This time last year I was pulling my hair out I had a 2 month old and a 20 month old. My 2 month old was going through growth spurts left, right and centre which as we were breastfeeding and J was dealing with not having my undivided attention and each feed was causing all sorts of problems so we came up with a Nursing Box (OK it was a bag initially but over the months it developed into a box).
From an idea that my mum had passed on from when she had me and my brother the nursing box is a set of items that can be brought out specifically for the nursing time for a toddler to do when you have a new baby. I know that one of the most popular age gaps is between 1 year and 3 years which is also the most difficult in terms of toddler behaviour and without the understanding of what is going on which older children have specifically nursing can be difficult as unless you master the art (and believe me I tried and it is an art that I haven’t got a clue with) of nursing within a carrier it usually involves sitting down for a length of time which provides you and the baby the perfect target for a toddler attack.
So what’s the in box – well this very much depends on what your child is interested in and their abilities at the time and as your new baby gets older these items can change. There are 3 must be’s for the box though
- Can be either done independently by the toddler or needs you not to move – At 18 months J really didn’t do independent play without us starting him off so we included things that I could do one handed – we had a soft ball that we could use inside, cars that used to be driven over the sofa, but as he got older we included things like wooden puzzles that he could do easily and books – lots of books, if the toys included in the box weren’t working we had our special books (his favourites pre T arriving) that were nursing books so the nursing time became a J, T and Mummy time and everyone was involved
- Can be set up quickly – play dough ready to go was great for us, I had pots on the side and as soon as T needed feeding I used to get it out on the table and J would go and play with it – we had a box of play dough tools that I only needed to lift the lid and he was good to go
- Items that are unique to this time – this was the most important part – we only brought the box out for nursing the rest of the time it was put out of the way and out of sight as well so it could neither be asked for nor be seen to get the “I wants”
Of course this didn’t always work – nothing ever works 100% of the time and our fail safe was TV time, I got hold of his favourite programmes and when it all got too difficult we would sit and cuddle on the sofa watching his favourite programmes. Some days this would be more often the case especially if he was under the weather, teething, tired but the nursing box really helped.
I can’t imagine this is the only way to deal with this problem so what ways did you cope with a toddler and a new baby ?
|
Great post and great ideas! Pinning and sharing!
Jen@Plain Vanilla Mom recently posted..Sweet Sundays: Graham Cracker Ice Cream Sandwiches
Very smart!
Kim @ Little Stories recently posted..Communication Happens In Everyday Moments
Great idea! I’ll have to remember this…pinning right now!
Amanda @ Dirt and Boogers recently posted..Edible Finger Paint: Guest Post from Plain Vanilla Mom
I use a ring sling while nursing. that way i am almost hands free to help the toddler
I was talking to my daughter, just yesterday, and she mentioned that her midwife had suggested a nursing box. She is due in June with number two (number one being 14 months old at the time) and she is very nervous about the nursing time. Seeing this post on my pinterest board was very timely…thank you! As a Preschool teacher, I’m going to have fun helping my daughter put together a few nursing boxes for our grandson to enjoy! (Great idea, I wish I had thought of it 23 years ago when I had two boys 19 months apart!!)
My toddler loves to sing songs with motions, so we do that a lot while nursing. It’s easy to point to head, shoulders, knees and toes with one hand!
I love the nursing box idea! I often read to my older son while I nursed the little one (once we were nursing smoothly). He would cuddle up on the side opposite the baby and we’d look at books together. This gave him some snuggle time but also kept him in one place!
I’m currently still pregnant but my son is 19 months and we’re already prepping. When we started trying for a second I bought him a soft baby doll from Ikea. It wasn’t a big deal of go to the store ok pick your baby kind of thing. We were just out and I took him to the baby dolls and let him pick one out. Ironicly, the baby doll caused a bit of a stir for multiple reasons within our extended family but that’s another story. It was just like another toy to him. He loved it for a few weeks and then got over it. We still bring it out and talk about it and how you have to be so gentle with babies. The next step was a few weeks ago when buying a couple of our “Daddy” bottles (for daddy to feed when mommy can’t) we grabbed our son a cheap one for him to play with. He carries it around a lot actually. He chews on it and plays with it but what we were looking to do was introduce bottles before the new baby came so that the new baby wasn’t getting something he didn’t already have. Now that the bottle is less interesting we’ve started asking if he want’s to feed the baby doll every once in a while. He does sometimes and not others. He understands that it goes on the babies mouth and it’s for eating. For the most part we try to get everything new into our home early so the changes aren’t because of the new baby and the baby isn’t getting new stuff that he can’t have (which seems totally unfair in the eyes of a 19 month old.)
Planning planning planning. We intend to make nursing time a special time for our son. That’s when he gets to do his favorite things like color or open the new toy he got earlier in the day. The nursing box will be a great addition to our plan. 
Thanks for the tip!