The Care and Feeding of a Newborn...

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I think I just volunteered for a very serious mission. A friend of mine has a two month old girl and a two year old boy, and I told them that I would gladly babysit the kids if they wanted a night off. Just to piss me off, I think, they decided to go out to dinner. I warned them that I knew very little about babysitting, and they promised to give me instructions on the care and feeding of the little folks.

Any tips you doper parents could offer me? Any little secrets from you mothers out there? I’m a 22 year old guy with little baby experience, so whats the straight dope?
[sub]I know how to keep them alive and somewhat happy, I’m just looking for tips and tricks to keep them from driving me nuts[/sub]

2

i have an almost 3 month old and a 4.5 year old.

for the newborn, you’re gonna have to feed her every 2-4 hours. doesn’t leave much time to do anything with the older one. eat, change diaper, sleep. that’s about it for care.

for the 2 year old:

most kids love to have picture books read to them.

see if the kid has a favorite video just in case of an emergency.

ask the parents about giving the older kid a bath. that will usually kill 30min. to an hour with some toys (cups, bowls, and empty shampoo bottles work in a pinch), but you wanna make sure it’s ok before you get the kid naked (unfortunatly in today’s world). and you can’t leave a 2 year old unattended in water </disclaimer>

playdoh

oh, do you have a SO? i would strongly suggest a little help, just because the baby will keep your hands full and make interacting with the 2 year old difficult, IMHO.

i’ll write more if i can think of anything. too bad it’s winter, anything outside is usually fun, but dinner babysitting, well, it’ll be cold and dark out there.

3

Thanks!
The 2 year old has tons of bath toys, and I just got a confirmation from a female friend of mine who promises to help and keep me company ( the lady types are typically better with the youngins, AFAIK). I have already changed the kids diapers, so I don’t think a bath would be a problem.

As far as the eat/sleep/eat thing, I don’t have much experience with that. I’m more worried about keeping the baby happy. I have a feeling I could return to my two year old mind quite easily, especially if there’s a football game on…

4

When I first saw this I wondered why someone was asking about newborns as if they were pets…

All very good suggestions above. I found videos were a great help for the older as they can distract the 2 year old while you handle the baby. The 2 y/o will probably have a fave or two already so be ready for demands of Barney shudder or something similar if they like to watch them

5

A two month old (when awake) is easily amused, especially if you’ve already spent a little time with her. (IOW, the child knows you, as much as is possible, at that age) Baby talk and sing song speech are pretty much an evening’s entertainment. The older one, however…

Around two years old, most kids figure out that they are the focal point of the universe. With an assistant, you ought to do well. Someone feeds/burps/changes the little one, while the other person (unless the kid is very solitary, willing to play with toys/watch a video tape “alone*”) is the human entertainment center. Even just sitting and watching something on the TV, there’s gonna be a lot of running around, and toy breaks (it’s that attention span, donch’a know) and snacks, and…

Pack a lunch. But have fun.

Oh yes, Obsidian Flutterby is quite right about the favorite movie. We watch The Tigger Movie at least twice a day. Of course, by we I mean I watch it, while she climbs all over me, the couch, the cats. She does stop in her tracks for the Soopdy Dooper, Loop de Looper, Allez Ooper Bounce musical number, but the rest of it we usually listen to from the next room whilst having a tea party, or some such.

*Yeah, alone in the same house as you does not have to equal unsupervised. Some kids will sit and play by themselves without constant interaction with you in the middle of the room, or off in a “hideyhole” in a corner behind a chair, or something similar.

Unless the tyke’s like our daughter, who takes great delight in the opening and closing of doors. The kid closing the bedroom door, you knocking loudly and insistently, and them opening up for a quick “Hi!” and a giggle, and then the door being closed in your face again… repeat as needed.

[sub]She can be entertained for an hour with this game, and I can have a whole cup of coffee, while it’s still hot, at the same time. Win/win![/sub]

6

I can tell you that you’ll get your BEST SLEEP EVER after watching the little sprouts! Mark my words. You’ll sleep like a dead guy.

7

If you make an offer like that to parents of small children and they have even a little bit of trust in you, they will almost certainly take you up on the offer. They aren’t doing it to piss you off, they have probably not had a quiet night out in the last several months. Make such offers cautiously.

Very admirable thing for you to do, though!

The suggestions of the other posters are the way to go. I can’t really add very much there.

Good luck!

8

Once the wee bairn (baby) has been fed, has a new nappy, and has had a good burp all you need to do is learn to dance :slight_smile:

Mine liked it when I sang Nat King Cole tunes and waltzed around the house with them.

We have a sling so it was also great to be able to put the baby in the sling (where she would be happy as pie) while I entertained our two year old daughter.

Tigger rocks… whoo hoo hoo hoooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

9

Just a reminder about the bathwater, which I’m sure you know but it doesn’t hurt to mention again - check the temperature of the water first, on your wrist or by just placing your hand in. Better you get a little accidental burn than something unfortunate happens. And…

… means not even for a little while. I’m sure you’ve probably heard those heartbreaking “but I only left for a moment to check on the baby” stories. With someone else there, that’ll be a big help for you.

Does the two-year-old know you? If not, or if you haven’t seen him in a while, you might want to stop by a couple days before hand to interact with the kid for a little bit. Otherwise the kid will probably be pretty distraught to be suddenly left with strangers.

10

Great suggestions so far. I only have one thing to add: bribery. It won’t matter to the baby, but two-year-olds respond really well to bribery. Take “goodies” along with you, unannounced. Stickers work well, as does junk food (be sure to ask parents first, so they can nix anything they find objectionable/dangerous). Then, if you’re having a tough time handling both at the same time, tell the older one “if you’ll help Uncle TheOtherOne by waiting just a minute for your juice, I believe I have a piece of candy for you. . .”
This method doesn’t work too well for parents, because if you use it all the time, it quickly loses effectiveness. But it works wonders for babysitters.