Category: Parent Talk
I have a very active 8-month-old. He is well in to crawling now. He pulls hemself up to stand, cruises furniture, and is soon to be toddling and climbing. Scary.So, my question to those who've dealt with the active baby phase; What can I do to "watch" my son? I do follow him everywhere, but I really need to get things done. He cries and throws a fit when we try to restrain his budding curiosity by putting him in a playpen or exersaucer so we can, uh, eat dinner or go to the bathroom. I would use bells, but just how affective they are for a quick-thinking, curious, resourceful little guy concerns me. What are ways I can use them without him being uncomfortable or trying to remove and possibly choke on them? Any suggestions would be great. Thanks.
Hi.
We have an 18 month old so we've had some experience of the active phase (he's particularly active little monkey, it is a lot of fun but loads of work).
I don't think bells help you out much, they only tell you where the baby is, not what he's up to, and in any case you know most of the time exactly where he is.
We solved this by creating "save" spaces for our little one to play, his bed room and the living room, you hve to make sure he can't climb and reach knick knacks, put the tv hgih enough up so he can't pull it down, possibly remove a coffee table etc, then put some toys on the floor and it often gives you 10 to 20 minutes of relatively worry free time. Also try cartoons and baby tv type stuff, I know people say tv should never be a baby sitter, but those people have probably never had a baby. I'm not saying you should use it 24 7 but it can often be good to let him watch cartoons for an hour or so, their attention span isn't that long any way so it's not like they can sit quiet over the tv for hours.
Make sure you buy and install gates on any stairs etc (although I've spent a lotof time with our little one climbing up and down stairs, it's good for them to learn, but never ever let them explore by themselves unless you are very comfortable with their stair climbing abilities". Someitmes you may even have to take the baby with you to the bath room, they don't mind and it could mean peaceof mind for you, we've done that when we need to. When you eat, try to get him used to eating too, sitting in a baby chair (please use straps, they're important, ours always tries to climb out).
Also make sure your husband/boy friend takes shifts and that both of you get a little bitof relaxation time, even if it's just 30 minutes a day or less, it's very important to get just a little bit of worry free time. If you ahve parents or can afford a baby sitter, give yourselves a couple of hours off every now and then to go out, movie or something, without worrying excessively.
Things get easier as the baby gets older, they start playing more by themselves and understanding words and commands.
I'm sure others have other recommendations but this is what has worked well for us, so far.
cheers
-B
This could be another reccomendation. Toddlers of Nathaniel's, Brew's boy Erik's and our little man Robbie's age and up, simply love playing with any textured, colourful, tactile, shape sorting and water toys.
Simply have plenty of these toys to hand, plus a tepee with play tunnels plus a play pen or even one of those inflatable ball pits full of brightly coloured plastic balls. Robbie got several zip bags of these balls for his 1st Birthday and my Aunt had a playpen, so she filled that up with those balls and stationed it in the kitchen diner which is basically where it all happens in their house, plus he has 3 live-in carers in the form of his 16-year-old brother who keeps him occupied on the drum kit in his room or his sisters age 11 and 14 who're basically getting his emmotional development up to scratch and up to average for his age group. He'll stick to an activity for quite an unusually long time considering how young he is.
Jen.
a toddeler with a drum kit? recepie for noise, but quite good i think. hehehe