Do you let baby play alone? - Page 2

[Just1More]

Originally Posted by Daffodil 

There are babies who are happy playing alone?  In a separate room from their parents?  Why didn't I get one of those?!

If either of my babies had been content to play alone in another room, I would have let them.

Totally!  My third liked to lay in the bassinet and look around.  And, she liked to sit in the swing.  What?!?!  Babies really DO that?!?!  I remember telling my dh, "I feel like I'm not mothering this one!" My first two had been needy just about every minute of every day, I couldn't imagine.  I just assumed when I saw a baby not being held their parents must have CIO. :bag

I let my babies play some on their own, if they will, but I do like to interact as much as possible.  I think it's good for them.  Actually, baby #4 desperately WANTS down, and she wants to do her own thing.  She's demanded to be down for a long time (4-5 months old?), and really only wants to interact with me if she needs something.  Otherwise, she wants to explore.  My third was more like that, too. 

I will say, though, that I am working really hard to lengthen my 3rd's attention span, and I am deliberately spending more time on the floor with the happy baby to call her attention to things and to encourage her to focus for longer periods of time.  There's just so much going on that their little minds flit from one thing to the next and, I feel, they need help learning to pay attention.  Mostly, I think they are just trying to keep up with the others.  I know that's not exactly what your question was about, but I wanted to throw it out there.

[eclipse]

I was more likely to allow my kids to play alone when they were babies than when they were toddlers. My third child, in particular, was into every.freaking.thing and would destroy a room if I left him for more than a minute or two to pp.

[Adaline'sMama]

Absolutely. She is free to go wherever she wants other than the laundry room (kitty litter and food). None of the doors in our house really shut, so she walks about a lot. I will watch her walk into another room, wait about a minute, and then try to watch her without her noticing that I am watching her. The things she does when no one is watching is freaking adorable. Today I caught her holding a rubber duckie up to her ear and saying "hi". Yesterday I caught her nursing on our bell (one of those bells that you push the button down and it dings for the shopkeeps attention- it totally looks like a nipple )

[arieltron]

yes! I love it when DD plays alone, this is when she discovers new things, for instance about a month ago she started sitting up on her own while playing by herself. I feel comfortable with it, because she will always let me know she is done with playing by herself (she'll either come find me or cry) plus I'm constantly with her, so I feel like she gets plenty of one on one time as well.

[sere234]

I've been thinking about this lately cause I feel like I'm a helicopter mom! I'll leave DS in the next room alone but am a bit uncomfortable doing even that at times. Of course he's crawling, cruising, wanting to walk, and eats EVERYTHING so every other minute he'll fall, attempt to climb something, or eat a stray penny so it's a tricky age. Plus we live in a house in the woods and I NEVER know when an wasp/spider/fly/bug will die near my child and get eaten by him. Or DS will even try to grab a live one. Ick.

So no. My kid is way too fast and wily right now. And he gets bored easily so we move from room to room depending on what needs to get done and not all rooms are equally baby-proofed. :)

[lkvosu]

Originally Posted by Daffodil 

There are babies who are happy playing alone?  In a separate room from their parents?  Why didn't I get one of those?!

Just what I was thinking! Sounds like a problem I'd like to have ;)

[Katico]

I definitely did!  DD has always been very happy to play independently (for which I am SO grateful) and I was perfectly comfortable leaving her in a safe place while I did dishes or whatever else in another room.  I checked on her frequently and always kept an ear on her - if I didn't hear a peep for a minute I would peek in!

[Lemoncello]

I would be comfortable leaving my little guy in a babyproof area of the house to play on his own for a while, if we didn't have a dog! :) Our collie is the sweetest, gentlest creature on earth, and she would never do anything to purposefully harm Josiah. But she is soooo much bigger than he is and has frequently come close to stepping on him just because she wasn't watching where she was going. Plus, she loves to lick his face and hands...and he has taken to pulling her hair every chance he gets. So, um, unless he is in his crib or swing, I really can't leave the room for more than a couple of seconds...and he hasn't even learned to crawl yet! (When he does, the poor dog will be the one who will have to be on the look out! :p )

All that being said, I do let him play on his own, just in the same room I'm in. He loves to just sit on his blanket with his little basket of toys and play by himself while I cook or work on housework. :)

[teraze]

My son is almost 7 months and on the verge of doing everything - can almost crawl, can almost cruise, can almost get himself in a sitting up position.  He's still with me the majority of the time, and if he's not, it's because I've put him in a safe place...the crib...my king with a fun pillow ring (sad to have to end this soon), the floor with blankets...so I can run do a load of laundry or attend to dinner.  Our home isn't quite baby proofed yet, so until we do that definitely not.  Last night, my husband and I were looking at baby products and came across the *coolest* pack and play - it has ten square feet of play space.  While I love my plus one being with me at all times, I think it's important that he play by himself, especially if he's the type that craves a little bit of solitude sometimes (like his momma!).  

So, no, not at the moment.  But if he's amenable, he'll play alone very soon!

[neonalee]

Originally Posted by Daffodil 

There are babies who are happy playing alone?  In a separate room from their parents?  Why didn't I get one of those?!

If either of my babies had been content to play alone in another room, I would have let them.

 

[Mama2Kayla]

I do, but usually not for long. My older kids drop things on the floor or leave a small chokable toys around from time to time. My youngest has an uncanny way of finding them ;)

Most of the time she just crawls my way after a few minutes anyway.

[whozeyermamma]

It's funny, since I posted this it's gotten to the point where I can't let him play alone as much because he's really starting to get into trouble. The other day he was upstairs and he unrolled the entire roll of TP and threw EVERYthing into the tub. Yesterday he was playing in the kitchen - I was in the living room and I went in and he's gone. Turns out he figured out how to push open the screen door and was on the (gated-in) porch, looking like this:

[holz]

I babysat years ago for a family who did this, and always knew I wanted to do it with my own kids- we completely baby-proofed the living room and have it gated in, so that if I have to step out I have no concerns. I don't do it a lot, just because my child doesn't like to let me out of his line of vision, and honestly there's not much for me to do elsewhere. But this morning, for example, he woke up around 3am and would not go back to sleep- so by 4 I just brought him down, plopped him on the floor, and dozed on the couch. Of course it wasn't quality sleep and I was pretty aware of what he was doing. but I was not ready to be any more awake than that.

I think I'd stay in earshot, though- I'll run around the house and gather laundry, but I wouldn't go upstairs and shower while he was in there.

[KTProvi]

I do let my 14-mo-old play alone (mostly bc, like others have said, I have another child, have to cook dinner etc, and have no choice) -- but I really feel like there's no such thing as babyproof.  He wants to crawl up/ on everything, and eat everything.... I feel like I constantly discover him doing something not quite safe.  Yesterday he climbed up on the baseboard heater and was right in front of an open window - he climbed up a bathroom stool and was basically hanging on the sink - he's crawled into the bathroom when the tub was on for my older child..... this child is everywhere.  I find him w random objects in his mouth all the time.  This is with me thinking my house is babyproof.  So yeah, of course we all do it, but I think it's important to keep a close eye on them too.