Combining 16m old & newborn schedule help please!

[MamaBergs]

Hello! Looking for a little help/suggestions - i have a 16 month old & a 3 week old. Hubby is going back to work next week and i need help incorporating the newborns routine with the toddlers routines so i dont go crazy. Main conflict is around lunch/naptime for the toddler & how to juggle the two so they are both napping at the same time.

16month old wakes 7-7.30am, lunchtime 11.30, nap 12-12.30 til 2pm.
Newborn feeds every 3 hours (takes around 30mins to feed & burp). So im thinking of making his feed times 6am, 9am, 12noon, 3pm etc OR 8am, 11am, 2pm etc?

Should probably also mention we feed on demand after midnight which suits the newborn really well, just not sure this may impact the start of the day feed ie 6am or 8am.

Newborn is pretty chilled out once fed & burped. The toddler is going through a regression so naptime may take 30mins to get her settled. Shes pretty okay to hang in her cot once she wakes from her nap, its just the nap wind down that can take some time.

Would love some suggestions on getting through that lunchtime period. Hubby gets home at 5pm so no dramas in the evenings. Thank you!!!

[creations]

Sorry I'm not sure exactly what the time conflict is you're asking about although I totally see that having two LOs is a time conflict in itself with both having heir own needs.
It looks like NB will eat at 11 be done by 11.30 when you magically produce toddler's lunch then put NB down for nap at 12, toddler down at 12.30, NB up at 1.30-2 and fed, then toddler up at 2... sounds perfect...can't possibly be perfect though.

I think my only suggests really are to have toddlers meals prepared in advance as much as possible. Easy healthy things that are just put on a plate or batch cook little meatballs or bean burgers which can be frozen and lifted out a couple at a time and put with some simple sides like fruit or pre-made steamed/baked veggie wedges.  And to wear NB in a sling if needed when dealing with toddler if NB isn't settling when you want him to.
TBH I'm  not sure that this is the hardest time as NB is still probably pretty sleepy, it's when he "wakes up" that things will be trickier - just try to be good to yourself, don't stress over sleep training or perfect routines.

[Katet]

I have 2 who are 22months apart & I know how vital that both sleeping at the same time in the middle of the day was.

I found the best way for us was to do what ever it took to have the baby have it's nap as soon as the toddler did. So I did a more catnap, catnap, catnap routine int he morning & had it so that when I fed the baby the toddler would watch a video (yep it was a good old-fashioned video as we had "spot" ones from my step DD, that he loved) & then when the baby was fed, I'd get the toddler to sleep while the baby had a short A time (he'd just lie on the floor looking at the air lol) & then I'd get the baby to sleep once the toddler was asleep. For me the routine was to get the baby a feed at 11.30 ( DS1 napped at noon) & would adjust the morning to achieve that as DS1 would sleep 2.5 hours & baby actually about 3 hours, so I nearly always got some 1:1 time with DS1 by him going to nap first.