On becoming Mary Poppins... Toddler and newborn support thread #2

[ThePinkNinja]

A place to continue the complaining conversation about the hair pulling days and sleepless nights fun and frolics of life with a toddler and newborn

thanks for the tip, ever, I'll check it out!

Happy new year guys, im trying to read the thread from last couple of days but my eyes are knackerd and won't focus lol x

Aww -crazy- course you are cut out to be a mum. I know how hard it is tho cos I often feel the same. Ds 2.6 seems much better if a bit of a sod going to bed but he's more like the pleasant cheerful little boy we used to have. Until the next phase. Dd is now six weeks and turning into Velcro baby. The only positive I can find is that she does not care who cuddles her as long as she is snuggled up to someone. Thomas the tank engine is my hero tho as he's helped me out in many sanitisation a this rainy weather while dd needs her bottle. The gruffalo is also a useful ally. It's a lot of tv time but at the miner it's helping. I can now sing you the blue mountain mystery tube tho if you like. Come on sing along, blue mountain mystery the secret in the hilllssssss.

Happy new year everyone and here's to all babies sleeping through soon. Well we can hope xx

Sanitisation ?? Wtf? Bloody phone.

I'm glad I've found this thread! DD is 21 mths, and new baby due to pop out on Friday by ELCS.

Not given too much thought to how I'll cope, just hoping it will all work itself out..!

Hi there,

I'm just wondering if anyone has any book tips you can read to our toddler to explain about the baby?

A friend gave me 2 good books about mummy being pregnant, and my DD really likes them and asks for them. Did any of you use books once the baby was born that you found useful?

There's a house inside my mummy was one which DS1 loved - about pg though rather than the baby being here. We just talked loads about what the baby would & wouldn't be able to do.

Hi everyone! I have a 20mo and 6mo and thinking of having another baby next year, I'm interested to hear peoples opinions on the pros and cons of small age gap versus bigger age gap....

princessx in similar situation have DD who will be 21 months on my due date (9th Jan). At least you have a definite date for baby no 2 to arrive - I just have to wait for labour to start or (more likely) to not start and to be induced (like last time). Haven't thought about how I will cope either!!

Hi there, is there room for another wee one in here just found this thread in active, haven't read through yet but wanted to introduce myself and mark place.

I have a baby (DS2, 15 weeks) and a toddler (DS1, 20 months). Finding things quite tough at the moment and I seem to be the first to have had no. 2 amongst people I know in RL so will be nice to see how others cope.

We're currently suffering from DH having been off work over Christmas, was great at the time, but now I feel like I haven't a clue what I'm doing as any semblance of routine has gone out the window. Most annoyingly DS1 will no longer self settle as DH is a big softy who will sit and hold his hand until he goes to sleep.

Hi inadreamworld - it will be good to hear how you get on. DD is really intelligent (boast!) and she definitely knows the baby is coming soon. We've been co-sleeping for last 2 months as we moved house, and I had no energy to train her to go into her own bed. The last few nights she's been more or less sleeping on my head, then last night she went to sleep on my face nose to nose. I think she's marking her territory!

For the first few nights I'm planning on her dad taking the baby while I try to put DD to bed as normal, just so her routine isn't changed too much.

It seems like most of you are breast feeding. I'm planning to bf too, but I can't help thinking a night time bottle for the baby would make things quicker and easier?

thanks everyone for the kind words!

happy new year all!!

ds2 is ill again. that's 3 times in 12 weeks, the poor little thing we had our worst night since he was brand new on Tuesday night, seriously grim with virtually no sleep and loads of screaming. he seems to be gradually getting back to his usual self but it's helped that ds1 has been with his childminder for the past 2 days. ds2 has been able to feed, chill and sleep. tomorrow that all changes, kind of dreading it. feel sorry for both boys as it's crap for both of them.

seriously, I'm ready for this to get easier now!!!

where is everyone else's dc2 napping? ds2 lives in the sling cos otherwise we're housebound which is just not an option with ds1 but I wonder when and how I'm going to get him into a routine? as he starts to be awake longer in the day this is going to become more of an issue.

also starting to wonder if the 4 month sleep regression is going to hit us as hard this time as it did with ds1...

Hi princessx good luck with c sec tomorrow and recovery. My DD is a great sleeper and quite happy in her own room but I am not sure if she realises another baby is on the way very soon. She knows a lot of words for everyday things but isn't saying any sentences yet and 'baby' is not yet one of the words she knows. However no probs with her sleeping in own room - am worried she will not want to share it with new sister when the time comes. Obviously that will not be for a while ie until new baby sleeps through the night.

I will be looking with interest at the advice/experiences of others on this thread.

We are having a shocker tonight. Someone kill me now !

We do a nighttime bottle gives me a break and dp some time with the little one x

Happy New Year everyone.

crazy, DS still has all naps and all evening sleep in the sling at 11 weeks. DS1 was 3.5 months when he stopped needing the sling for all sleeps, so I feel reasonably relaxed, though I'll be glad when I can put him on my back! I tried putting him down this evening when he was fast asleep, but it was only 2 minutes before he woke again.

