COPING with a newborn baby is hard enough.

But what if you have a hormonal teenager to deal with at the same time?

Studies have found most parents find teens even more challenging to deal with than tots. So how do you cope if you have BOTH?

Freelance writer Shannon Kyle, 41, says breastfeeding and changing nappies is straightforward enough... until you add a 15-year-old to the mix.

When having daughter Cleo in 2001, Shannon, from Brighton, didn’t expect to find herself pregnant again14 years later.

But when she met new husband Jon, 41, a designer, they had daughter Lotte.

Shannon and Jon found themselves dealing with Cleo’s exam pressures and breaking curfews along with Lotte’s vomit and exploding nappies.

LYNSEY HOPE hears how Shannon manages the ultimate mum juggle.

"Having kids is never easy — but having a teenager and a newborn at the same time brings its own set of challenges. I call it 'extreme parenting', as I deal with the opposite ends of the parenting spectrum on a daily basis.

I could be waiting up at 2am for a teenager to come home from a party. Then I am woken at 5am by a newborn screaming for milk. “Tired” does not begin to describe it.

"I never planned to have such a big age gap between my kids. I had Cleo in 2001. Her father left a year later and I was a single mum for a decade before meeting my new husband.

"We were thrilled to find out we were expecting a baby together but Cleo, then 14, was less impressed. She rolled her eyes when I told her the news.

"She called it 'embarrassing' and said she couldn’t imagine me being a mum to a baby. “I’ll almost be old enough to be its mother,” she wailed. But when her sister Lotte, now two, was born in January 2016, Cleo was besotted.

"It was only then I realised the juggle it would involve.

"To begin with, my children’s needs are different on every level. Both often need their mum but in different ways — and always, it seems, at the same time.

"One wants long, emotional chats about issues at school. The other wants nursery rhymes. One wants exciting things to do at the weekend, the other wants to visit a petting farm.

"One evening I found myself jiggling a baby on my knee while trying to keep up with a conversation about the new GCSE grade system at a school parents’ evening.

"Breastfeeding around the clock with a newborn was exhausting. I didn’t have the energy to listen to Cleo when she came home wanting to talk about the issues of the day at school, her friendships, how she had done in class and who had fallen out with who. I became very impatient.

"I would be stuck feeding on the sofa for hours and if she wanted a lift to school or to a friend’s house, I always had to say no.

"One stressful morning, I promised Cleo a lift to school as she was running late. Lotte, of course, suddenly needed an urgent nappy change. I had to do it in record time so Cleo wasn’t given a detention.

"Another time, Lotte threw up all over a pair of jeans Cleo was desperate to wear to a party. I had been holding them in my hand.

"Cleo was less than impressed and it was my job to find another outfit before tears erupted — both mine and hers. All the clothes she wanted to wear were piled high in the washing basket I’d not had time to deal with.

"Keeping them both entertained is challenging. There are not many places that cater equally well for babies and teenagers, especially during the long summer holidays.

"My teenager doesn’t want to hang out at the park or, God forbid, soft-play. And who can blame her?

"Likewise, my baby doesn’t want to sit and watch her sister go up and down scary water slides. She wants to join in.

"Food is another dilemma. While weaning Lotte, I thrust into her tiny hands all the fruit and veg she could grasp. But often her eyes were drawn to her sister’s platefuls of chips, pizza and chicken nuggets.

"The choice between steamed butternut squash and freshly delivered pizza is easy for a tot.

"Someone in our house mysteriously put chocolate milkshake into her baby bottle and it definitely wasn’t me...or her dad.

"Spiralling food costs aren’t the only bills to go up. With nursery fees starting at £50 a day when I went back to work, a financial hit was inevitable.

"Factor in the costs of new baby clothes every few months, plus must-haves for the teen wardrobe, smartphone bills and travel costs, and my kids are breaking the bank.

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"But being skint, tired and feeling some days like you are drowning is natural for a parent.

"And for all its downsides, there are rewards to be reaped. Some evenings I hand over my toddler to her 17-year-old sister and skip from the house without a care in the world.

"Because, chocolate milkshake aside, it turns out a teenage sister makes the perfect free babysitter.
"I trust her completely and, best of all, she lives with us.

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