Dealing with clingy baby and feisty toddler

[NoIamnothavingtwins]

I know this must have been covered but...I have two DDs, four months and 2.5 years. The four month old isnt good at being on her own, always wants attention and wants to be picked up. this gets worse as the day wears on. I have read Penelope Leach etc and there seems to be little advice other than, she's a baby, indulge her! But I am finding it really hard. On the days DD1 goes to the childminders, I cant get anything done like housework and laundry, and when DD1 is at home I cant get anything done like cooking tea. Any advice? PS. DD2 goes to sleep at night wonderfully, but doesnt nap AT ALL during the day.

[NoIamnothavingtwins]

when I say "on her own" I mean she wants to be picked up all the time, not that I leave her in a room on her own!

[thisisyesterday]

get a decent sling is my advice.
i usually have to cook dinner with ds3 on my back as he is grumpy by then

[NoIamnothavingtwins]

thanks thisisyesterday - i have a sling and use it a lot but then I keep getting told that the more you pick them up / keep them in the sling, the more they get used to it. So I've been trying to "train" her to lie on the babygym or in her bouncy chair. But she doesnt seem to be getting the message! bless her...

[thisisyesterday]

oh no it's fine, ds2 was in the sling almost constantly as he was a very miserable, colicky baby.
he is 2 now and the most outgoing, sociable, non-clingy child in the world!

little babies need to be held lots, and i personally believe that if they are with you lots when they are little they learn that you're always there for them and will beh appier to be left a bit when they're older.

i certainly had stopped slinging him as much by the time he was maybe 6/7 months old. he was crawling by then and happier to be left to explore and stuff.

i think also they have such short attention spans at that age that they'll only really be happy to lie on a playmat/in a swing or whatever for 5 or 10 minutes anyway before you need to do something else.
whereas they seem happy to sit in the sling for hours!