Juggling Schedules for Different Ages

Story time: when my older son was 3 and my younger one was 4 months, I decided to keep them both home full time with me to enjoy the summer. Sounds fun, right?

Photo by Alexander Dummer on Unsplash

It was, but it was also one of my more challenging times as a parent. I had to manage two nap schedules and sleep train the baby all at the same time. Sometimes it felt downright impossible, but at the end of the day I’m glad I did it and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I also learned a whole lot during that time, and here are some tips I can share with you fi you’re managing having two little ones at home.

1.    Decide what needs to be kept strictly, and where you have more leniency.

My older son was just about to drop is nap and I was just starting to sleep train my younger son, so naturally I made the choice to prioritize the baby’s naps over the toddler’s nap. It ended up working out really well since my older son was ready to move off the nap anyways and we were all happier when I wasn’t trying to encourage a nap that wasn’t needed anymore.

2.    Decide a time of a day when a nap can be “on the go”

For my kids, I always found that if their first nap of the day was good, any naps that happened on the go after that wouldn’t disrupt their schedules too much. So, I decided to make sure we stayed home for the morning but would go out in the afternoons and they would sleep on the go if necessary. We got time out of the house at least once a day - which was desperately needed!

3.    Decide which days will be complete write-offs

We only get so many summers with our young kids, and if that means throwing out the schedule to have a fun day sometimes, then we can do it! However, this day needs to be chosen wisely and followed up with some strict routines to get back on track, but taking some days to go to theme parks, zoos, or other events that would mean going off schedule entirely is worthwhile and necessary to enjoy life. Take the time - but make sure you can compensate to get back into the swing of things.

It takes practice to figure out exactly where you can adjust your schedule. For more information or help to get back on track when juggling kids with different needs, reach out to us at Nighttime Heroes Sleep schedule coaching for more information!