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Original poster

Ideas wanted for how to keep a toddler busy when newborn arrives

41 replies

AlbertaWildRose · 21/11/2008 21:44

Baby number 2 will be arriving in a few weeks, and I'm trying to think of things that DS (2.5) will be able to do on his own while I'll be busy feeding, etc. Does anyone have any suggestions of particular toys or games that might work?

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cupsoftea · 21/11/2008 21:51

If you're going to bf you can bf whilst holding your baby in the one arm & have the other arm free & also whilst moving around. I bf like this as could never sit down with a toddler just playing for ages!

notnowbernard · 21/11/2008 21:52

Books and TV

Became a master at doing anything whilst bf

Original poster
AlbertaWildRose · 21/11/2008 21:54

Yes, will be bfing. I never got the hang of being able to walk around while bfing, I always had to sit down. DS was huge though, I had to use both arms to hold him!

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Original poster
AlbertaWildRose · 21/11/2008 21:55

DS absolutely adores books, so maybe we should just get a bunch of new ones that I can read to him while I'm feeding. He could read stories all day long - I always get bored before he does!

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funnypeculiar · 21/11/2008 21:57

get your family to buy cheap presents (as cheap as poss) and wrap them up. whenever you need 5 mins peace (feeding time etc) - ta-dah; ready made distraction

Olihan · 21/11/2008 21:57

CBeebies. Ration it in the run up so it's a bit of a novelty. Ds1 was positively glued to it for the first few weeks after dd was born and by the time the excitement wore off I was a bit more ready to face the world!

Original poster
AlbertaWildRose · 21/11/2008 21:58

Ooh funnypeculiar, that's a good idea. Family all live in Canada though, but DH and I could do it.

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notnowbernard · 21/11/2008 21:58

Food also good... I used to say that the baby is hungry, so (dd1) must be hungry, and get her a snack (she is a gannet though and would eat all day long). If your boy is a food fan, get the grub in

Original poster
AlbertaWildRose · 21/11/2008 21:59

We've been avoiding television so far with DS, but I can see how with a new baby it would be very handy!

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phdlife · 21/11/2008 22:00

golly Alberta your ds sounds like mine who will be 23m and a few weeks when #2 arrives. Going to pinch allll these ideas!

Original poster
AlbertaWildRose · 21/11/2008 22:02

Yes, DS loves to eat. I'll make sure we have lots of nice snacks, great idea!

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Original poster
AlbertaWildRose · 21/11/2008 22:03

Good luck phdlife! Now that it's not so far away anymore, I'm starting to think about the actual practicalities of having 2 to deal with, and getting a bit nervous!

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feetheart · 21/11/2008 22:06

DD was 2.9 when DS turned up. Best advice I got was to teach her sit beside me whilst reading BEFORE the baby turned up and to teach her to turn the pages.
We talked a lot beforehand that tiny babies need to eat a lot but that once I had the baby settled we would have lots of special time to chat and read. Within a VERY short time she was going to get a book everytine I got my boobs out

BabiesEverywhere · 21/11/2008 22:09

Books are good, easy to read with one hand.

TV was used so much in the early days of DS, that DD blossoming vocab was all TV related

TBH you can get your toddler to play anything alongside you with encouraging noises at what they are doing.

All the best

littlelamb · 21/11/2008 22:12

Thing I found amazingly helpful was keeping a bag within reaching distance that had all of the following in:
remote
muslins
books to read
cartons of drink for toddler & you
snacks
and anything else you can think of. I found it really hard being virtually tied to the sofa feeding ds and having all of those things made it a bit easier when dd inevitably asked for something as soon as I had sat down. Maybe buy him an aquadraw or similar from the baby? Occupies dd for ages still (she's 4 and has had it at least 2 years) and absolutely no mess

Original poster
AlbertaWildRose · 21/11/2008 22:13

Thanks for all the suggestions. Will definitely have to keep telling DS how much babies need to eat!

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Original poster
AlbertaWildRose · 21/11/2008 22:15

Ooh, that's a really good idea, littlelamb. DS loves to draw but at the moment needs a lot of supervision as he's recently decided it's fun to draw on the carpet!

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noonki · 21/11/2008 22:16

maybe get him into jigsaws - DS1 will spend hours doing them again and again.

I would set up the playdough in the highchair for DS with all sorts of cutters/etc.

we also had a box of things that I could pull out next to were I would feed DS2 (little toys, books etc)

How about feeding him at the same time - have his dinner ready and then you can chat to him while he eats.

SwazzleSticks · 21/11/2008 22:16

Jigsaws all the way here (DD 21 months when DD2 arrived). I pull the coffee table up close and talk her through the jigsaw - very little physical input required but can give loads of praise

noonki · 21/11/2008 22:17

albert - hence the highchair for playdough!

SwazzleSticks · 21/11/2008 22:17

spooky Nooki (ooh and it rhymes )

exactly the same suggestion at exactly the same posting time.....

SwazzleSticks · 21/11/2008 22:18

or even Noonki

phdlife · 21/11/2008 22:21

pardon my ignorance but what the ding-dong is an aquadraw and where do you get one??

littlelamb · 21/11/2008 22:23

aquadraw is little pictures that you 'colour in' with a little pen filled with water. As it dries, the colour disappears and you can do it again. You can get big mats to draw on as well. DD loves hers, has Spongebob, Dora, WInnie the Pooh and Princess ones

littlelamb · 21/11/2008 22:26

here