I feel like I'm going to break

[Mamabear04]

DS is 15wo and DD is 3yo. I have them home with me 3 days a week. DS is a good sleeper but needs to be held/rocked to sleep but once down he'll sleep happily in his cot and it means I can get on with things and give DD the attention she needs (she's still having big emotions about not having me 100,% of the time). Afew

Posted before finishing...

A few weeks ago I could nip upstairs and get DS down in 10 mins max but now he is getting harder to get to sleep. I can't leave DD by herself but when she comes upstairs she makes so much noise it just wakes DS up and then I'm stuck in an endless cycle of trying to get DS to sleep sleep while also look after DD who just wants to play and help but ends up being excluded. I don't know how to do it. I know a lot of people on MN are against having a baby sleep in another room but I don't need advice re SIDS please. Plenty of people co-sleep which is also a SIDS risk but don't get bombarded with judgement so please just be kind and don't post if that's all you have to add. DS won't go to sleep in the same room and gets woken up anyway. Has anyone managed to do this, put a baby down and entertain a toddler? Please help I'm honestly at breaking point!

Your in the 4 month sleep regression by sounds. Which could be why lo isn't dropping off to sleep as easy as once before.

Could you pop lo in pram and go for a walk at nap times?? Talking and walking and hopefully lo drops off inpram?? Some pink noise or white noise so lo can block out your older lo.

Will your 3yo sit and watch their favourite tv programme with a plate of snacks while you settle your littlest?

@ChittyBang1987 I did wonder if this was he start of the 4 month sleep regression. I would love to go for a walk with LO but my toddler is having tantrums every 5 minutes at the moment and don't think I could cope if she kicked off while out with the pram (still not 100% recovered from the birth). We already have white noise on for the baby...

@rolypoly836 she will only sit for 10 mins then comes to find me. She's not too fussed by TV or snacks unfortunately, she wants the interaction and finds what I'm doing far more interesting!

Yeah I was going to suggest pram too. If I get the timing right I can just wheel my 5mo around the block for about 5 minutes and then park him in the garden and he finishes his nap there. He will sleep through my dog barking at passing horses right next to his pram so a toddler having a tantrum might not be a problem. I honestly think the fresh air and the sounds of the wind, birds, traffic etc help him sleep better.

Saying that, he has only done this for a couple of weeks and our 4 month regression started at 15 weeks exactly. Naps were crap for a while. Night sleep still is.

I had this problem for a while, although my DS1 was slightly older at almost 4. The way I did it was I put baby down for his nap in his pram bassinet in the kitchen or the conservatory with white noise rocking if needed etc and then I sat DS1 in the room next door on the sofa with his tablet and a snack. I told him if he needed me he needed to come to the door and wave NOT shout as he would wake baby. Every time he did as he was told he got a star on his star chart so he wanted to follow the rule. Once baby was asleep I came back into the room with DS1 and shut the door and we could have some time together. Could this kind of thing work?

Sending you strength, it is so hard in the early days until you get used to all the new routines and working around 2 kids with very different needs.