Toddler wakes 2 month old during day, crap naps!

[milkyjo]

My DD of 2 months struggles sleeping anyway in the day (carbon copy of DS), wonderful long sleeps in the night though so I'm not too upset! The only thing is DS who is 2.5 is really boisterous and loud which is the way he plays, living in an open plan house the baby just doesn't get good sleep in the day. She is hard to get off to sleep and generally cries herself to sleep, either in the carrycot or in my arms, there really is no way of getting her to calm down until she gives in (but even then she wakes up as she's dropping off and starts crying again). She has white noise in the carrycot which she needs on for the whole of her nap or she wakes when the cycle is finished, I end up pushing the button every 20 minutes on the dream sheep and still she'll only have 20-30 minutes.

So DD is very windy and sicky and I sometimes thing it's trapped wind if she is lying down but if I pick her up she protests. I have tried 3 different slings but she doesn't like the position as she wants to be stretched out. I would be over the moon if I could feed her to sleep but she protests that too. It's difficult because I want to spend time playing with DS when DD sleeps but then she wakes and it is the end of the world (for all of us!).

What do you do if you have a toddler and newborn? Especially a light sleeper. The advice is to keep your baby with you and make sure they know day and night so don't keep quiet and don't keep the room dark. Should I try putting her in the crib upstairs to sleep? Will this confuse her and mess up the night sleeping?

Sorry for long post, I would be grateful to hear of anybody in the same situation. What I don't want is to be told you shouldn't let a baby cry when I have done everything to calm her down, it's not like I'm leaving her to CIO. Thanks.

Hiya I have the same situation (2.1 DD and 2 mo DD) and open plan living room. DD2 has a small cot in the far end of the room.

What helps is louder white noise on my phone (the sheep just isn't loud enough) & making sure DD2 gets a half decent nap during DD1s nap even if that means constant rocking in the bouncer chair.

She isn't always happy & often cries before a sleep but as she won't take a dummy or feed to sleep I am stuck. I know she is ok though and I'm right there (even if dealing with DD1 at that time) I can't seem to rock her to sleep (unless I use the chair) so I pat and reassure.

I will probably start taking her upstairs when she is older and only needs a couple of naps a day - I feel that would be harder on DD1 - me disappearing up with the baby every few of hours and taking ages to get her to fall asleep.

I make the most of her awake time and get on the floor and play with DD1, occasionally stopping to show DD2 something as there aren't long naps when I can just play with DD1.

You can't help both of them at the same time and you sound like you are doing your best.

In your situation, I'd be tempted to put her in a quiet room with a sensor mat monitor. Luckily dd was used to rambunctious DS from the womb, so will sleep through anything, but id have gone this route if not.

Honestly, I would put her upstairs in the quiet and in the dark. it won't mess up night sleeping. it MIGHT carry a marginally higher risk of SIDS though so it's a personal decision as to whether you feel good sleep is more important than that possible risk increase.

the crying and short naps might mean she's overtired, though maybe not if she sleeps well at night.

one other option is the pram, would DS like to have regular outings? if so then you could use the pram to get dd to sleep?