Are you ready for another Manic Monday?
Today’s post is a blast from the past for me…going back to when my now two year old son was just a baby.
My daughter was 19 months old when we brought Monkey home from the hospital. She was really a model big sister, gently touching his head, wanting a chance to hold him, and worried about him when he cried. The biggest problem I had back then was her climbing.
Peanut has always been an active little girl, even when I was pregnant with her – she moved constantly. She climbed out of her bed at an early age. (I don’t remember when that was, but I remember everyone was shocked she did it.) And when we brought home her baby brother she found out that one way to get Mommy’s attention was by climbing. More specifically she’d climb when I was nursing the baby.
I would be sitting on the couch, baby propped on the Boppy pillow, both of us trying to learn what to do to make nursing successful for him, when she’d start climbing the television stand. What could I do? I didn’t want to stop feeding the baby (after all, he was new to nursing and needed to eat), but I couldn’t just let her climb and get hurt. So I tried telling her to get down, and she’d just climb faster. I tried giving her time outs after a few reminders when I’d see her foot just lifting up to climb; I’d literally hold her on a time out stool while trying to continue to nurse her brother… When that didn’t work, or when I was too slow to catch her, I’d have to get up, still trying to nurse her brother (thankfully he grew accustomed to nursing this way fairly quickly), and grab her with the other arm to get her down. I was scared to death she’d fall and get hurt if I didn’t get her down.
Eventually I just gave up. It was impossible to keep her from climbing, and I decided it wasn’t really fair to her brother, who should be allowed to bond with Mommy and nurse in peace. You know what? When I stopped getting her down every time I saw her climbing she actually started to do it less often. (Oh, she’s still a climber; her newest fascination is the changing table/nightstand that is attached to her bed…)
It’s a good thing mommies are so good at multi-tasking… Do you have any stories of things you did while trying to feed a baby at the same time?
Sara says
When my son was little and I was trying to nurse his baby brother. I would put him in the chair wih me and read from a book or just tell him a story from memory. That way he never felt left out and it allowed them to bond with each other.
admin says
I tried that with my daughter, and it would last her 2 minutes before she’d start the climbing. She just doesn’t sit still – I think she’d climb the walls if she could!