round the older one, they'll naturally fall into a very similar routine!!
jesus i went on a tad
