2 yodd hurting baby ds

[princessofpersians]

How can i reason with 2 yo dd not to hurt 7 week old bs? I'm at the end if my tether. She just laughs when i tell her to be gentle. I want to cry.

you can't, she's only 2. and she's probably realised that it gets your attention off the new baby and back onto her very quickly!

keep the baby out of her reach unless she is under very close supervision is my advice :)

i kept the pram downstairs so i could put ds3 in it when he was little as ds2 was only 18 months old and was a little bugger with him quite honestly

I do need to remember she's only 2. So hard though once in the cycle of negativity to turn it around to being positive again. It is going to pass isn't it?

DD1 didn't understand "gentle" especially as I kept saying it when she wasn't being gentle at all. In the end I think that she thought that she was being gentle rather than doing something wrong IYSWIM. I had to use other words - "stroke her", "be more careful/gentle" (more is important so she knows to do something differently. And I had to show her by stroking her arm very gently and less gently (but obviously not too hard) what to do.

She still isn't great (DD1 now 3, DD2 now 1), especially as DD2 is trying to walk but unsteady. It is hard but as the baby gets older they get more resiliant.

You definitely can't reason with her. In fact the more you try and explain and reason, the more attention she gets = she will do it more. 1st, keep the baby out of harm's way. I had a playpen downstairs and made a little nest for DD2, with baby fleece and soft toys and mobile over. I always put her into the playpen if I had to leave her for a moment or turn my back. 2nd, when your DD does something bad immediately remove her from the situation with a firm 'we do not pinch / bite' (in the case of my DD1!) and then basically withdraw attention from her for a moment and comfort the baby. There is a fair likelihood your DD will then scream a bit - I would say let her and ignore it. But a few minutes later just act as if nothing has happened and carry on - don't keep on about her behaviour. So - a firm no, brief withdrawal of attention, then back to normal.