A Burton Blog about unauthorised baby snatching

Hi all, This is from an e-mail Libby sent to Miriam. Miriam's adapted it for all to see:

How do you stop a Rhiannon from getting baby Jocelyn out of the cradle (usually while she's asleep)? Our floor is cement, Rhiannon is three, and Jocelyn is a floppy newborn...

No major injuries so far (but a few minor ones. thankfully Jocelyn didn't cry too much).
Once Rhiannon saw that I had seen her, and so she immediately dropped Jocelyn back in and then stepped back to protest her innocence (demonstrating her guilty feeling about her behaviour). When I got to the cradle, Jocelyn was lying cross ways in the cradle with her head wedged up against the bars at a 90 degree angle to her shoulders. Not happy.

1. First tactic... we had a serious talk about grown up jobs. This included Rhiannon insisting very loudly that Jocelyn is her baby, not mine... result? Total failure. Still picking up Jocelyn.
2. Second tactic...We made (thanks for the idea Miriam) a stop sign, complete with a happy face smiley, and a sad faced smiley (actually Libby, I put in a picture of a dragon and an angel and then actually threatened to breathe fire on Leila if she went into the nursury). We talked about stopping to think about if she was doing something that would make Mummy happy or sad. She can explain the process beautifully to visitors and to Daddy. Total failure, still getting Jocelyn out of bed.
3. Third tactic...I put up a mosquito net, to make a really clear line that Rhiannon should not cross. Total Failure. Still picking up Jocelyn.
4. Fourth... (Getting desperate) We bought Rhiannon her own life-sized newborn baby doll. (It is sharing Jocelyn's clothes and nappies) She has been named Ohfae, but we seem to be abbreviating that to Fae. Rhiannon has been feeding her baby while I feed mine. She changes nappies while I change nappies, although I'm insisting that her baby does pretend poos and wees, and doesn't need a new real nappy every change. Fae changes her clothes more regularly than Jocelyn does, but she uses the bath water after Jocelyn. Unfortunately Fae does not distract Rhiannon when she wants to cuddle my baby. It's a good tool to get my baby to myself, but as far as keeping Jocelyn in her own bed? Total failure, Still picking up Jocelyn.
5. *Fifth tactic...Now our room is completely dominated by our Baby Dan playpen/fireguard, a hexagonal, metal, tall playpen, with a gate Rhiannon can't operate. This has been used in the past as a fire guard, playpen and cubby house, but has found its' truest calling as a save-baby-from-siblings device!

We've kept the sign and the mozzie net up. We still find Rhiannon under the mozzie net, reaching through the bars of the playpen rocking Jocelyn. But so far she can't reach in enough to try and get Jocelyn out. 2 days with a safe baby! We'll keep our fingers crossed. Wish us luck!