Need some help/ideas............

[newg]

DD1 (2.5yrs old) is trying to pick up DD2 (2 weeks old) out of the swing!! She absolutely adores her little sister and loves to snuggle with her on the couch, which is truly sweet..........but this thing she has about trying to pick her up is starting to scare me.
Three times today I had to sprint across the kitchen/family room to pry DD2 out of her hands as she tried to lift her out of the swing!!

Any BTDT........what can I do to get her to understand she can't do this without making her resent DD2 or me??!!

[doberbrat]

nak...do you let her hold the baby regularily? thats what saved us dd1 is 4 and understands a bit better but in the beginning she held the baby for us while we washed our hands after a diaper we piled on the pillows and were fast -my house isnt that big!

congrats

[wellyes]

I have a newborn & a 2.5 year old. The thing that's worked for us is to make very specific rules for how she can hold the baby. She has to wash her hands, take her shoes off, and be sitting on the couch. Then we hand her the baby to hold. It works!

* the shoes off is due to sitting on the couch, not just us being arbitrary.

[newg]

We do let her hold her when we are sitting on the couch with her. Maybe I need to just do that more often. When she tries to pick her up out of the swing I do tell her that she can only hold her while sitting on the couch.....but she's two, so I
not sure how much of that is sinking in.

[misshollygolightly]

I have no experience with this, but do you think it might help to do some role-playing or substituting with a baby doll? I'm thinking either you could role-play how to hold the baby correctly, snuggle gently, etc. and/or ask her to pick up and hold her baby doll *instead* of the new baby. Sort of redirect her to the baby doll. Not sure if that would work entirely or not, but it's a thought!

[doberbrat]

yeah, dd got to hold the baby after EVERY diaper change during the day so she got her fill. now dd2 is too wriggly to be held on the couch by her sister so I let dd1 hold her on her bed or on the floor and just make sure they get plenty of snuggle time. on the days where I dont, dd1 will try to just go over and grab her - usually under the guise of keeping her safe from something

[DrSally]

I like the pp's suggestions about more holding/cuddle time. You could even make a show of telling DH "no picking up baby when she's in the swing" or something, so it's a rule that applies to everyone (not just her)? IDK, just brainstorming.

We had the problem where DS would want to cuddle DD and be all over her while she was nursing. I used to have to nurse her to sleep, so this would keep her from falling asleep. Sometimes, I'd have to shut the door while I was nursing her, and DS would get all upset and feel shut out :(
I didn't know what else to do b/c I really had to get her to sleep.