13.5 Month Old DD Alone In Another Room?

[BabyMae09]

My DD frequently walks around our house by herself. The house has not been baby-proofed, but my baby has been house proofed. What I mean is, she is very aware of herself and her surroundings. She is cautious, and knows her limits. She often is 'alone' (I am listening of course) for a couple minutes at a time. Sometimes up to 10 minutes, if I can hear her that entire time. As soon as I don't hear her, I go see what she's doing, which is always just sitting playing with something. We do have almost all the outlets blocked or unreachable by her in some way.

The worst thing that could happen is her getting into the compost bucket under the counter

Also, there are three other people who live here, my DP, DS who is 8 and always around because we unschool, and our WWOOF'er. So people are in and out all the time.

But anyway, what do you mama's think about this? And also, when replying, can you mention whether you've read the Continuum Concept or not - because that's where a lot of my parenting philosophy comes from. Thanks!

[JD5351]

AJ pretty much has free rein on the first floor of our house. He's definately not 100% supervised. We've made sure there's not "much of" anything he could hurt himself on..The TV is blocked off so he can't get to that. We block the stairs and cabinets int he kitchen that he shouldn't get into are locked. We're always within ear shot though, and don't leave him unattended for more than a few mins. If I had him within my sight at all times I think I'd go nuts. LOL

My friend babysits him and has her downstairs bedroom set into a play room. He goes in there on his own and plays with toys.

I think it's good for him to have a little independence when he wants it.

[PatchChild]

I am all in favor of kids being able to explore and entertain themselves from a young age. Baby proof to your comfort level and go with it.

DS is three now and has turned out to be surprisingly good about knowing his own limits. His only major injury, three stitches, was while DH and I were both within arms reach. Just goes to show you...

[blizzard_babe]

Never read the CC, but have the general gist of it.

Our house was never "baby-proofed," and our baby never "house-proofed," because I don't really believe that you can truly do either. We put away/put up all the truly dangerous stuff... I no longer keep my knitting basket with the big sharp scissors on the floor... it's up out of reach when not in use, the sewing supplies (fabric cutter, etc) no longer just live out on the craft table; they get put securely away between use. We covered outlets, because DS showed an intense and undeniable interest in them. Any personal items that we didn't want trashed got put up... not necessarily out of concern for DS's safety (books aren't dangerous, though I guess some of the writing is atrocious ), but because he could do a lot of silent damage to a good book in just a few seconds. In our old house, we closed off a room that was impossible to make safe (it housed tall piles of Rubbermaid totes that just had to be there because we had nowhere else to put them).

That said, we let DS briefly out of our sight at around that age, and more so a few months later, when we moved to an apartment that was set up more conveniently - pretty much all the rooms are directly off of the main living space - for safe roaming, as opposed to our old house where the bedrooms were on the far end of a long-ish hallway.

[Mal85]

I've never read the Continuum Concept, but that's pretty much how it is at our house. DD is 16 months and she has free reign around the house for the most part. I keep an ear out and go to her when I don't know what's going on. I'm like that most everywhere, though. I don't hover over her at all. I really try to let her do her thing, I just keep my eyes on her to make sure she's not getting into any danger/trouble.

[Abraisme]

I have read The Continuum Concept..

My DD is 11mo and also has full access to the house. I am always aware of her, but I'm certainly not watching her at every moment. She's been walking for a over a month now so she's very mobile and loves to explore and poke around. We have all the outlets covered and the dangerous cabinets locked, that's about it.

[MangoMommy]

Originally Posted by Abraisme

I have read The Continuum Concept..

My DD is 11mo and also has full access to the house. I am always aware of her, but I'm certainly not watching her at every moment. She's been walking for a over a month now so she's very mobile and loves to explore and poke around. We have all the outlets covered and the dangerous cabinets locked, that's about it.

This too.

I also have a babygate at the bottom of the stairs, because we also keep the dog from the upstairs.

I am often in one room while she's in another. I do keep the bathroom door shut. The pantry door I keep open because the bottom 2 shelves have items she likes to play with (what's left of our "tupperware" and bags of beans,etc.) Otherwise, all other kitchen cabinets have pots, pans, etc so they are not latched. Just the cleaners are locked up. I hear her push the chairs around in the kitchen LOL. If I don't hear her I do go check. I also have 2 other children at home, so they often keep tabs on her too. I don't overly babyproof, as much as I make the home easy for her to explore and for her to be able to explore/manipulate,etc in a safe environment.

[Skippy918]

Haven't read the book either. I don't tend to leave DS alone much, but even when I try, he'll just follow me to the room I'm in. We do try to keep him out of our bedroom though. since it's not completely childproofed. He loves playing with our alarm clocks.

[Amanda L]

I see nothing wrong with letting babies have a little safe independent exploration time. I have not read CC.

I have baby-proofed the areas I let my son and stepson roam in. I usually know when my son gets quiet exactly what he is up to. But I do find I am much more reluctant to let my stepson out of my sight because I don't know if his tendencies have changed in the two weeks between our visitation weekends. But if you know your child and what they are prone to get into, go for it!

[physmom]

We let DD roam quite a bit. There are some rooms that we'll check up on her more than others. And she's not allowed in the bathroom or kitchen by herself.

We have had one accident because of that, which both DH and are were home and I could even see the back of her (but she was in the other room). She somehow managed to pull a bathroom scale out from underneath her shelves and then subsequently trip on it. We've since removed it from the room and haven't had any problems since.

