SAHP of under-twos...schedule?

[AFWife]

I think my 18 mo needs a schedule...We kind of just go with the flow around here and I'm not sure that's working.

Share your schedules? Please?

[CherryBombMama]

well ... we are just getting used to our routine. it seems like although i like going with the flow, my ds (born a few days before yours! 4-9-09) needs serious routine.

so we wake up anywere from 5:30am - 7am. depending on teething, ds2 waking up for a feeding, growth spurt, etc, etc...

breakfast right after we wake up, along with a bit of sesame street. he loves elmo

the next hour and half is me trying to get out of the house. ds1 runs wild while i get everyone dressed, diapers changed and snacks ready. i dont know why that takes so long.

if its not *at least* 8:30am, we go to the backyard and run around a bit. lately ive been going for a walk around the block with them. if i dont take a stroller or wagon, we only go about 30 feet since ds1 has to stop at every bug and rock and leaf ds2 is in the ergo.

if its closer to 9am, we go to the park, weather permitting. if its rainy or too hot we go hit whatever store is open, or go early to the mall before the stores are open and just let ds1 run around there until lunch time.

10:30am is lunch. 11am is nap for both boys. we usually can squeeze a quick art activity in between lunch and nap.

after nap (2pm) is a big snack for ds1.afterwards we go outside and do something active (usually play in our garden)

dh comes home at 3:30 pm, we eat, then lay around the living room letting ds1 jump all over dh around 4:30 we go out again, to where ever we can think of.

6pm starts our REAL routine. ds1 MUST eat at 6pm or he falls apart. then we do crazy/running around super active get-him-tired kind of things, like dancing and jumping and chasing. at 7pm, ds1 goes into the bath for about 15 min, then ds2 gets a bath in the sink. 7:30pm is usually book time, 8pm SHARP is bedtime - my favorite time of the day!

if we stay home all day, which i wouldnt mind doing, my first ds will go nuts.

[crunchy_mommy]

DS is 20mos. Ours is by no means a strict schedule but most of our days are pretty predictable, here's a sample:

10am - DS wakes up. We eat breakfast right away & then I shower & we get dressed.
10:45 - leave the house for a fun outing (playground, library, farm/zoo, story hour, playdate, etc.)
1pm - home & take a nap
2:30pm - DS wakes up, we have lunch and he plays a bit
3pm - another outing (errands or meetup or a walk)
4:30pm - come home & read, color, sing, play together, have a snack
5:30pm - DH comes home

He has a lot of free play time in the evening (5:30-10:30 when we start bedtime) so I try to keep the days pretty structured with lots of outings etc. He's not so happy in the evenings so I'm thinking we need to try a little more structure then too, though it might just be that he doesn't like mommy taking breaks in the evening!!

[Nazsmum]

I say go with the flow....With the new baby coming you don't want to be LOCKED in the schedule.

[BetsyS]

We have a fairly predictable routine. We've moved in the last month, and it's all been off kilter, but it works well for us. We've done the same since my oldest was about 16 months old (when he dropped the am nap).

6:30 wake
in am--go somewhere a few days a week (library, play date, grandma, errands) or stay home and do cleaning (which they help with, so it takes forever..LOL). sometimes I clean and they play outside.
11:30 lunch
12:30-2:30ish nap
afternoon--outside play. We now live next door to a park,s o we go over there frequently or in th backyard
4:00 start supper (again,it takes forever with helpers, so I have to allow for that)
5:30 daddy home; eat supper
7:30 bedtime

[Burnindinner]

Around that age, our day looked like this (and I found a routine to be crucial for ME, if not DS):

wake up around 7 am play with Dad/eat

8:30 am I get up, we putter around and do house work

by 10:30 am go out to play outside either in yard or park

12 pm lunch

1 pm nap

3 pm up

6:30 pm dinner/bath/bed around 8 pm

times are just approximate; this is about what our day looked like. I had a baby when DS1 was 19 months, so that sort of blew up our routine, but it seems to work best like this.

[sunflwrmoonbeam]

DD is 16 months.

8-8:30: wake up. I shower, DH plays with kiddo, DH showers, we get dressed, eat breakfast.
9-9:30: DH leaves for work. Often we leave for the morning, either to go to the gym (woot "free" play room!), library, park, etc.
10-11:30: outing
12: lunch, often with DH
12:30: start the fight for naptime
1:30: naptime, I get me time for an hour or so
3ish: wake up from nap, play, get dinner started on a good day
6: DH comes home. Make and eat dinner
7: I get my "break" or we watch TV or something.
9-10: DD goest to bed
12: I go to bed

[Maela]

We wake up sometime between 6 and 8AM. We all potty and the kids get dressed. We eat breakfast. I do dishes.
Then I try to get ready while the kids play. Ha! This doesn't always go well as they are not very good at sharing their toys with each other ATM. This time is also punctuated by frequent nursing for DS.
I get a snack ready and then pack the diaper bag and we're off or we stay home and play together outside or in the playroom.
At about 11:30 or noon we have lunch (depends on when I think DS will need his nap).
After lunch I turn on a movie/show for DD and I put DS down for his nap. (I would love to get rid of movie time, but it's the only way DD will stay quiet enough for me to get DS to sleep.)
During DS's nap, I get a short break. Then I read to DD or we play a board game or color. Something we can't do when DS is awake.
When DS wakes, we all play together (usually outside) for awhile. Then I try to get some housework done while they play. Again, this sometimes doesn't work very well.
Then we have another snack. Dh comes home from work. He usually plays with them while I make dinner.
We eat at about 6PM.
Baths at 6:45 or 7PM. I nurse DS to sleep sometime between 7 and 7:30PM while Dh reads a story to DD, gives her a bedtime snack, brushes her teeth, etc. DD's bedtime is 8PM.

