How To Get Things Done With A Newborn And Toddler – Useful Tips To Follow

Are you worried because you can’t seem to get things done the way you used to before having your baby? Having your little one in your arms does make you feel more than happy and content, but sometimes not getting the work done like before can make things a little challenging. Handling your baby is a full-time job on its own, so how would you get other work done with your little one?

With both a newborn and toddler, things become more hectic. As you give your newborn more attention, your toddler will start acting up, needing more attention, and creating competition for it. You need to handle things as parents to both your children carefully. Where one parent might spend time with the newborn, the other can give attention to the toddler.

For more such tips and how to handle the situation best, keep reading this article to learn how to handle this the best way for both your newborn and the toddler.

How to Keep Your House Clean

Keep Things to a Minimum

Things can become unmanageable real fast with having both a toddler and a newborn in your home. With one trying to raid the kitchen and destroying everything in sight, others might start crying at random moments, and you would be standing wondering what to do and how to do things the right way.

One way to keep your house manageable is to keep things to a minimum. Before the arrival of your second child, make sure to do a thorough cleaning of your home. Throw away unnecessary stuff out and try to keep less stuff possible. See to it if most stuff can be placed at high places, so your toddler won’t be able to reach them. There might be stuff you can’t throw away, so it’s best to keep it away for the time being and take it out later on your kids have grown up a little.

Keep your Toddler Busy

Toddler helping with chores, keeping them busy when you also have a newborn baby.

While keeping stuff to a minimum is a helpful tip, you still have to do the house chores. So keeping your toddler busy is a key to you getting the work done quickly and smoothly. While engaging them in television shows is a go-to for parents. But watching the screen every day is also not something that every parent wants for their kid.

Try to engage them in books like picture books or buy some fun kind of activity books that have various types of games to keep your kid busy for a while. There are some chores where you can also let your toddler participate.

Not only will they remain in your eyesight, but this will instill in them the working habit from the beginning. For simple chores like folding the laundry, you can give them small things to fold to keep them busy.

How to Keep their Toys Organized

How to Keep their Toys Organized

Tackling the toys of your toddler can be a massive headache. There are always so many, and they are everywhere, in every room. So how do you handle them?

There is no need to worry about it that much, and you need to be smart about things. What you can do is buy big and deep bucket-shaped size containers and categorize toys in different containers. Whenever your toddler wants to play with their toys, what they generally tend to do is go after other toys simultaneously. They don’t intend to play with all the toys but take out all of them and just lay them all out on the floor.

One way to go about this to be better is to tell your toddler to take one container at a time, and if they want to play with other toys, they must put that first one back in.  Repeatedly ask them to pick up after themselves, which creates a good habit of picking up after themselves and being responsible for their things.

How to go Shopping with your Newborn and Toddler

Make a list beforehand

One way to go about this is to list all the items you need to buy beforehand so there won’t be any confusion or delay in the shopping. You can carry your baby with you at the store and let your toddler sit in the shopping cart when buying groceries.

Giving your toddler a small yet fascinating toy at this time can be pretty useful, like a Rubik’s cube or some colorful toy that they like. You can quickly tick off things from your list while this fascination with their toy lasts!

Parking your Car

This is a vital thing to remember when going out to buy groceries. Always park your car next to the cart section to save all the time you will be wasting parking away from it.

You don’t know it yet, but it can save you a lot of time. You can quickly put the stuff out and buckle up your kids in their respective seats, and put the cart away while they are in your eye range.

Feeding and Bathroom checks

Do remember to feed both your children right before you step out to go shopping for things. Going out always means it will take some time; however, you try hard; it still takes time. And there is a vast chance both your newborn and your toddler will get hungry pretty quickly.

While your newborn is in the clear wearing a diaper, your recently diaper-free toddler might need to visit the washroom before going out.

Shop Online

This is a last and desperate resort to shopping when things aren’t going your way, and you can’t seem to find time to go out and buy groceries. You can shop online, even though it’s a little expensive than going outside and buying on your own, but when desperate times need for desperate measures.

Maintain a Fixed Routine

Maintaining a fixed routine with multiple kids

Setting a routine is quite important in getting things done. You must establish a routine for both your newborn and toddler in a manner that is both good for them and works for you too.

While they are napping, you can get some tricky things that you wouldn’t be able to when they are awake. Setting a routine will not only be beneficial to you but will also keep your kids in a happy mood too.

One Thing at a Time

Don’t expect to finish a lot of stuff in a short time. Rather divide u your work and do small tasks in a short span you get. This will let you feel more productive and give you time to check up on your newborn and toddler.

FAQs

How do I cope with a 2-year-old and a newborn?

When your second child is born, you tend to give more attention and love to the new baby. This makes your first child feel neglected and unloved. This is the reason they start acting out. It would help if you gave attention to the first child too. If one parent is busy with the newborn, the other parent must be with the first child.

Why does my baby cry when I put him down?

It’s normal for your baby to cry when you’re putting him down. Babies tend to crave body touch as much as possible. So if they are crying and doesn’t stop, then you should delay the work you were about to do, or you could use a baby wrap and do easy work.

How do you spend time with a toddler and a newborn?

It can be hectic to give attention to both your kids at the same time. It is beneficial if both the parents are free at the same time then you can spend time equally. But if it comes down to one parent, then you need to be smart about how you spend time with both your kids so neither feels neglected.

To Summarize

When it comes to getting anything done with a toddler and a newborn baby, it can be challenging to get things done quickly. What is needed is a routine for both the kids and for you too. If there is some routine set, then you can focus on one task at a time in short spans and check on your kids from time to time.

It might not easy at first, but if you set things to a routine and fix places to things, you can get things done around the house. You can even engage your toddler into helping you out. At first, they might create a mess, but if you continue this, they might actually help you out in small chores and learn to pick after themselves too.

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As a writer for 1happykiddo, Saumya wants to help new parents and older siblings help raise the newest member added to the family. Her parenting tips come from her experience of being 15 years older than her youngest sibling. When not writing, you can find her reading novels, traveling, and cooking nutritious meals.

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