My Schedule With a Baby and Toddler

Last updated on September 3rd, 2023 at 06:30 am

Currently, I’m a work from home mom taking care of my two-year-old and my 11-month-old. So, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about schedules and how I can make a schedule with a baby and toddler work for everyone. Once my baby was old enough to actually be on a schedule, my goal was to sync their schedules or at least make them more compatible. I wanted their schedules to work together as much as possible to give me time to work and breathe. Also, to prevent me from losing my mind. Right now, here’s the baby and toddler schedule that works for us.

7 AM – Wake-up and breakfast time

Typically, we don’t get our children up until 7 AM, regardless of when they wake up. For the most part, when they wake up, they’ll play in their room/crib until it’s time to get up. Sometimes, they’ll start crying, in which case we’ll bring them down for playtime until 7 when we make and eat breakfast. But if they’re just chilling, we don’t get them up. This gives me morning work time and creates a consistent schedule for them.

8 AM – Baby naptime & Toddler playtime

After they’ve eaten breakfast, the baby goes back to bed. This typically works because the baby has been up since 6 AM or so. Also, the morning has the shortest wake window, so he’s always tired around this time. Then, the toddler and I will have some one-on-one playtime. Sometimes he’ll be able to do independent play too, which means I can get some work done or relax more.

10 AM – Baby bottle time & Toddler snack time

The baby typically wakes up around 10 AM, and I give him his first bottle of the day. Meanwhile, my husband, who also works from home, comes down for his break and gives the toddler his morning snack, which usually consists of fruit and Cheerios.

10:30 AM – Baby and Toddler playtime

Now is really the time when both baby and toddler are awake, so we can all do something. We try to go to the park regularly. We live in a small city, so there are tons of parks we can walk to. So, I’ll get them loaded into the double stroller and take them for a walk to somewhere the toddler can run around. If it’s raining or something, we’ll play inside.

11:30 AM – Baby and Toddler lunchtime

When we get home, I’ll make lunch for the both of them. Usually, this consists of leftovers from the night before, but if there aren’t any leftovers they’ll eat, I’ll make yogurt or a sandwich with some veggies.

12 PM – Toddler nap time

The toddler goes to bed now. My husband comes down for his lunch break and gets him down while I stay with the baby, who hasn’t been up quite long enough to go back to bed. This is fine because the baby can take longer to eat, too.

12:30 PM – Baby nap time

Now, the baby goes to bed, which gives me a solid chunk of time to get things done, from housework to my job.

2:30 PM – Wake-up time & bottle/snack time

Sometimes, they’ll sleep later, and sometimes, they’ll get up earlier. But unless they’re crying, I’ll leave them in their respective rooms until at least 2:30. Once they’re up, the baby has bottle #2, and the toddler has snack #2 (typically a veggie pouch).

3 PM – Playtime

Here’s our next solid chunk of playtime, but I usually stay home for this one. Sometimes, I can kill time by having the toddler play with Playdough or color while the baby sits in my lap or his high chair. Sometimes, the toddler won’t stay still, so we play around the house. My husband comes down at 4:30 PM and typically takes over childcare while I cook dinner.

5:30 PM – Dinner time

Dinner time is absolute chaos, but we make it work. We’re starting to get to the point where everyone can eat the same things with modifications, which is making things easier. At the very least, the toddler and the baby can usually have the same meal.

6:30 PM – Bath time

We don’t do a bath every night. It irritates my son’s eczema if we bathe him too often. But we’ll at least do a wipe down with a cloth if there’s no bath. My husband has full ownership over bath time, so I’ll typically do schoolwork.

7 PM – Toddler bedtime

My husband puts the toddler to bed, and I’ll hang out with the baby and get more work done or clean up from dinner time. My husband does kitchen cleanup every night, but if it’s really messy, I’ll help out. Our toddler’s bedtime routine is pretty much brushing his teeth (with help), getting into pjs, reading a specific book he likes (Five Little Monkeys), and climbing into bed.

He’ll usually get out of bed and putter around his room for a bit. We took out his most exciting toys, but there are still books and puzzles. We used to repeatedly go up and get him back into bed, but we’ve discovered it’s better just to let him read books for a bit. He always climbs into bed and goes to sleep, typically within a half hour.

7:30 PM – Baby bottle & bedtime

After the toddler is in bed, the baby has his final bottle and goes to bed himself. He only has three bottles a day because he simply wasn’t drinking four. So, we increased his solids intake and took him down to three bottles. He finishes all of his bottles now, and he eats quite a bit of solids too.

Once they’re both in bed, we do any chores that need to be done, spend some quality time together, and then I go to bed pretty early since I get up at 5 AM to work. You’ll notice that the baby’s and toddler’s schedules are only mostly synced up, but this isn’t bad because it gives me one-on-one time with each of them while still giving me a chunk of time in the middle of the day. So, as far as a baby and toddler schedule goes, this works for us.

What do you think? Could this schedule with a baby and toddler work for you?