I didn't see that you have a baby on the way until just now. Don't forget that things will definitely change and you'll have to be pretty flexible those first few months (you probably already know that ).

[Kelly1101]

My daughter is 18 months.

Wake up when my husband does for work-- around 6 am.

Breakfast.

Play for a little while.

Snack at around 9-9:30.

Then we go out, by 10 or so. Either to a playdate, to the park, grocery shopping / errands, whatever-- we get out of the house.

Back by 11-12. Lunch, then nap.

Up from nap by 1 pm.

Then we play / clean / get ready for dinner / whatever

Snack at 3

Husband gets home around 4:30, so she plays with him while I cook dinner

Dinner around 5-5:30

Then we all hang out until bedtime. This is when she gets a bath if she needs one (we don't do a bath every day unless she's gotten really dirty outside).

Bedtime is at 7. She's usually asleep in bed by 7:30.

Rinse and repeat, rotfl.


It's been a bit of an adjustment with the new baby, but I think having a kind of routine in place actually helps most of the time-- at least gives us something to shoot for, even though having the baby HAS thrown things out of whack a bit (having to adjust nap time if the baby won't sleep, etc)

[liberal_chick]

My ds is 20 months old. I'm home on maternity leave right now, but I try to keep him on roughly the same eating and sleeping schedule that he's on when I work (I work at a MDO program, so he comes with me each day).

6:30-7:30 Wake up

Usually he'll have a cup of milk right when he wakes up and he's ready for breakfast about an hour or so later.

7:45 Take ds1 to Kindergarten

We typically hang out and play at home all morning.

Eat at 11

Nap between 11:30 and 12:30

Wake up is generally an hour to an hour and a half after he went down, but he's always up by 2:30.

I grab a cup of milk and a snack and we go get ds1 from Kindy at 2:50.

If we are going to get out of the house, it is generally in the afternoons. Sometimes we'll go to the park, sometimes we have a playdate (I'm so lucky that most of ds1's friends have younger siblings that are ds2's age), sometimes we run errands. If we come home the boys generally go outside and run around in our backyard for hours.

5-6 Daddy comes home

Dinner is served at 6 or 6:30

Bath at 7

Bed at 8

[MrsBone]

Yay I'm glad I can comment on this now. My DS is 22 months and finally has a schedule. He was still nursing up until this point, but now that he's weaned, I've found it's much easier to stick to a schedule. This is most days:

8-8:30 wake
9:30 breakfast
10-12-usually a playdate of some sort, or grocery shopping, errands, etc
12:30-lunch
somewhere between 1 and 2:30, DS takes a nap, usually around 2 hours in length,
3-4:30, playtime
6-6:30 dinner
7:30-bath, story
8:30-bed

Now, on the weekends this schedule usually get's a little messed up, sometimes DS is up till 10 or so, but always bounces back during the week. And, DH isn't ever home at a regular time, so he doesn't always help out with dinner, bed. But I've found sticking to the schedule anyway is much better for DS.

[omamasmama]

we didn't have a schedule for a long time. she nursed when she wanted to, slept when she was tired etc. i enjoyed it for a while and something shifted. she was such a night owl and would stay up until 10:30 no matter what we did. when the time changed just recently and it started getting dark earlier I went for it. here's our somewhat schedule now. it's still pretty open ended.

7:30-8:30 DD wakes up

within an hour I try to feed her. (she's not into food and she's 23 months)

we hang out in the morning either at home, playdate or whatever

between 12 and 1 she goes down for a nap which is about 1 hour

I feed her lunch after nap most days because that's when she will eat the most (she's still nursing before nap)

we paint, go for a hike, and just hang out until time to make dinner

start dinner by 5 if we're lucky we're eating at 6 or 6:30 

chill time with papa, reading or taking a bath and then

bedtime at 7:30 or 8

I have a sister that is extremely anal with scheduling her 2 dds and it didn't feel right to me so I'm still keeping space to flow when we need to flow.

[MrsBone]

well, we've adapted a new schedule in the past month.

7:30-8 wake

8:30 small snack

9:00 breakfast

10:30 playdate, out for awhile

12-12:30 lunch

12:30-6 mostly crafts, keeping busy, some tv, cleaning, chores etc.

6:00 dinner

6:30 bath

7:00 brush teeth, books,

7:30-8 bed

Yep, he's given up naps..he still takes one occasionally, but it's not the norm. Now that he's finally sleeping through the night in his own room, he seems to not need a nap anymore.

Originally Posted by MrsBone 

Yay I'm glad I can comment on this now. My DS is 22 months and finally has a schedule. He was still nursing up until this point, but now that he's weaned, I've found it's much easier to stick to a schedule. This is most days:

8-8:30 wake
9:30 breakfast
10-12-usually a playdate of some sort, or grocery shopping, errands, etc
12:30-lunch
somewhere between 1 and 2:30, DS takes a nap, usually around 2 hours in length,
3-4:30, playtime
6-6:30 dinner
7:30-bath, story
8:30-bed

Now, on the weekends this schedule usually get's a little messed up, sometimes DS is up till 10 or so, but always bounces back during the week. And, DH isn't ever home at a regular time, so he doesn't always help out with dinner, bed. But I've found sticking to the schedule anyway is much better for DS.

[erinmattsmom88]

I have a 7+ month old and an almost 3 year old.  We do whatever, whenever.  If we had a schedule I would go insane.  It takes us soooo long to get out of the house to go anywhere that I just wing it.