Suggestions for a Schedule

The best thing you can do is to try to get both children on the same nap schedule. I realize that a two week old will sleep alot more than a two year old, but if there is one long stretch in the day during which you can get them both to sleep (so that you can rest), it will be better for all of you. My boys were 2.5 years apart and this did wonders for my mental state. :)

How about reading a book to your toddler while you breastfeed? He doesn't even need to sit still for that, but can sit beside you on the sofa and look at the pictures while you read if his attention span will allow for it. You can also keep him in the room with you and just make sure that he has enough toys to keep him occupied while you are feeding the baby. Try giving him new things to play with, such as spoons, cups, and bowls, a shape sorter, large blocks, several hats, or an old purse or bag with interesting items inside that he can put in and take out. Also, if your two year old is feeding himself, you can put him in the highchair and give him a small, easily eaten snack (just keep him in your sight while he's eating).

Bottom line, things will get back to normal for you. A new baby can be chaotic, but once things settle down, you won't feel so frazzled. I can also promise you that your older son will not remember this time, and will NOT feel as if you didn't pay enough attention to him, so don't worry about that!

Your 22 month old can wait, just love him, read to him and include him. Sounds like you need to give it more time for you to heal and not worry about your 1st boy...sounds like too much at this point. I never figured out the schedule things with my babies even after having 5 of them. I remained flexible and did the best I could to hit a few goals in the day!
I had my first 3 babies in 4 years and just took things as they came. The older ones did have a bedtime of course and meals were fairly consist.
Congrat's on your new baby and keep up the good work of nursing!!
Hope that helps in some way!
God Bless you!

Our oldest son was 23 months when his brother was born, and I too had a c-section. Girl, for the first 2 months we were just surviving.Hubby went to work after a week, we had zero help so it was one day at a time.Even though our youngets was a really good ,it was just time consuming with breafeeding and changing. I do not know about your toddler, but ours was not the kind I can let do finger painting and art while I was breasfeeding(he would still eat playdough and crayons till he was after 2:)).Since we could not get out much in the begining we brought outside in(no we did not have a huge house:))Some plastic climb on stuff and the best $200 we ever spent was a Little Tikes Bounce House that we could open in the living room and fold away in the closet afterwards.We went for a lot of walks and to the playgorund in the mornings(baby just slept in the stroller through it all) Do not stress out, you will get a hang of it.
PS Having 2 boys close togather is a blast.....not easy, but fun:)

Sorry I'm late. www.titus2.com The Maxwell's wrote a book called Managers of Their Home. This has been WONDERFUL to me! It's one of the best $25 I've ever spent. She homeschools 8 children and takes care of the home while her husband works outside the home. I told myself, if she can do it so can I. We have really done so much more than I ever thought we could just by creating our own daily schedule to follow. It really works! And Dad can see ALL that we have accomplished each day too.
Good Luck to you!
Take Care,
N. :) SAHM homeschooling 3 boys 12, 7 & 2 yrs old. Married to Mr. Wonderful for almost 15yrs. How about the price of groceries today? Check out www.angelfoodministries.com for good food for less money. Email me if you have questions at ____@____.com

I know having a toddler and a new baby can be difficult but take it easy on yourself. Maybe while you are tending to the baby you can give your son some easy crafts to do. They have a ton of fairly cheap things at Michael's craft store. I always go and get things for $1. My daughter who is 20 months old loves to draw and color so I get lots of that coloring stuff, they have sticky shapes that he can just put on a piece of construction paper, magna doodles, color forms (I think thats what they are called), and finger paints if you have an easily cleaned up floor or are able to sit outside. You can get wooden blocks that he can stack or color matching toys. Melissa and Doug sell a lot of good toys and Moolka.com also has some great toys that require imagination. If you have to put him in front of the television what about some learning movies, Leapfrog makes some excellent ones like the Letter Factory. Try to put both kids down at the same time for a nap and bedtime to give yourself some time to relax. Also if you keep meal times consistant everyday schedule will fall into place. Sorry for the rant. Good luck to you and your babies.

Something that SuperNanny does is writing down a schedule for everyone but the baby. Post it in the kitchen. Breakfast 7-7:30, Playtime - 9:00, Lunch 11:30 -12:30, Nap 12:30 - 2... Create it to what your normal day is. This will not only help you remmeber to eat, etc. but will help your 2yr old understand when things will be coming. You can also get sticky notes/magnets to note when the baby's last feedings were,etc.

Schedule? With a 22-month-old and a 16-day old? Any suggestions I have might change within a few days, but here's a try:
1) before nursing, set a routine for the 22-month-old for an activity he can do on his own. Maybe play with a pinwheel or a puppet, something safe, nontoxic, and to be used only during nursing time. Like his own nursing buddy.
2) do not always send him away during every nursing time. Just my opinion, but might send negative message to him. But, have at least one or two private feedings when Dad comes home to nurture the new relationship.
3) give older son special time alone while baby is napping at least once in the day, so he can appreciate private time with Mommy.
4) Let him play with some tupperware, cars and boxes.
5) Pray for fortitude through it all.
6) play music
7) have supply of blocks or something he can build, like a soft puzzle.
8) go through vocabulary words in morning and see how many of his "special words" he can remember.

Hi Victoria, honestly I think you are still gonna to need help while you're healing from your c-section. My older child was only 16 months old when I gave birth to his sister. I was lucky because I was living with my parents when I gave birth. It's overwhelming I know. I had a paid babysitter until my daughter was almost 9 months old because I needed it. I would give my son his bottle before I nursed my daughter so they would be drinking at the same time, but for the most part someone else was always there to entertain him so I can take care of my daugther. I know not everyone can afford to pay someone. My friend would come over M-F from 8am-3pm to help with the kids so I didn't feel overwhelmed and my son had a playmate. It was worth paying for in my situation.

My daughter just turned 3 and my other is 3 months. We have play-dough,puzzles, coloring books, tons of blank paper and a few other things for the indoors when I need to spend time with the baby. When we can make it outdoors but perhaps I have to still feed and I can't have her running amok we have bubbles, chalk or simply pick shapes from the clouds.
Some days are going to be harder then others. We spent a lot of group cuddling after my c-section. We also all take a nap together. I got my baby to go with my oldest nap schedule (by switching both their nap times) so then I can nap too if I need to even if it's just 20 minutes it's more then nothing. Anyway, I hope some of this helps you even a little.
Be strong and take care.