Getting baby to nap with toddler around

[Mosh]

have people followed the baby whisperer's advice about putting babies to sleep in their own room, or following the current advice to prevent SID's, and having them in the living room???

My 7 week old was managing to sleep through the noise of my 3 year old...and get to sleep till about 4 weeks when i started to encourage my toddler to play quieter games (playdough, drawing etc) in a different room...this is not really fair!!! so i went back to thinking baby would just have to get used to the noise.  however, baby does not seem to like the new plan and struggles to get to sleep..then becomes overtired and sleeps for about 30 mins.  does anybody have any advice?

[brenda2]

i have not heard of this new advice of getting baby to nap in the living room...this seems strange to me.  i have heard that babies should share a room at night with their parents to prevent SIDS until they are 6 mo and be placed to sleep on their backs.  using a paci has also been shown to prevent SIDS as has keeping the room a proper temperature with the baby not too hot or too cold. 

i think it is fine to have the baby nap in their own room or in parents room during the day.  it is not fair to the  baby to expect them to sleep with all kinds of noise and light going on and not fair to the toddler to expect them to be quiet because baby is napping right beside them.  teaching a baby to sleep and keeping them asleep is hard enough without expecting them to do it in the middle of all the action!

i would put your baby in a separate room at nap time - keep the room dark and it will be more quiet as well, the baby is more likely to nap well in these conditions and when the baby naps well then they also sleep better at night and that way everybody is happy.

[brenda2]

one more thought - if you are really worried about this there are great motion sensor baby monitors that really work.  they have a pad that goes under the mattress and sense even the quietest breathing movements when the baby is totally still and send an alarm if no movement is sensed in 30 seconds.  also video monitors are great - i love ours.  you can tell what they are doing in there and even see their breathing.

[Mosh]

Thanks hun.  I do have a video monitor adn spend far too much time watching!!! Better than any tv programs.  I did have ds1 sleep in a dark room etc but with HV saying baby should be in same room as you at all times i kinda did not want to go against the advice.  I knew it woudl never get to 6 months but hoped i may make it to 4...2-4months is the peak time.  the other thing is it is rarely the same room anyway as i do not want to disturb him when he drifts in and out of sleep.  he is having a diff time staying asleep right now...in the living room... so even though the laptop is on down there i have vacated and am in the spare room on the pc.