We use my son’s cars as the basis for many different kinds of play.

After 23 months of having 100% of my attention, I wanted my son’s transition to being a big brother to be as gentle and natural as possible.

During my husband’s paternity leave, Big Brother received constant dedicated attention from my husband as I took the lead on caring for our baby girl. When my husband went back to work, I wanted Big Brother to continue to feel like interacting with him was a priority for us, but the reality was that I was somewhat confined to the couch due to Little Sister’s breastfeeding needs.

This led to my coming up with many ways to play with my son while still breastfeeding my daughter.

Here are many of the things that work for us:

1. Sing songs.

2. Take out the art supplies and suggest projects as you nurse.

3. Read, read, and read some more.

4. Play sorting games. My son will often take out all of his cars and trucks and I will ask him to sort them by color, size, type, etc.

5. Set up sensory bins and nurse nearby.

6. Play I Spy.

7. Play pretend games. I am often the voice of one of my son’s cars or little wooden people as he creates an imaginary setting around me.

8. Play Red Light, Green Light.

9. Make music together. I can easily play an instrument like the triangle or maracas while nursing to compliment my son’s music making.

10. Hide and seek – except instead of hiding yourself, take a couple of minutes before nursing to hide objects around the room for your toddler to find.

How do you give your older child attention while tending to your baby?