How do you keep your toddler quiet during infant naptimes?

LIAngel

As of now, Ava isn't on any sort of schedule (yet).  She takes pretty much all of her naps in the swing which is downstairs in our main living area.  So usually Nicholas and I are in that room playing (it's a large open floor plan that opens up to the kitchen/dining room).   Once we get her room set up, I'd like to start her naps in the crib (hopefully she'll cooperate- she's not to hip on naps in the bassinet in her room, so the crib might be a challenge),  So how do you keep your toddler quiet while your infant is napping?  I don't mean perfectly silent, just not running around being loud.   Right now, she seems to nap thru Nicholas' playing and running around in the living room, while she swings away.   But soon I am going to want to establish a more structured nap (lights out, white noise) time.  

laura&dan05

J naps in his swing too but it's in his room. He startles really easily and won't nap in the main living areas of our house. I moved the swing into his room so he has a quiet place to rest and H can go about playing without any problems. I just started putting in his crib for his afternoon nap on Friday (he sleeps in his crib at night).

GuitaristsGirl

I don't. Nor do I keeP the dogs quiet, poor girl . She's used to all the sounds. The pedi reminds me that she heard it all in utero! Plus, I don't try for structured naps until older. That said, at night we do white noise, which you could do for naps to fight the problem from a different direction.

LIAngel

Thanks!  

CMM05

I didin't.

Like Guitarist said, I wanted DS2 to get used to all the sounds around us. So, he napped wherever and we went about our business......but I did this with DS1 as well. Everyone told me to not tiptoe around when they were babies because supposedly it helps them to learn to sleep in any environment.

Once they hit about 12 weeks or so and we started to get more on a routine, then I would make it a point to nap them in their cribs, in their own rooms to get them used to sleeping in there (if we were home for nap time....) 

LIAngel

Yeah once Ava gets more on a routine, I'll put her in the crib to nap. That's what I did for Nicholas.  He napped in his swing for a while in our main living area with all the usual noises.  and eventually we did all naps in the crib.  I'll probably attempt it in the next few weeks (she's 10 weeks now).