Tips for stopping baby and toddler waking each other?

[Toofondofcake]

So I have a 3 mo and a 20 mo and normally my toddler is a cracking sleeper but this last couple of weeks she's been going bezerk crying at bedtime.

It is steadily improving but I am left with an overtired baby who can't sleep when she is tired due to toddler screaming. By the time toddler settles baby is so overtired she is crying and then wakes her sister up.
I'm currently keeping baby downstairs with me on the evenings but she's not getting very much solid deep sleep this way and I can tell she's exhausted.

What on earth works for you other wonderful mothers who have/had babies with small age gaps? Or do I ride it out until they're 18???

That's very hard op. Could you try talking stories on CD in toddlers room to dull the noise for them? White noise for baby?

Have a 19 month age gap between my two and for the first 5 months of my youngest dc's life he was based downstairs (in his Moses basket!) they sleep so deeply at that age that we could pretty much carry on our evening around him and he would stay asleep. Is this an option for you? I found it really helpful in keeping my oldest, v light sleeping Dc asleep and therefore minimising crankiness and over tiredness the next day.

You could try and keep the lights quite dim downstairs and tv on low, and do a bedtime routine prior to putting her down so that she becomes used to going to sleep for the night downstairs. My oh would bring the basket up with us when we were ready to go to sleep.

Also second the white noise idea, we still have white noise in both of their rooms to drown out the noise of their sibling.

Thanks for the replies ladies.

Yeah so far baby has been downstairs all evening with us however she has never taken to her Moses basket and mainly sleeps on us/in baby bouncer or lies next to us on sofa however the screaming of my toddler having bedtime tantrums has meant that she can't sleep through the noise right now. I'm thinking of getting something to try white noise actually yeah thanks for the idea!

At what age did your little ones start sharing a room c737?

Little ones have never shared a room, but our upstairs is v small so they are very close to each other and both light sleepers who get woken up when the other one cries! Have to say it has got better as they have got older though and older dc mainly sleeps through his noise now.

My oldest dc also went through a short phase of not wanting to go to bed and crying out for us. We found that wearing her out more in the day and minimising naps helped. I often chase her around the garden before dinner time and make a game of running around together to get her more tired! She just has so much bloody energy all the time. We also pushed bedtime half an hour later to about 7.45 and this seems to have improved things.

Stick small baby in a sling and shell no doubt be zonked in minutes and might sleep through toddlers bedtime completely, at least it will settle her afterwards. Alternatively keep baby awake until toddler goes to bed then get her to sleep, let her have a late nap if need be. I've been through this recently with my two and it evened out eventually. Good luck!