2 kids, 2 storey house

[bridee]

I have a 2yr old and 10 wk old. Just wondering how others manage having 2 kids in a 2 storey house - in particular with sleep.

I have been sleeping DD2 downstairs 1) to get use to sleeping with noise and 2) easier for me. DD2 has started to do some catnapping so I'm thinking it is time for her to sleep in her own room and hope that will help with associating her room with sleep but I also know spending time with her to get her back to sleep means DD1 either has to come up stairs with me and play (and want my attention) or will be downstairs by herself.

So what did other people do? Just after suggestions.

[RedPanda]

DS2 is still in a cot, so he is quite controllable in terms of getting him up and putting him down. DS1 took a bit of adjusting. He used to stand at the top of the stairs and scream for me until he was about 2 and a half. He was scared of the stairs I think (probably because I kept drilling into him that we must be safe on the stairs and not be silly!). He doesn't nap anymore, but on the odd occasion that he does, I put him in my bed which is downstairs. If he wakes up in the middle of the night, he usually comes down to us (the staircase light is on) or he'll just call out and we go to him.

Once DS2 is in a bed, I plan to put kiddy gates on his bedroom door so he can get himself up, but not get out of his room without me. I just worry that he's not safe on the stairs yet (he's 1.5 years). It takes a bit of up and down but just think about how good it is for your bum muscles! I have a spare bed upstairs, so if one of the boys has a really bad night, I usually just go to bed upstairs to save the up and down.
ETA: Both boys come up the stairs with me. I rarely leave one downstairs if I am up. My three-year-old sometimes opts to stay downstairs if he's watching TV and I'm putting DS2 down for a nap.

[mum2bee]

Hi,

I have a DD who is just over 2 and a son who is nearly 1 but we live in a two story house....one thing that I found still useful is that DD has a gate on her door and when I settle DS I bring a special box of quiet toys out and she sits on her bedroom floor and plays....I know it might sound a bit mean but I know where she is and I know that she can't get out of her room....

[Jules16]

We are having our second next April and also have stairs! I'm so dreading it. How did you go? Did you find a solution? I have a gate at the top of the stairs but am also wondering if we should put a gate on DS1's door aswell. It does seem cruel though.

[bridee]

Jules I can say it got easier but the key has been getting DD2 to be able to self settle. So now I wrap DD down stairs, walk with her for perhaps a minute (and its getting shorter) then go upstairs read 2 books to her and put her to bed. She can take 30sec or 15mins to go to sleep but in all cases she doesn't need my assistance so I am able to be downstairs within a few minutes.

DD1 does still sometimes want to come upstairs but generally she now knows I'm not going to be long.

[Jules16]

Thanks Bridee. Do you have somewhere safe to leave her downstairs? I'd be worried I'd come back downstairs and DS1 would be on top of the Dining Room table or something. I'm wondering if maybe in the first few weeks whether to have a bassinet downstairs.

Oh how I wish we'd never bought a house with stairs. Although saying that, it certainly does have it's advantages.

[bridee]

Jules - for the first couple of months we had the bassinet downstairs. At an early age babies (generally) can sleep through noise and I wanted DD2 to be use to some noise. It was when she was around 2mths that I wanted her to get to use to her bedroom and noise was disturbing her a bit. The hardest time I think was around the 2-3mth period when she wasn't self settling and trying to teach her was time consuming.

I could trust DD1 for about 10mins, I would turn the TV on and make sure it was something that would keep her attention (thanks Foxtel) or give her some food. She's not a climber and she instantly tells me if she has done something wrong and something is out of place so whenever I was upstairs with DD2 I would have the bedroom door open with 1 ear listening out for the call of muuuuuuum!

[Jules16]

Thanks Bridee.