Questions for mums
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I personally would say prioritise toddlers schedule, i have 2 under 2 (17 months and 5 months) and the thing that got me through was having a routine, my son naps at the same time everyday wakes up and sleeps at the same time, there’s obviously bad days and nights where the times might change slightly but it’s more or less the same, newborns sleep loads but keeping the toddler routine intact made a world of a difference for me
I agree with @Mya. I have a 20 month and a 3 month old. Prioritize the toddler. Toddlers thrive on consistency and routine. Plus they are the ones that can have a routine. Newborns and infants don’t really get one till maybe 3 months or later. It’s made every day much easier with less meltdowns.
Id recommend prioritizing toddlers nap, baby will sleep anywhere but if your toddler misses their nap it will make the rest of the day so much harder. If I get both down for a nap at the same time it's magical, but if my son misses his nap I swear it feels like I'm dealing with a terrorist all day 😅
I think you might be surprised at how different you feel about the whole sleep thing the second time around. I was exactly the same as you with my first, obsessed with wake windows and felt like my whole day revolved around her sleep. She’s now 2 (26.5 months) and I have a 4 month old. I honestly couldn’t tell you what his wake windows are! He has zero routine. He sleeps when he sleeps and wakes when he wakes and honestly I’m finding it so much less stressful than the first time round! My daughter still has one nap a day but I haven’t actually found I’ve had to prioritise one over the other, I guess because my second just kind of fits in around my first. Try not to worry about it now, I think you’ll find you just go with the flow with your second x
I never had strict naps but I did loosely follow wake windows but not to the point of not doing something because my little one was due a nap. This has meant he’s really flexible and can sleep almost anywhere. Personally this works for us and they fall into a natural ish pattern but no meltdowns really when tired. Il be doing similar with this little baba too until older and then I can hopefully combine their nap but only if it feels easy not if it’s forcing something x