What do you do when...

juliane2004

You go to the bathroom or in the kitchen or something, where do you put the kids?

We are moving into a house, not a very open floor plan (can't see living room from kitchen) and only one bathroom (upstairs).

Right now, DS sleeps a lot, so there's no problem with worrying about DD poking at him since he's in his crib. But when he gets a bit older (3+ months), when he sleeps less, where do you put your littlest one, so the older one can't hurt them?

The two options I see are:

-bring one of them with me

-or have a playpen in the living room to protect DS (but this would take up a HUGE amount of space in our small living room)

Any other options I'm not thinking of?

jkelly41

This is my situation exactly.  When DD was newborn, to go to the bathroom, both kids went upstairs with me.  I put her in her crib and DS came with me into the bathroom.  Now, DD will hang out in her swing, bouncy seat, or just on the floor.  DS usually still comes with me.

When I'm in the kitchen, DD sits in her bouncy seat with me.  DS has the run of the first floor (very small first floor).  I can pop my head around the wall if he's too quiet but I can usually hear him playing or he comes into the kitchen or dining room, which I can see from the kitchen.  Obviously, all stairs are blocked off.

For DD, we also have the swing set up which she loves, so she's in there a lot too (always naps in there).

moonfaerie

We do have a playpen downstairs so I can stick either kid in it, but our living room is set up so that I can move to the pnp to a certain spot to keep DD1 in the living room, and then I put DD2 in the swing or on her playmat in the dining room. Sometimes I take DD1 into the bathroom with me, she likes to play in there.

I suggest if you don't have room for a playpen, can you put up a gate or two to keep them separated? Like let #1 play in the living room, and move the swing to the kitchen or something.

caligirl0715

Well first watch their patterns to get to know who you need to watch out for more, if your DS can be entertained with certain toys for a certain amount of time then time it. But in any case I would say multiple gates to block them into a safety zone whenever you're not in the room is a must! And as your baby gets older even when you're in the room it's better to stay in the "safty zone" b/c the older toddlers learn how to time things just right and will bolt for the no-no's when you're doing somethign simple like changing the other one's diaper or giving a bottle, etc.

caligirl0715

Yikes, no spell checking before responding, sorry! : )

kcisthebombdotcom

We have a gate up between the kitchen/living room. I keep a bassinet in the kitchen so if I need to put baby in there to go to the bathroom/cook she's safe.

If you dont have a bassinet, you could use a bouncy seat as well since those are lightweight and easy to move from room to room.