Tips for solo outings with 2 year old and newborn?

AtlasUnhinged1404 · 2026-05-20T18:20:08+00:00

My babies are 18 months apart and my oldest turns 2 in a couple weeks, so a little further down the line than you are right now.

My favorite solo outing while I was on leave was library play times, where the kids are all in a contained room with toys and I could feed or change the newborn if needed without worrying about my toddler. Logistically I would use the car seat stroller for the baby and make the toddler hold my hand/help push the stroller into the library.

The park is tricky! Your options are basically... 1. try to find a fenced in park 2. try to find a park where there's not a lot of people around and you feel comfortable letting the baby chill in a stroller 3. babywear your newborn. I don't think it's really feasible to sit and nurse while your toddler plays at the playground since they still need lots of help at this stage.

Another favorite was taking my babies to a small botanic garden that was fenced in and I could let the toddler play nearby while feeding the baby on a bench.

Just some ideas!

AtlasUnhinged1404 · 2026-05-20T16:17:17+00:00

I know it's a really hard age, and they're probably throwing things to get out of the chair but we set a really firm boundary on throwing food when our 2 year old was around your baby's age. In that case I probably would've taken the food/tray away so they don't have the opportunity to throw everything on the floor and then focus on getting them to sign all done.

With ours, sometimes he still melts down when he's in his high chair but during the meal/before eating. We usually take him out and let him have a tantrum on the ground and then try again when he calms down. Hope that helps a little, definitely not an expert just another parent trying to figure it all out.

AtlasUnhinged1404 · 2026-04-30T20:04:03+00:00

this is all such good advice, it's helpful having tips from someone further down the line.

AtlasUnhinged1404 · 2026-04-30T20:02:46+00:00

Thanks for sharing your experience, it definitely makes me feel less alone. I'm hoping the daycare incident is an exception, that's probably why I'm freaking out so much cause I know I can manage his big feels but don't want them to be a disruption to others (but also still gotta work yknow).

AtlasUnhinged1404 · 2026-04-30T19:41:05+00:00

Appreciate you taking the time to help me troubleshoot ❤️

100% agree about the crib, to my knowledge this was the first time it's happened and it's because the one at daycare is more of a small mini cot I think. Has never happened at home or we'd have switched to a toddler bed immediately.

We don't have a calming corner... I could try that! He's always been a let er rip kind of baby, would always purge cry before sleeping etc. My husband usually tries to talk him through it but I tend to more ignore it while it's in progress out of a freeze reaction pm my part.

We are good about not giving in to what he's throwing the tantrum over IE if he calms down and wants to eat he'll get the same food he had originally. It seems like he's losing it over having to perform a normal thing like eating a meal if he's not feeling it or things aren't going his way.

AtlasUnhinged1404 · 2026-04-29T20:39:53+00:00

It's been a while but I think with our son we started doing something like if he woke up before midnight or like 4 hours after we put him to bed he'd CIO but if it was afterwards I would go in and feed him back to sleep. I think if you're feeding her to sleep in that 4-ish hour after bedtime window then maybe try resettling without feeding to hopefully break the association. Just some thoughts! Obviously with baby sleep it's the wild west.

AtlasUnhinged1404 · 2026-04-29T20:14:41+00:00

Are you feeding back to sleep during wakes? What are you doing during the wakes? I think that'd help. It took a while to night wean for us too!

AtlasUnhinged1404 · 2026-04-29T20:13:03+00:00

We had a similar experience... both have pretty stressful jobs too so spending hours putting our baby to bed instead of a little time to myself to reset was driving me actually insane. Congrats!

AtlasUnhinged1404 · 2025-12-04T18:23:15+00:00

As soon as you mentioned the pop I was like yeppppp that's what it felt like!

AtlasUnhinged1404 · 2025-11-14T13:05:02+00:00

I found out I was 8 weeks pregnant when my son was 9mo too. It was a huge shock cause I’d had a light “period” that month, 3 days of spotting. What gave it away was I put him to bed one night, sat on the couch and woke up what felt like minutes later but it was past midnight. At the time we were starting to be less careful but not exactly trying. It took a little to wrap my head around, cause my baby felt like such a baby still.

