what to do with toddler

sadyy131

Well she's a little over a year and a half, but the little girl I nanny is super excited about the baby. I bring her to work with me everyday. It's just her and my baby, so I thought it would be easy but boy was I wrong. All she wants to do is talk, touch, kiss, fuss with baby. Even when baby is asleep. I've tired baby wearing but since I have a bad back it gets tough after a while. I've tried to explain that we need to use quite voices/ not touch her face etc. but it's hard to get her to listen. As amazing as my job is it gets really stressful when baby gets cranky because she can't sleep due to the little girl constantly talking (or yelling) in her face and touching her. How do you STM+ handle you're other toddler aged/ young LOs?

MargaretC5

My son is two and I try to distract him with something more exciting than the baby. I will go start playing with his toys, or offer stickers or play dough.
I also give him specific jobs he can do to help with the baby like getting a new diaper or throwing away a diaper. When the baby is fussy I also let his rock her in the rock and play.
The pack and play also helps because she is out of the toddlers reach, I just have to watch he does not try to throw toys in for her.

Squirtgun

As @MargaretC5 said, giving a specific task so that they can be a helper is great! Daughter loves getting a burp cloth, clean diaper, etc for me. If she likes being a helper, you can explain that being quiet while baby sleeps is being a helper!

I've also found that giving her a baby doll that she can care for is super helpful! (Like the golden book Baby Dear. She LOVES reading that book! https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0375829288/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?qid=1452038788&sr=8-3&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=baby+dear+little+golden+book&dpPl=1&dpID=51XMCH41Z8L&ref=plSrch )
That way she has her own little responsibilities, and it will distract her a little bit from trying to be in the little one's face. (Daughter even gives her Babydoll tummy time which Ruth!)

Edit: autocorrect doesn't understand me.

Elyse1384

DS is 21 months and I try to distract him with more enjoyable things or tasks as others have said (eg getting something I need for the baby or using my free hand to color with him). I also ask for his "help" getting his sister to sleep. I make it a joint effort and tell him what we need to do. We need to be quiet, bounce the baby and shush her. He will bounce circles around me mimicking what sounds I make. He also makes sleep sounds at her and brings her a blanket once she is settled in her designated sleeping area. She sleeps fine even with him running around once she had been asleep long enough. I don't want to make the environment too quiet for her as that is not realistic to expect him with around.

chein1

Yep LO sleeps through DD1. It's like she already knew she was our second while in the womb haha. She naps in her RNP so I'll move her into her room or our room in the RNP...out of toddlers sight, out of mind. I also stick my phone with her white noise wedged in the RNP so it helps drown out DD1's noise while playing. LO naps so much right now I feel bad making DD1 be "quiet" while LO is sleeping so LO has adjusted more to DD1 than the other way around. She's my big helper and when baby cries hells, "Mommy I got it!" and she'll bring me just about everything that we've ever used with LO (blanket, diaper, wipes, usually an old bottle she had taken that I never knew about haha).