3.5 year old all over baby sister

I need some advice my 3.5 year old son absolutely adores his baby sister who is almost 3 months old. However the past week he will not stay out of her face, every time she falls asleep he’s right in her face making noise and waking her up making her cry resulting in her having very short naps and being grumpy at the end of the day. She maybe is able to have one solid nap where he doesn’t bother her but only if we are in the car. I have told him many times she doesn’t like that and it’s not fair to wake her up she needs her sleep but he won’t listen. Resulting in some time to himself away from her so she can have a few minutes of space. Anyone else have a similar issue that can suggest something? I am getting tired of a fussy and over tired baby at the end of the night especially since my husband is working nights and it’s just me and the kids at home.

Read more on Peanut

The views expressed in community are solely the opinions of participants, and do not reflect those of Peanut.

Learn more about our guidelines.
Add a comment
Avatar

I have a 1 week old baby girl and a 5 and 4 year old boys and they’re the same thing. We have to constantly tell ‘em to calm down and let her sleep. It helps that during her wake times we let them hold her (assisted of course) and be near her. But then once she’s nursing and going to sleep we make it a rule that they can’t go on the bed to be near her. Luckily baby girl isn’t bothered by the noise (yet) but maybe some time with his baby sister will help ease him. Also I make it a priority to spend time with the boys when I have the baby down so they don’t feel the need to get my attention while I have their baby sister. 3 years old is still very young to understand personal space it just takes some time and adjusting to things. I hope this helps.

Avatar

What’s always worked for me is putting the baby to sleep in the room and you two go to the living room.

Avatar

she sleeps in her bassinet in our room and I close the door. Unfortunately our bedroom door isn’t a solid door it slides and my son can open it and he goes in all the time. Even if I have put her down and i am sitting and playing something with him.

Avatar

he is super helpful when she’s awake, he likes it when she sits in her chair and watches him play and he shows her all his cars and trucks and things and he talks to her. If I am holding her or feeding her he is always right in her face and on top of me. Even if she’s in our room with the door closed and I am playing with him he will constantly open the door and go in and wake her up when I am spending time with him one on one. I totally understand he’s still young, he doesn’t understand a lot of adults don’t understand personal space either. I am just frazzled and torn between the two of them when my husband leaves for work at 5pm at 6:30pm she’s crying and upset and he’s all over her. So I end up having to hold her and walk around and be constantly moving so she’s up higher and he can’t get in her face as easy but he is extremely loud and will just sit on the floor smile and scream as I walk around so she still can’t sleep.

Avatar

Okay well another thing I should suggest is to be creative. Block the outside of the door during her nap time with a box or chair or something that makes it harder for him to have access. And also as stated make a rule. He obviously loves his baby sister very much he just needs to learn boundaries. So she can get her sleep it’s still very necessary . Whenever she’s napping and he goes towards the door, just keep redirecting him and let him know she’s sleeping , not right now.I have a 3 year old as well , you’d be surprised how much they understand . Anyways goodluck , you got this.

Avatar

Child lock your bedroom sliding door. Be firm with your toddler, then immediately distract.
"She's sleeping but we could read a book!"
Or color, paint, bake something, build with blocks whatever they like to do

Avatar

I read that you have a sliding door to the room where she sleeps and your toddler goes in whenever he wants even when you’ve instructed not to. Do you have a baby gate you can put in that door frame area that he cannot climb over? Or could you try using the childproofing lock things that keep toilets and cabinets closed so he cannot slide the door?

Read more on Peanut

Trending

in our community

no screen mums!!

are you absolutely 0 screens household? my boy is 6mo and me and my partner agreed no screens till 3yo, but I'm a sahm and showering is HARD when I'm alone, I've been thinking about recording myself singing the songs he likes and showing it to him for being able to shower.
What do you do?

Avatar

17

Feeling guilty for co sleeping

My 6 month old has suddenly started to do abit of co sleeping in the night. She sometimes go back to her bed but alot of the time it’s out of pure exhaustion from me that I just let her sleep with me. I haven’t got any energy to be rocking her back to sleep and putting her down with possibly failing the attempt. But for some reason I feel a sense of guilt like I’m going to have problems later on if it continues. Someone put my mind at ease please?

Avatar

6

Birthday postpartum

I’m due to give birth to our second child weeks before my birthday. My partner wants to know what I want to do but I don’t know what would be possible so soon. I already get things like facials and my hair and nails done and it’s been made clear none of those qualify as a present for my birthday 😅 I don’t know what more I could possibly do 😅 there’s no way I’m going to want to go on a day out 😂

Avatar

1

8

Should I wake baby up to feed?

First time mum here, my baby is 2 months old today. Should I be waking her for night feeds? During the day she feeds every 2–3 hours, but at night she usually sleeps from around 11pm to about 3am, and I’ve been waking her then. Is that okay, or should I let her sleep?

Avatar

7

Feel like I’m solo parenting

I’m so sick of arguing with my husband over this.

My daughter is 11 weeks old, and my husband works Monday to Friday. I look after her all day every day, and on the weekends and some evenings he goes out cycling. I don’t mind this, he gets extremely ratty and stir crazy if he doesn’t go out, and it drives me mad.

Lately. My daughter’s sleep pattern is all over the place in terms of the second stretch. She tends to go for 6 hours, then has a feed, then either goes for another 4 hours, or starts to fuss at about 5:30 am. (I realise this first stretch is a dream, please believe me I’m not complaining about that.

My husband starts work at 7 am from home, or leaves at 6 am if he’s going into the office.

This means that he comes home, feeds her once while I’m in the shower, while I handle all of the other feeds/ settling her off at night. I rarely go back to sleep after as I’m so wired. He also struggles to sleep once he’s awake, so when she fusses for her night feed, he’s up from around 4 am regardless of feeding her or not.

I see him for around 3 hours a day apart from weekends, and in that time I cook, he does the dishes and cleans the bottles. We then bath/wash LO, he feeds her, then we watch a film or show until her next feed at 9:30 pm.

He has gone up to bed early to try and get more sleep because he feels like he’s exhausted to the point of headaches. (I am too, but it seems like this isn’t as important because I don’t go to work. He acknowledges that it’s hard work looking after her all day, this isn’t the problem). I have stayed downstairs with her, because to me, disturbing a sleeping baby only to put her in a crib for 30 minutes after settling her again, to feed her and then have to restart the process is ridiculous when she’s asleep already.

I feel like I do everything. I feed and settle her every time. When he can’t calm her down within 10 minutes he passes her back despite me having her all day and him not seeing her.

I love my daughter more than anything, and my husband is lovely, I swear. It’s just a really tough time with her sleep, and I’m struggling to cope. I’m so, so tired. And he doesn’t seem to realise this, because he is. We have talked about this so many times, but it just turns into an argument. Please tell me this will pass?

Avatar

1

4

When did your child stop taking naps?

My son is almost 3 and just been moved to a big kid bed (out of crib) and isn't napping. No surprise of course with the big change. It took him a long time to get to sleep last night first sleep in there too. My husbands coworker said when they switched his toddler out of the crib into first big kid bed he stopped napping that day. Wondering on other's experiences. Thanks in advance!

Avatar

8

Read more on Peanut