Anyone have a large age gap? Logistics issues

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My children have a 5 year age gap and it's been wonderful. I brought the baby everywhere I needed to go with my oldest, and the baby adjusted nicely.

If you wake up the baby earlier in the morning, can the naps all be earlier as well?

Unfortunately no matter when he wakes the afternoon nap suffers. His wake times are about 2.25 hours between naps. So when he is up at 6 he naps from 8:15-9am, and then usually 11:15am to 11:45/12pm. He just can't fall asleep so soon after he naps even though those morning naps are so crappy. Sometimes we can get him down by 1:30pm but he still needs more than an hour nap and can't be awake more than 3 hours to get him past a 5:30pm bedtime - even that is pushing it. Regardless of the morning naps, if he has to be awake by 2:30pm there is just no way to do a normal bedtime and I hate not seeing him.

So start the last nap at 3:15 instead.

Horrible idea. Unless you don’t mind being up until 10pm with a baby.

Nah. My babies could sleep 3-5pm and go back down at 8/8:30. Plus she said she doesn’t want the baby to have an early bedtime so she can see the baby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My children have a 5 year age gap and it's been wonderful. I brought the baby everywhere I needed to go with my oldest, and the baby adjusted nicely.

If you wake up the baby earlier in the morning, can the naps all be earlier as well?

Unfortunately no matter when he wakes the afternoon nap suffers. His wake times are about 2.25 hours between naps. So when he is up at 6 he naps from 8:15-9am, and then usually 11:15am to 11:45/12pm. He just can't fall asleep so soon after he naps even though those morning naps are so crappy. Sometimes we can get him down by 1:30pm but he still needs more than an hour nap and can't be awake more than 3 hours to get him past a 5:30pm bedtime - even that is pushing it. Regardless of the morning naps, if he has to be awake by 2:30pm there is just no way to do a normal bedtime and I hate not seeing him.

So start the last nap at 3:15 instead.

Horrible idea. Unless you don’t mind being up until 10pm with a baby.

Nah. My babies could sleep 3-5pm and go back down at 8/8:30. Plus she said she doesn’t want the baby to have an early bedtime so she can see the baby.

Pushing the nap back so late would probably cause the baby to fall asleep during pick up and if the baby is like my kids were he won’t go back to sleep when he gets home.

[Anonymous]

I would put the older one in aftercare so nanny can pick up when baby wakes from nap. No matter if you’re doing 1, 2, or 3 naps, our experience has been that 2:30 is asleep time until they drop naps altogether.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My children have a 5 year age gap and it's been wonderful. I brought the baby everywhere I needed to go with my oldest, and the baby adjusted nicely.

If you wake up the baby earlier in the morning, can the naps all be earlier as well?

Unfortunately no matter when he wakes the afternoon nap suffers. His wake times are about 2.25 hours between naps. So when he is up at 6 he naps from 8:15-9am, and then usually 11:15am to 11:45/12pm. He just can't fall asleep so soon after he naps even though those morning naps are so crappy. Sometimes we can get him down by 1:30pm but he still needs more than an hour nap and can't be awake more than 3 hours to get him past a 5:30pm bedtime - even that is pushing it. Regardless of the morning naps, if he has to be awake by 2:30pm there is just no way to do a normal bedtime and I hate not seeing him.

So start the last nap at 3:15 instead.

Horrible idea. Unless you don’t mind being up until 10pm with a baby.

Nah. My babies could sleep 3-5pm and go back down at 8/8:30. Plus she said she doesn’t want the baby to have an early bedtime so she can see the baby.

My baby used to stay up with 9:30/10 p.m. DH and I liked that because I could actually spend time with him when we got home at 6/6:30...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cancel extra curriculars for older kid. Baby waits until after pickup for long nap.

Wow. That sucks for the older kid!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cancel extra curriculars for older kid. Baby waits until after pickup for long nap.

Wow. That sucks for the older kid!

Nope. 5 year olds don’t need EC’s. They really don’t. That’s a DC type A parent thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would put the older one in aftercare so nanny can pick up when baby wakes from nap. No matter if you’re doing 1, 2, or 3 naps, our experience has been that 2:30 is asleep time until they drop naps altogether.

This. It’s where my K kid made all his friends anyway. To pay for it, cancel all the lessons, etc. I have older kids so I can tell you they don’t do anything but make you feel good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cancel extra curriculars for older kid. Baby waits until after pickup for long nap.

Wow. That sucks for the older kid!

Nope. 5 year olds don’t need EC’s. They really don’t. That’s a DC type A parent thing.

When my oldest was 5 we lived 3000 miles away from DC, and my kid (and every kid we knew) definitely participated in EC activities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cancel extra curriculars for older kid. Baby waits until after pickup for long nap.

Wow. That sucks for the older kid!

Nope. 5 year olds don’t need EC’s. They really don’t. That’s a DC type A parent thing.

When my oldest was 5 we lived 3000 miles away from DC, and my kid (and every kid we knew) definitely participated in EC activities.

Agree. I mean, I participated in extracurriculars at that age in a small town in the 1980s!!

OP, can you hire a neighborhood babysitter just to do school pickup?

[Anonymous]

Try to get baby on a 9-10:30, 1-2:30 nap schedule. From your description it sounds like they are back home around 4:30pm? Have baby take a 30 minute nap then. That should be enough to get him to a 7pm bedtime.
If you stick to the schedule without any variations for 2 weeks, they will usually settle in to it (at least my 2 kids did)