sleeping baby and older siblings....

[JordanKX]

I posted this over in LWAB but no response and I know some of you are mama's of older ones...

Rowan's become very social and therefor doesn't nap when people are around - wants to know what's going on. I get it. That combined with... during the week when he's in the house alone, he sleeps in his bassinet during the day in "the boys" room. He's got a pretty good routine going.

But on the weekends when we have DSS, who's 3.5 and very rambunctious, naps are increasingly becoming a problem. He just won't sleep! Combination of wanting to stay up, and that I have to move the bassinet into our room (I haven't successfully put him to nap in our bed during the day), and maybe it still feels like his night-time room instead of day-time room... I dunno. But he won't sleep!

What do you mama's do with your older siblings and baby nap times? Do you get the older siblings to be more quiet? That seems nearly impossible to ask of DSS. Do you have a specific spot where your LO sleeps and isn't disturbed by older siblings? This really wasn't a problem until recently, so I totally chalk it up to Rowan's new awareness that someone else is in the house and his wanting to be part of it.

[Tashakittie]

i feel for ya!
ds1 is almost 4. his name is tristan, which means raucous, obnoxious, loud, rambunctious... you get the picture? well, he lives up to it. as a baby, he was entirely out of control, and had no interest in structure. so as parents, we're really loose, and give the boys freedom to lead. ds2, is the total opposite of everything ds1 ever did. ds2 likes to sleep, and happily takes naps. he does not always sleep through ds1's ever constant noise, but having rhythmical background noise helps alot. it tends to muffle ds1's noise. having sports on is great- he sleeps very well to football. musically, he like pleasant on-going sounds.

[pjs]

I just got off the phone complaining to dh that my 3 olders are so d$#^ loud that the baby (2 months) didn't sleep for more than 15 minutes the.whole.morning. I went through this with dd, who never napped after age 3 MONTHS. I CANNOT do that again. These kids need to learn how to talk in a volume lower than playground/outside play. I try to get them to use their inside voices, to whisper, etc and it doesn't help that DH is inherently loud and makes no effort to be quiet since he's never the one to get the baby to sleep so why should he care and try to be quiet.

I'm thinking the kids will be forced to either be outside or not talk at all along with a white noise machine. As a sahm who homeschools, I NEED at least 15-30 minutes a day with a sleeping infant when I can take a break from my others (ages 7, 5 and 2.5). As I'm typing this, I just had to yell at my 5 yo because I just got the baby asleep and he's screaming with excitement because the friggin' map on Dora has clothes on! The whole neighborhood doesn't need to know- in fact, since ALL of us are watching Dora, we don't need you to announce it to us in a volume comparable to a fan yelling touchdown when his team scores in the superbowl giving them a one td advantage with 30 seconds left in the 4th quarter. ARRRGGGHHHH!

[mkksmom]

We do the TV or radio in the background too or if I let her nap in the Moby, she stays asleep better. Another thing I do is let her nap in the stroller. If she starts to stir way too early, it's easier to walk her back down again.

[darcytrue]

I keep the a/c or heat running and a noise machine in the baby's room during naps. Sometimes my older kids forget she is sleeping and get too loud and wake her but I usually get her back down within a bit. It's frustrating though.

I wanted to have a baby that could get used to sleeping around noise but it didn't seem to turn out that way. : Well except in the car. Let her sleep in the car while the kids scream and talk and I hit bumps in the road and the stereo is blaring, but at home...nu-uh.