Keeping 3-Yr Old Quiet & Getting Baby to Sleep

I agree with Dolly. A baby that learns to sleep through the noise will be a good sleeper for years to come.

It really is a good idea to let him be noisey while the baby is sleeping. The baby will get use to the noise and will sleep better. Quiet houses are not a good thing. When a house is too quiet with a baby, every little noise will wake them up. Going in the baby's room is a different story. You need to tell him that if he wants to go in to the baby's room while the baby is sleeping then he is going to have to take a nap as well. That might just do the trick. But, if you make that threat, you need to follow thru and put him in bed when if he tries to go in there. The best thing to do is make that time mommy and me time. I know that's hard because there are a million things to do while the baby is sleeping. Try making him your good little helper. Have him help sort laundry by colors, hand him the wet clothes to put in to the dryer and give him the dryer sheets to throw in. Give him a dust rag and let him help you dust..etc. He will get tired of this and learn to play on his own. :) Also a great age to introduce cooking. Try making cupcakes or cookies. Even if this is not your thing, buy a box mix and let him help you. My girls loved when I let them hold the hand mixer while I kept my hand on top of theirs. They thought that was the coolest thing ever and they still love to help in the kitchen. Oh and playdough was another favorite at nap time. Don't be afraid of playdough. Kids love it and it's pretty cheap at Target. They have really great tools that go along with the dough to keep them busy even longer. Also, scrap paper and saftey scissors. They love to cut. That's great if you can sit there while he does use them. Finger paints are also a fun way to keep kids busy at the table. Boys love to be messy. Good luck!

I tried all of the positive reinforcement activities in our situation but my 3 1/2 yr old daughter would deliberately come in to the room after multiple warnings, and rouse the almost asleep baby, just to get my attention. I finally lost it and resorted to yelling and a loooooong time out plus loss of a favorite toy for a few days. That plus a talk with her dad stopped the behavior. Now she will play quietly or watch a show while I put him down, then we have cuddle time. So far so good.

Tell him that if he can't stay away so his baby sister can nap, he will have to go down for a nap then too. The only thing about that is that you HAVE TO follow through, but I'll bet that one day of you forcing him to lay down after he wouldn't stay away from baby sister would make him think twice about bothering you during her nap time.

Get him a preschool/kindergarten learning computer game-Jumpstart has a good one that is a combined preschool & kindergarten. My son started playing computer learning games at 2 1/2 - he learned his numbers so quickly and they have an excellent reward system that really encourages kids positively. He now plays the kindergarten games b/c he beat the preschool games quickly. There is nothing wrong with use todays technology to learn, play and explore. My son recognizes numbers, can count to 30 (mainly because we put on A LOT of fake tattoos!) and we are working on other skills-alphabet recognition, right vs. left etc etc. The games allow him to create, draw, paint, do simple math, match objects, imaginative play like take care of "animals" - name, accessorize, care for & teach them tricks , follow directions etc etc. It's important for your 3 year old to learn to play solo too so don't feel guilty... My son really takes a lot of pride in accomplishing the tasks he is given and winning badges etc. I think you would be really surprised at just how quickly they pick up on things!

I feel your pain. My two year old insists on being in the room when I'm putting the baby down for a nap. He's usually okay playing with his trucks quietly on the floor but then after a few minutes he'll get up and say something really loudly and startle the baby (just being a toddler but annoying none the less!). The best thing that works for me is to put him on my bed and turn on a cartoon. I tell him it's a special treat that he gets to go on my bed by himself and he needs to lay there quietly and watch his show while I put the baby down. 9 times out of 10 that's what works the best. Otherwise I've had a few times where I locked him behind a baby gate in his room. You would think I was torturing the child they way he acted but I just closed the baby's door and turned on her sound machine and she was fine.

Good luck! I eventually just gave up and let my daughter hang out with me while I tried to get my son down for a nap. I try to put my son down when he's drowsy but still awake anyway, but my daughter (2 yrs) can be distracting. Eventually, he just kind of got used to it and now, most of the time, she doesn't even come into the room anymore. I guess she lost interest.

Does your 3 year old like books? Mine loves books. So I let him come into the room and sit on the otomon while I rock the baby. I tell him he can read to his baby brother really quietly. So he'll make up the story to the book and wisper it to the baby. Sometimes he gets louder than he should, but its so funny/cute to see him "wisper" a book to his baby brother. It keeps him sitting at least, and he's not yelling! So two good things I guess.

We have the same issue here! I run a humidifier in my 1 yr old's room while my 3 yr old and I either watch a movie together, color, fold clothes, or clean. I giver her a small spray bottle of just water and a rag and she will clean with me forever! :) Plus it's just water and it won't hurt anything. Also, recently I bought her a pair of safety scissors to add to her basket of things that can be only used while brother is sleeping. It helps remind her that special things can be done while he is sleeping but not at other times. Good luck....this too shall pass! :)

Do you mean keeping him quiet and out of the room while you are feeding her/rocking her to put her to sleep before nap? That was my biggest problem. While my baby was napping, my toddler and I could do things together quietly, and I was there to remind him to keep the noise down. But he just loved coming in while she was nursing before nap and getting her all hyped up. It made me so angry! He's super active too, but luckily, he's also a book guy, so I went to a used bookstore and picked up a dozen or so books for him. We had to work on it for weeks, but he learned to "read" by himself in his room until I came in to join him. My payment would be to read as many books as he wanted then. Now, he's so used to entertaining himself during the put-down phase of nap that he chooses his activity- toys, books, etc. to play by himself knowing I will join him as soon as she's in her crib.
We started this when the baby was about 4 months and starting a nap schedule, so now that she's almost 10 months, it's not even an issue. Find something he likes to do and can do by himself for the 15 minutes or so you need of quiet to get her in nap mode, then play with him during her nap. The only thing is that I never get time to get anything done during nap, but it's a good trade-off, I think!