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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Moving into a new home but have to keep 4 month old baby happy while doing it
Suggestions? I most likely wont have a baby sitter plus I breastfeed so even if I did she still cant be far away for either of our sakes. I bought a pack and play that I can move around the house but I can see that working for like 15 min... Being this is going to be somewhat stressful for her, I am afraid she is going to want to be held the whole time
Re: Moving into a new home but have to keep 4 month old baby happy while doing it
Need hands free and your baby close to you? A Kitanna or a Sling Wrap is perfect for this.
I know a ton of mommy's that run after their toddlers while having their newborns/infants close to them!
You can try hans free like PP suggested, but my DS did not like those carriers are my boobs were way to large to nurse him while he was in the carrier. I would accept the fact that it will take longer than you want it to.
Are you worried about the actual moving stuff into the house? I would probably get a babysitter for that, but have the sitter come to the house and play with LO while you unload, then take a nursing break as needed. You don't want the baby underfoot and getting hurt with movers or you and DH moving stuff in.
Do you have a FP or baby Einstein exersaucer/jumper thing? That would usually buy me about 20 minutes of time too.
I would also post this on the buying a home board and on the bump, if you haven't already. I would try the breastfeeding board (if your LO likes the sling or carrier) or your LO's age board. GL!
Ditto what VMRRN said.
If you are moving yourself and need someone to watch your LO while your carrying furniture and boxes in, hire a babysitter to come over. The sitter and your LO can hang in one room while you get things unloaded. Take a break as necessary to nurse.
If you're just concerned about the unpacking... eh, you'll probably just have to figure out what works as you go and realize that it won't get done all at once. Get a basic bathroom put together, then get your beds set up so you have a place to sleep, then start on the kitchen (skip the odd appliances, wine glasses, etc. just worry about your dishes, pots and pans and perishables). Once you have the essentials done, you can start on the not-so-important stuff, like dressers, bookshelves, the rest of the kitchen and bathrooms, etc.
When you're packing your current house, make sure you label each box with what room it should go to and a short list of what is in the box. That'll help as you're unpacking. When the truck is being unloaded, make sure each box lands in it's respective room.
http://pandce.proboards.com/index.cgi#general
We moved when DD was less than a year. It was a pain. I would bring your baby gear first and move her from item to item (highchair, jumper/exersaucer, swing, pack and play, bumbo, stroller, whatever you have). I was still breastfeeding too. I had my mom come and help. She watched DD most of the time except when I needed to nurse which helped a lot. DD wasn't into toys yet at 4 months, but if your DD is I would try getting a bag of new toys as well.
She was a little overstimulated, but she would get like that whenever we had a lot of people over. She adjusted well to the new place. I was expecting her to be stressed or scared of her new room, but I didn't have any problems.
We'll be packing up our current house with a two month old. I'm having my sister come help me one day and have a goal of what needs to get done. I'll also probably have my mom and MIL come up other days to help entertain DD while I pack (I'm slightly OCD about how I want things packed). Once we move into our new house, I'll probably have same people come back to help again with DD. I know I'll be even more OCD about wanting to unpack things my way so having someone entertain DD will be amazing. We also have a pack n play and a swing that I will be using to entertain her during packing/unpacking.
Like PP said, you could have the sitter come to your house and watch LO while you move in. She'll still be there for breastfeeding and having someone dedicated to entertaining her will help your sanity on an already stressful day.
Just don't make the mistake of putting her in the jumperoo/exersaucer/high chair too much. We did that while we were doing our house and she ended up not getting enough floor time (I didn't realize she was also spending a lot of time in those things at MIL's house or daycare. She had a delay in her motor development.
She is caught up now, but the doctor said it was definitely caused from that. I recommend an enclosed gate on the floor (like from onestepahead.com) and play with her in there a lot at first, then get her to play by herself.
She'll get floor time and be protected.