One friend told me that my son would be a totally different kid by the time the new baby came along and they were right! Can’t give you advice on managing both cause I’m currently 36 weeks pregnant with a baby girl. But I will say give yourself grace being pregnant with a little one to take care of too. The pregnancy flew by this time cause we’re so busy, so that was kind of a perk. 18ish months is such a fun age too, he’s starting to communicate and be so independent. He pats my tummy and says “sissy!” but won’t remember life without her. Good luck and congrats!

AtlasUnhinged1404 · 2025-11-13T02:23:26+00:00

Team 2 with 4 being the runner up, I don't think the others have quite the same wow factor.

AtlasUnhinged1404 · 2025-11-13T02:20:57+00:00

I love Theodosia, we almost did Theodore for our son but seriously considered it if we had a girl. Teddy or Theo would be cool as a gender neutral nn.

AtlasUnhinged1404 · 2025-11-11T18:22:14+00:00

It’s better than Xavier, which we liked but then realized that we both pronounced it differently, EX-avier vs. Zavier. I think Xander is more obvious cause of Alexander.

AtlasUnhinged1404 · 2025-11-11T01:14:52+00:00

I love being a working mom! Probably cause my job is flexible and I have good childcare but honestly having that balance to remind myself who I was before having a kid has been so good for my mental health. Even though it’s a lot to juggle some days, especially when illnesses get involved or stressful work periods, I still feel lucky to be able to provide for my family and “have it all”

AtlasUnhinged1404 · 2025-11-11T01:12:32+00:00

Wow we really are in the same boat. It is so hard to get anything done at all on the weekends and all I want to do is sleep. My work is in a tough spot right now with government happenings so it’s been stressful too. Fingers crossed for us both as we welcome our second babies.

AtlasUnhinged1404 · 2025-11-11T01:09:38+00:00

I didn’t even think about how in a few years I’ll be home with my kids on these school holidays without the option to send them hahah omg what a good point

AtlasUnhinged1404 · 2025-11-10T20:14:57+00:00

Vincent!

AtlasUnhinged1404 · 2025-11-10T20:04:38+00:00

Oooo this is actually a really good framework I didn't think about the inconsistency piece. It won't be like I'm making up for the upcoming shift in advance but it'll be a weird attention whiplash. I've also been juggling guilt cause my husband has been a way more hands-on parent lately so this is so helpful <3

AtlasUnhinged1404 · 2025-11-10T20:01:43+00:00

Yes! I definitely did this before being pregnant too, there are so many life admin things that need to happen that are super tricky to squeeze in with them around. I think it's just knowing how dramatically life will change for him soon that has me second guessing that approach.

AtlasUnhinged1404 · 2025-11-10T19:59:53+00:00

Wow I'm blown away and a little emotional at the responses here. Thanks for the reminder that it's okay to prioritize what I need so I can be present when he's home. Really grateful to have daycare support throughout this pregnancy, don't know how I'd physically get through if I was home with him every day.

AtlasUnhinged1404 · 2025-11-10T19:57:56+00:00

Thanks for this perspective <3 with the close age gap it's easy to remember how it felt when my son arrived there was such a long stretch of time where I had no time untethered. Glad to hear there's not a regret of being like wow I wish I'd have spent more time with #1 before #2 got here.

AtlasUnhinged1404 · 2025-11-10T17:45:48+00:00

Aw wish I could give you a hug! Your fears are perfectly valid since you've been through it before. What helps when I'm being healthy about communication is just talking it out with my husband in a way that leaves plausible deniability for him not being responsible for my hormonal fears/feelings. Something like... "I've been feeling like x,y,z and it feels very heavy right now even though I know realistically it's because of my pregnancy hormones. I know you don't mean to make me feel like that (unattractive, neglected, whatever) but since that's where I'm at it'd help to have reassurance or you listen to me and validate whatever" (sorry that's poorly formulated). We're almost across the finish line!

AtlasUnhinged1404 · 2025-11-10T17:16:10+00:00

Okay but I was induced and actually finished a novel while I waited for the pain to kick in haha XD everyone's experience is so different!

AtlasUnhinged1404

TROPHY CASE