How long could your babies play by themselves

Like I mentioned in another post, I'm lucky to get 25-30 minutes of good play time in the super yard. I usually have to be out of sight. Sometimes it's 5 minutes after I sneak away and the whining starts. I try to let it go and sometimes they continue to play, but a lot of times it turns into all out crying. Today I woke up with a migraine and just prayed they'd be ok for a half hour so I could go lie down. I got 5 minutes before the whining/crying started. It's normally my son, the needier/clingier (separation anxiety) one. And it is often triggered by my daughter climbing all over him and then he gets mad and then he's done being in there and wants mommy. I find myself getting more and more annoyed, because I think he should be learning to play by himself and I'm giving in too much. But then I feel guilty for getting mad. Just wondered what is normal for this age and what others are experiencing. I try to switch toys around, give little totes full of small toys, but it's just the aspect of being confined that I think they don't like.

If I get in with them, they play a little more but usually take turns crawling all over me. Then it gets out of hand so I take them out and they crawl around. They love exploring and then they could care less if I'm around. My son is no longer clingy and whiney. But it's so hard and tiring for me to follow them around. And I'm finding more and more they need constant watching. I watched my daugher pick up the tiniest fuzz ball that a vacuum cleaner wouldn't even touch and proceed to put it in her mouth. The other day she took the end of the door stopper off and was chewing it (I had thought I had gotten all of those, but I guess I missed one). I find them chewing on the rug by the front door - disgusting so I make sure to wash it as often as I can. As I stepped away to clean their highchairs after breakfast for a minute, I found them in the bathroom clinging to the toilet (mental note to keep the door closed from now on!). Anyway, I feel like I'm doing a bad job watching my kids. Even when I'm right there, they still get into everything and make me crazy! Should I be working on getting them used to being contained more in the play yard, or do they need this exploration time (making mommy crazy time) too? Just wondered how you find a happy medium...

 

Mine hated being in the superyard type thing that we had made for them. They couldnt deal with me being out of sight and where we had it built, I was in and out of sight. So, what we did in just put up baby gates in the kitchen and tot locks on all of the cabinets and let them have full roam of the family room and kitchen which are adjoining. That way they had lots of room to explore on their own and could still see me. I could get some computer time and watch them at the same time.

I think the amount of time they can play by themselves will definitely vary baby to baby. Some are just more content. My older DD would give me a minute to myself for years. The boys are much better about it, but I also worked at not being in their face all the time and they seem to like that approach.

 

Over an hour... Don't hate, lol.

 

We have a superyard and we never use it. We used it for our xmas tree and that was it. If I put my two in there the fighting immediately begins or I have 2 babies standing up holding on to the side screaming their hearts out! LOL

When I get up in the morning, (we have an open living room/dining room/kitchen) I close the doors to all the bathrooms and bedrooms. I spread their toys out around the living room like little "stations" and then of course they have their own cupboard in the kitchen too. I do whatever I need to do and they play toys or they come play in their cupboard while im in the kitchen, They crawl around the island and under the table etc. We havent been able to fully baby proof our yet so right now we have duck tape holding our kithen cabinets together so they cant open them up
The only door I have a baby gate across is our laundry room. That allows me to go in there and do laundry and yet they can crawl to the gate and still see me. Not sure if that helps, but thats what we do here.

 

We havent' used a super yard, we don't have the space and have a feeling the boys would hate it if we did LOL
The way our house is set up is working out great. 1 story. I keep all doors but their bedroom shut. They have access to their room, the kitchen and living room. Toys are in their room and living room. They play a bit for one room and crawl off to the other. I don't let them play in the kitchen, it is baby proofed, but they don't need to be there. Their room is totally baby proof. The only way they ever get hurt is when they fight over toys...which is a lot LOL It is a small house. I can hear everything and I can peak around the corner and see them in their room. They will go in there and play sometimes up for an hour. They have gotten really good at playing with each other and toys. Biggest problem we have is Lucas steals every toys Dillon tries to play with. They play better when I am not in the room.

With the bathroom, that door is one that is always shut...but boy if they mange to get in there b/c they come in with me or if the door hasn't been shut good, you would think it was an amusement park LOL They want in there so much LOL

I think exploring is good. Keep doors closed, get baby gates for where you can.

Dillon's favorite thing to do is climb onto a shelf in the kitchen. We turned it around backwards so he couldn't easily get in it, but he figured it out. So I am constantly having to get him down. I could put the gate up in the living room to make my life easier, but I know they need to explore and learn and they have so much fun chasing each other thru the house I can't take that from them. They love to crawl after each other. Who ever is in the front will look back to make sure his brother is still there, laugh and crawl away really fast while his brother chases him.

Dianna

 

Mine could play up to 30-1 hr. by themselves rather frequently. They would not be in a super yard, but a blocked off safe area with tons of toys to play with. GL!