IME babies are affected really differently by sleep regressions/developmental leaps etc. DS1's 6 week growth spurt lasted a week and a half, but I didn't even notice DS2 having one!

debbie, must be something in the air - DS2 just wouldn't go to sleep this evening and was up for at least 3 hours (uncharacteristic - I think something I'd eaten might have been the problem as he has sensitive digestion).

princess, I find bf night feeds really easy. I'm lucky that DS2 is a fantastic sleeper and generally only feeds once each night. We co-sleep and I just stick a nipple in his mouth and go straight back to sleep. In fact, I've fairly often woken up in the morning thinking he's slept through, only to find he's on the opposite side of me from where he started, so I must have switched him over and fed him without even waking up properly.

DS1 has been having an allergic reaction for the last 4 or 5 days, which I'd thought was a viral rash. It's good it's not anything like chicken pox, but I'm struggling to work out what could be causing it.

DH starts a new job next week so I'll have to do night duty for DS1 who at 3 years old has never routinely slept through the night. He and DH normally sleep on a different floor of the house from DS2 and me, so he'll probably be very excited by the change (he'd rather have me there than DH any day). I forsee a lot of waking...

angel have you been to the GP about the rash? sounds odd. good luck with solo nights

having nightmare with ds1 today. put him down for nap as usual, 1hr 45mins later he's still awake. go in lo check and he's taken his sleeping bag and socks off and is freezing. put him back in while he yawns and screams and demands to go downstairs. he's still crying up there. he's so tired he can barely function. wtf do I do??

crazy, hes, it was the GP who said it was an allergy.

Nap dilemmas are so annoying. It makes me glad DS1 doesn't nap any more (though I miss my naps!)

Can I join this thread? Have Ds 25 months and baby girl 5 days old. need some tips for when Dh goes back to work although I am lucky in having almost retired mum nearby. It's very early days but Ds is currently very jealous of baby sister - he's fine until I try to hold or feed her.

Please can I join too? DD2 is 10 days old, DD1 18 months. DH goes back to work in a week. DD1 cries whenever DD2 does and I can't lift her as had a c-section. Hoping to get some good tips from here!

Hey birdies welcome to the mad house !!!!
How's everyone doing??
I have a rare moment to get on here for a quick update. Lily is 9 wks tomorrow she's just started to get slightly interested by hanging toys but only ever so slightly. Dp is back at work on the 14th he's had a month off dc1 isn't going to know what's happend and I'm shitting myself all over again looking after 2. Lily is using me as a dummy so we re trying to get her on the dummy in the nxt wk because as much as I'd love to let my nipples be chewed to pieces all day long ds1 will need some cuddles during the day. Starting to get longer stretches at night 5-6 hours but still very random and absoultley no where near any kind of routine.
Is anyone else struggling with demand feeding?? I'm only getting an hour between each feed but feeds only last 10mins or so. Seriously thinking about -jacking it in- switching to the bottle.
Oh and self settling??? Tips on that would be great my son did it fine but this little lady hates to be left. She has to be put down unconscious so I can leave her.
Take care mums we'l get there in the end x

Hi, this thread is amazing! Can I join in too? I have a little boy, 25 months, and a new baby girl, 2 weeks old. He's very bright, knows a lot of words but doesn't speak in sentences, he also doesn't deal with change well. Now he ignores the baby completely, unless she cries, he then starts shouting, then crying, hits himself etc etc... Baby mostly sleeps so he's getting all the attention... Just ignoring the flip outs, is this the right way if going about it? Dreading my husband going back to work!!!

We ignored all flip out its taken my DS 8-9 wks to adjust to dd. it's a massive shock for them. We decided we would give him 3 months to adjust then if needed start gentle coaching in jan but he came round by himself. He'l kiss her goodnight now and if we re trying to make her smile he'l sit with us.
Little steps x

Thanks! All my friends seem to have perfect little kids who take to being big brothers like ducks to water.... Good to know I'm not the only one with a drama king! It's odd, starts as real tears, but a minute later looks like he's just making the noises, not actually crying... He can keep up the crocodile tests for quite a while...

Welcome, new people.

No time to read all the posts, but thought I'd amuse you - today I fell down our stairs from top to bottom. I slipped feet first so my bum & back bumped on every single step and got a carpet burn on my arm. I was carrying 12 w.o. DS2 at the time but thankfully he was in the sling so he was completely unscathed. :)

crazy by way of sling/non-sling sleep data, I ached too much today to give DS2 sling naps so DH put a mattress on the floor in our living room and I bf'd DS2 to sleep for naps. He couldn't sleep for more than 45 mins that way, even when I fed him again when he woke. I managed to get the sling on again this evening and he's been asleep now for 3.5 hours. Makes a change from spending the evening feeding.

I got a lovely break yesterday when we went out for the day as a family - DH took DS2 in the sling and he slept for 3.5 hours at a stretch then!

debbie - self-setting? ha! My 3 y.o. doesn't do it yet. I can't even put DS2 down once he's unconscious, so it sounds as if you're doing well. I can't complain, though - he is a champion sleeper at night.