Ways to protect newborn from excitable toddler

Just looking for ideas on how to protect a newborn from an excitable toddler.

For now, our bedroom is safe but it won't be long before toddler can open the door (a higher lock is on the to do list), but it would be nice to not have to put DS in the bedroom in order to keep him safe.

At the moment, i can't even leave him in a rocker in he same room as mobile toddler cos she will poke him if he is asleep, squeeze him to make him squirm, ..... you get the idea. We are working on 'gentle' touches, but realistically i have to protect the newborn over teaching the toddler.

A carrier works, but i'm still recovering from the birth and it will be a few weeks before i am at full strength so i can't wear him full time. i have heard of people getting a playpen and putting the baby in the middle so the toddler can't reach.

i have thought about slinging him up from the ceiling so DD can't reach :think:

What other creative ways have you used to protect baby from toddler?

We put DD2 (3 months old) in the bouncer and have worked really hard at teaching DD1 (18months) not to touch anywhere but her hands. So DD1 will sit beside the bouncer and hold hands with her. We also taught DD1 "ssshhh, Adele sleeping'...when bubs is asleep. Some how this works on most occasions.
Its hard because I have caught DD1 thinking of putting some toast in bubbas mouth :o

The sling on the ceiling is a great idea though :rofl:

We had the base of an old cradle ($10 on eBay!) in the centre of the dining room table. Not so much for the toddler as for the very curious dog! Not sure if this would just inspire climbing though?!

Port a cot/ play pen in the living room?

DD1 was pretty gentle with her little sister, but whenever I had to leave the room for however long I put DD2 in her bouncer in a playpen. Otherwise, most of the time DD2 was clinging to me like a limpet so it wasn't too much of an issue.

The novelty will wear off. We put dd in a basinet to sleep during the day in the lounge so she's a little harder to reach. If I had to leave the room to do something and I couldn't keep an eye on them id call ds to come and help me. Our biggest issue was eye poking. We have taught him now that eyes are special and you can't touch them, so now he will just point and say "eye beshal!".

I didn't really put her up out of his reach (apart from the basinet, but it's an old style with slat sides like a cot, so he stil puts his arms thru and pays her on the head ^^;). I didn't want him thinking that they weren't equal iykwim.

We used the swing a lot but DD was still big enough to push it if she wanted ot to poke DD2.
We had a bassinet that we used for DD2 to sleep in in the lounge (where all the noise was so she got used to it) and DD1 never seemed to try climbing that.
Outside or during 'play times' i put the porta cot up and DD1 never climbed in it.

hopefully the novelty wears off soon. Hope you're all doing well!

For DD1 we put her in a smallish swing (like a bouncer) in the middle of the dining table to keep her out of reach of the dogs. We also used baby gates in some of the doorways. The other option would have been to put the car capsule up on the table out of reach.

GL! She'll learn soon enough. I've been using the ring sling for this bub.

My DD is a climber, so putting DS on the table or bench wouldn't work. I have a swing but as DD already pokes him when he is in the hammock, i don't think it would work by itself. Might work in the porter cot though :think:

helle, eyeballs are pretty exciting here too- might work on teaching that they are 'special'

DH's suggestion was a velcro wall, and putting DD in a velcro suit :doh:

Sometimes she can be gentle, and i know she just wants to play. i think i have a bit of baby blues today which makes it a bit harder.

Porta cot.

Novelty hasn't worn off here after 7 months. My toddler hasn't got the hang of gentle yet, despite our efforts.

:hug: HotI. Hope you're getting plenty of care and support yourself
They do settle down with a bit of time. I had to laugh at the velcro suggestion. She'd probably love it.

I will be ordering a custom made velcro wall tomorrow. Let me know if you want to try and get a group discount!!!

:hug: gorgeous! Do you have anyone to come and take dd for a while? My midwife helped me by helping me see dds touching, pulling, yanking, smothering of the baby as normal! It still happens too, just now I don't have to stress so much (especially since ds is a giant and is almost as big as dd at ten months)

In answer to your question...my ds loved his rocker and seriously spent hours in there asleep in the lounge room...I just hid him behind the two couches (that sounds terrible! But what I mean is the vouches form a dead space in the corner of the room, so I'd put the rocker there...only if he was asleep though). For us it was out of sight out of mind.

My friend got a happy hang up hammock that hung from the ceiling in her lounge room.

Otherwise playpen for baby, or baby gates into a spare room near you.

Ds also spent a lot of time asleep on his change table, which was next to the kitchen (in the laundry).

Thinking of you :hug:

I have the Happy Hangup hammock hanging on a stand and a toddler could reach it easily. Ceiling might work, but I don't know if I'd take the chance.

Hope you're feeling a bit brighter soon, hun. It sounds like someone taking DD to have fun somewhere else might be a good break for both of you. Is that possible?

urgh! i am running out of ideas. I put DS on the couch while i have dinner. DD is in her highchair. I get DD down, she runs around to the couch and pulls on his hair. I say 'No' as i am catching up to them, and so DD wacks him. it happens everytime he is in her reach. What do i do?

DD is going to Mum's tomorrow , which will give me a break, but i just don't know what to do. talking to DD is just not working.

:hug: Hun, I can take her for a couple of hrs wed after swimming if you like?

In the meantime I think maybe if she gets at him, tell her no & remove her from the room. EVERY time, she should hopefully get sick of it and treat him gently. Can you also use that doll, tell her gentle & cuddles, get DH to be a little rough and get her to tell him no etc?


Sent from my iPhone, more than likely while I should be doing something else!

What about books? Surely there is something out there about using gentle hands with babies!?

There is a book called "Be Gentle" but the best tactic I found was to give DD as much supervised contact with DS as possible - he definitely got a bit more 'rough' treatment during the supervised contact than maybe is ideal but he never seemed to mind and seemed to help DD be less inclined to 'get at' him at other times. I never really tried to put him out of her way, so he lost the temptation factor fairly quickly (although my DD was a few months older than yours when DS was born).

We had one of those fancy, expensive high chairs which could recline. I found this one of the safest ways to have bubs out in the open.

How are you going? Not to be discouraging, but this is something that we still struggle with. My DS 2 is 8 months and the age difference is 18 months. We have our good days and our bad days. I find that the behaviour of my eldest is best when we have some quality one on one time at some stage.

That being said, it's very hard to discourage DS1 from the bad behaviour when DS2 smiles broadly at his older brother, even when he's being smacked on the head. DS2 just loves his brother so much.

Thanks for asking. Some days are better than others.

DH and i have both been sick, which hasn't helped. We also find that it is better when DD gets some special attention. Letting her hold DS (supervised) or do things to help also seems to reduce the breakdowns.

DH goes back to work soon, which has both advantages and disadvantages. i can be more consistent when it is just me, but i also don't have my back-up when both kids need attention. Bed time when DH is on night shifts are going to be the hardest. I don't have anyone who lives close who can help with this, and DD is harder to settle when visitors are here anyway.