Keeping older child distracted to get baby to nap?

[booksie]

Just curious what other parents do to try and keep their older child distracted while they get the baby to sleep. I have a 3yo and am having a heck of a time getting the baby down for a nap because the older one keeps coming in the nursery or clanking toys, etc. I have tried videos, but I hate doing that because it ends up being a lot of TV during a day. And our Dora video (the current favorite) encourages her to shout and that wakes the baby too! On top of it all, i hate having older child out of my site for so long because I'm worried she might get into something or hurt herself. The baby isn't great about nursing to sleep in the living room or anything... she's easily distracted by noises and almost always wakes up when I lay her down in her crib the way it is. what to do, what to do... sorry for the rambling, I'm just so frustrated!

[dziner]

Honestly, I can't remember what I did (I don't remember much from last year, really!!). But I would suggest stickers (start a special sticker notebook and give your DC a little sheet of stickers to put in at naptime), coloring if your kid is into it, playdoh, reading books in a box (my DH put a printer box in our foyer and cut out a window and it's my kids' favorite spot to play lately), or Noggin! Yes, my DD saw more Noggin than I prefer during my son's early months but we're beyond that point now so I don't feel it was a detriment. You're still in survival mode so do what you can...good luck!

[Bernie & Matt]

I really can't remember what I did in the beginning, but what works now is to have DS (2.75 yr old) come into the nursery to lay down while I feed DD and put her down for a nap. He has a special pillow that only stays in the nursery and get gets his binky and lovey. He knows he has to lay down and be quiet and it usually works okay.

[mamax2]

One thing that helped is that I nursed the baby when she woke up from naps instead of nursing her to sleep. This made the getting to sleep routine much quicker. The other things that worked: TV (don't be afraid to use it - you can always cut back later!), snacks/sippy cup, or I'd simply ask her to play quietly in her room. It wasn't always ideal, she definitely did her share of storming the nursery, but practice makes perfect! Also, now that we're down to one nap, I put my older DD down first.

[firefly]

um tv. and crafts. stickers, glue, markers and paper Godsend I tell ya. and like mamax2 you can always cut back.

[Delta]

Noggin.

I hate it too. HATE IT.

But when you have the type of kid who just doesn't know how to be quiet or play alone for more than 2 minutes then you have to do what you have to do to get your baby asleep.

He's starting an everyday preschool next week which hopefully will make a world of difference.

[Orange]

Noggin here, too. I try to make a point of getting her involved in another activity as soon as I come downstairs so we can turn the TV off, otherwise it would be on all day. When I tried a craft project, she would come upstairs after 5 minutes wanting help with something and get my sleepy baby all awake again. I also taught her to use the pause button on the TiVo remote so she could go potty without missing her show - we got interrupted with more than one accident before I did that.