OK- plans changed abruptly, need advice from MN and ieas please!

[Peachy]

Haven't put this in SN as I would like wider advice (although Sn are great, obviously)

Sit is this: am 31 weeks pg. baby due in Easter Hols, [lan was for youngest to go full time from start of summer term, so all boys in FT education and I can rest etc during the day (have 3 boys, 2 with Sn who need some care at night and a Dh who works night).

DS3 has lost his school place as school has decided they cant take him after all, meeting to rearrnage isnt until march and LEA says that might mean no place until September now.

Ok- ds3 has no malice at all but is extremely unaware, like a very naive inquisitive 2 year old with such poor language / interaction skills that eg No isn't readily taken in.

I need any ideas the MN lot can give regarding ways to keep baby and ds3 safe, without constantly yelling at ds3 and not being able to use the loo. Given that once ds1 gets home from school things get harder, not easier (DS2 is easy care though).

have bought a sling in readiness, and a crib so I dont have a moses basket this time (too flimsy if knocked). Anything else?

A travelcot or playpen where baby can be left without DS3 being able to get in? Is that an option? Sorry about the school thing, makes you mad doesn't it.

Obv don't know the configuration of your house, but perhaps a couple of stair gates to go in doorways, so that baby and DS can be in separate rooms sometimes, but you can still see and hear everything?

I'm about to do this in my house so I can keep an eye on 8 mth old without having to carry her round all the time whilst pregnant.

Thanks all- all ideas being noted and appreciated.

Stairgates will be vital as our house is an old coattge and stairs fairly accessible, like the idea of a playpen but not sure if ana ctive almost 5 year old could climb in?

I will get a surestart maternity grant based on equipment needs due to having disabled kids, so do have some available funding

Well, I might be way off beam here and I know you probably don't really want to have to create a "prison" for the baby, but could you find a company that make wooden cots and playpens and ask them to do cot with very high sides? One of them could be a drop side, maybe with a double drop, so you can get to the baby easily?

My mum had a high chair for me donkeys years ago that had been made cheaply by a local chap. That's the kind of thing I'm thinking of. You know, plain, cheap wood and a normal foam cot mattress to keep the cost down. The baby won't be sleeping in it all night, after all.

www.cotswoldcots.co.uk/ might be somewhere to start looking. I'm guessing this particular thing might be expensive, but you see the sort of thing I mean. I reckon a local carpenter could reproduce a product like this much more cheaply, with Ikea-price mattress, iyswim.

FIL is a carpenter- wonder if he could help? hmmmmmmmmmmm- good idea!

baby wont be imprisoned: it will be in a sling a lot but would be nice to pop itdown when sleeping (plus I dont need another one developing a sleep disorder frankly) without constantly being aware that if my attention slips for a nano-second, then ds4 could be at risk through such innocent behaviour as ds3 popping a cuddly toy in for company and accidentally covering his head.

hook and eye for the room where the baby is sleeping during the day, so that DS3 can't get in?

FIL could definitely help. Any carpenter could put a cot type thing together. You only need strong dowelling rods for the bars and the rest is very basic I should think.

I'm thinking that provided the baby was raised above the reach of the other children, with sides high enough so it can't get out when he or she learns to stand, then you're sorted. The side can drop down on a rail, so you can put him or her in and out.

silver cross pram? They are high up. I had for number 3 to stop numbers 1 and 2 climbing in a moses basket and smothering him. But not sure if a near 5 yo could tip it. They are pretty stable.
Will ds3 get any school? Surely he has a right to 5 half day sessions a week by the Guvmints own law?

No right under elsh alw until he is 5, which is in the summer holidays. And places an issue of course.

locks on doors??!!!x