If we're staying somewhere new (we travel quite a bit) then it depends on the place, how well I know it and what room she is going into.

[j_p_i]

I have not read CC, but our house is a pretty open layout, so I just close the doors to the bathroom and bedrooms and she generally has free roam. I check on her every few minutes if I can't directly see her, but I can almost always see her (just based on the design of the house, she's never far from my view).

[LadyCatherine185]

Have not read CC, but DS pretty much has free reign of the house. I have always hated the idea that babies/kids should be shut into certain places. Like playpens, etc. (Although I may use our unused pack-n-play for baby #2 to keep him safe from DS if I need to ) So we babyproofed to our comfort level and I let DS do his thing. I keep an ear out, of course. He usually stays close to me anyways, and if he doesn't he checks in every few minutes. To me, this is his house too and I want him to feel comfortable in his own home.

[Auraji]

II havent read the book, but I let DD (14m) roam freely around the house. I sometimes put a gate in the kitchen because she likes to go and spill the cat's water and food and has recently discovered the litter box. I also keep the bathrooms locked. We live in a 2 floor townhouse and she usually hangs out in the same floor as I do. I can always hear her, she's extremely vocal, so I usually never worry. She learned how to go up and down the stairs awhile ago and even when she knew how to go up, she would call for me to go get her down.

She basically plays by herself all day, unless she needs my attention or I want to join in an play. It's very important for me to let her explore on her own and learn from experience, rather than from rules. I do keep things that are truly dangerous out of reach and try to redirect when Im around if she's messing up something she shouldn't.

I feel like it has been working for us because when we go visit someone else, she usually finds something safe to play with on her own, like a ball or a cat. The only times that she goes crazy is when we go to a store, we were at Best Buy last night and she kept running around taking all the sales tags of the shelves and rearranging movies, but then again it's Best Buy, there's bright colors, bright lights, music, sound, tvs on everywhere. It was too much stimulation for a kid that never watches tv. I had been earlier in the day at the thrift store and spent like two hours there, she spent all the time, playing hide and seek, playing with a bus, pushing a chair around, dancing and wearing a necklace. I just feel very comfortable from letting her be and I know everyone there at the store and they know us, so I wasn't scared of leaving her out of sight while I tried things on and I could still hear her play.

[Xerxella]

I had not read CC, so I decided to look it up and I really like a lot of it:

http://www.continuum-concept.org/rea...InControl.html

We kinda live like that anyways. But, kids have free reign on the downstairs. DS can open doors, but DD is kept out of the bathroom, overall. I don't know how they keep kids from interupting. DS is constantly interrupting, but then he's constantly talking, so...

Anyways, I also read this article:

http://www.continuum-concept.org/rea...an-nature.html

And, I have to disagree. My daughter would fall down the stairs if I let her do it herself. She thinks she can navigate the stairs and she gets the 1st few by herself, then falls. She tried to walk down them like big brother and mommy. So, overall, I'll let some free reign, but we'll keep the stairs off limits. The one time she did fall was when I wasn't watching and she decided to take the 3 stairs down to the garage by herself.

But, interesting reading. Some great stuff overall.

[blessedwithboys]

I've read CC twice. I don't know another person IRL who has read it. Most of my friend's kids were ok being alone for a bit.

Mine never were.

Go figure. LOL

[blessedmama59]

My daughter, who is 14 mo, basically roams as she pleases. There are many times I'll be in the kitchen and she will be in the living room for a few minutes at a time. For the most part, everything is baby-proofed and I check on her regularly. I haven't read The Continuum Concept yet, but I realllly want to.

[rightkindofme]

Never read CC, but I'm pretty free range. I keep her out of the bathroom and the office purely because I am way too lazy to deal with the clean up issues in those rooms and other than that she has full access. Our 'babyproofing' consisted of wrapping a rubber band around a couple of cabinet handles that we got sick of having to clean over and over.

[Novus]

Haven't read CC yet, but I agree with the PPs that as long as it's baby-proofed to your comfort level, it's fine. DS roams most of the apartment (kitchen, bathrooms, and office are off limits for various reasons.) He frequently plays in his room by himself for 30+ minutes while I'm in the kitchen or living room. I check on him every now & then and he's always within hearing distance, but frequently out of sight.

[scottishmommy]

Nobody knows your child like you do. If you're comfortable with you kid roaming and exploring then it's probably fine. I really feel like attached parents know what's safe and what isn't for their child. I need to keep an eye on dd because she can open doors, she puts everything in her mouth, she pulls everything out of drawers and she climbs everything. She's totally nuts! I get a lot of comments about her risk taking at the park from other parents, because she is such a dare devil. She is by far the most active toddler I have ever seen. That being said, I rarely stop her destructive behaviors. I redirect her if I think she's doing something dangerous, or is going to break something special, but I let her pull everything out of the cupboards and drawers because I think it's good for her to explore. I like to think of myself as a guardian angel who swoops in if something really bad is going to happen.

[lisalu100]

I was more like you are, and still am to a certain extent. I felt that 11 mo DD knew her limits, and would not attempt things that were dangerous. She was 10 ft from me, and in plain view, when she fell down a full flight of stairs. She still totters over to them, and goes to step off, when she should go down on her belly. She was fine, but hasn't learnt from the experience, as I would have expected her to, so I am more cautious now. She fell off the bed last week too - I caught her by the legs. She's just a little dare devil, and while I want to let her roam free, and I certainly push the comfort zones of those around me, she suprises me by the dangerous things she does.