 

used to be an hour, now im lucky to get 30min in. mine arent quite 9 months, at the end of the month they will be though. dd has started the whole crying if someone looks at me thing with strangers so shes been really needy, and she used to be the easy one i could leave for an hour+ oh i hope this stage passes soon!

 

Thanks for the input. I like the ideas of letting them roam around safely, and it makes me to feel better that others do it successfully. Now I have to find a way to block more areas off to keep me sane, without having to buy a gazillion baby gates. The problem is we have a lot of openings and some are pretty wide and would require 3-4 baby gates to close them off. I'd like to keep the superyard we already have in tact, for times when I absolutely need them safe if I have to leave them out of sight. Anyone else have an unusual floor plan that you had to get creative about sectioning it off?

Also, how do you handle cords in view? We have one behind the tv they keep trying to get at. A superyard around the tv would definitely resolve that, but I can't afford that on top of all the other gates we might need...they also love to get under the end table or behind chairs to get to other cords, even though we try to hide them as best we can. Is there anything to help make this more safe, or do you just find a way to block these areas off too? When we got this house, I didn't realize how unfriendly the floor plan would be with children!

Here's some pics
http://i421.photobucket.com/albums/pp300/d...o/P10100067.jpg
(They love crawling to the front door to look out the windows and attemp the stairs that are around the corner. Plus, I guess the rug tastes yummy. I cringe every time they go over there.)

http://i421.photobucket.com/albums/pp300/d...o/P10100077.jpg
(they also make a beeline for the dining room. There's nothing really in there, but I worry about the chairs tipping over or them bumping their head under the table. The opening is kind of wide to block off. Then there's another yummy rug around the corner by the garage door entrance.)

http://i421.photobucket.com/albums/pp300/d...o/P10100117.jpg
(they also love to pull up on the kitchen chairs and play under the table. One actually came down one time, luckily it missed both of them.)

So I'm not sure what to do, short of putting all my furniture in storage!

And here's a picture of the little stinkers
http://i421.photobucket.com/albums/pp300/d...o/P10100026.jpg
And one of my daughter laughing at me for trying to keep her confined and my son saying Not me!
http://i421.photobucket.com/albums/pp300/d...o/P10100057.jpg

 

Mine arent in a superyard but I block off stairs, my room, etc. They actually will play for 2 or more hours without a fuss.. I gues I'm lucky!

 

I let them roam free at my MIL at Christmas and it worked great, unfortunately we have dogs so it's not possible here - I don't trust one of the dogs around them.

I love your house by the way!!! Mine is nowhere as clean because of the dogs... lol. I think you can find plastic encasements to attach the cords on the wall, so they can't get them that way. Honestly seeing the pictures I'd just hide the cords that way and attach the furniture to the wall and let them roam free.

You should see my house... Dogs apart, there are bookshelves full of books and other stuff in reach, cords, entertainment center, lamps they could knock over, and the kitchen is pretty much open shelves - a nightmare!!! If we let the babies roam free we would have to get rid of most of the stuff in the shelves (although I'd like to put bins in there instead for their toys), attach the bookcases to the wall, hide the cords also, and block off the kitchen (no way around that one unfortunately)... but it would mean the dogs would have to spend the day in their crates, so it stinks.

 

Our guys used to play for 45 minute to an hour by themselves in 2 superyards put together while I got things done around the house - like cleaning up and cooking dinner. Then separation anxiety hit and they went bezerk. Now they cry for a few minutes when I first put them in it and then go play, but come and stand at the edge and cry anytime I happen to pass by. But if I stay out of sight they are fine after they get to playing.

Our house is two story, but the whole house is an open design with only columns for support so we have 3 15-20ft span openings downstairs that make it pretty impractical to try to block off. We were also incredibly smart when we built the house and have tile floors thorughout (not good for wobbly walkers, and hard on crawling knees) and lever door handles which they have already figured out they can open simply by grabbing hold of and hanging on (as most of the door swing in.) We also haven't found any lever locks they can't already open in a simliar fashion. So giving them free rein without supervision isn't really an option.

We did buy a metal superyard with extension and rearraged our couches to gate off our living room and they can now play in there. We had to plexiglass off our fireplace and the enterainment center niche (good thing plexiglass comes in 8ft lengths). And we bought boxes that go over all our outlets to keep plugs plugged in and out of reach along with cord keepers (plastic sleves that hid cords). And the really annoying thing to me is that they can see me anywhere I go and stand at the gate and fuss, but as soon as they are in the same space as I am they don't give me a second thought and go off and play by themselves. So I spend a minute or two with them and once they are contendly playing I wander off and most of the time they don't notice for quite some time.

Any time DH is home though we try to let them explore the house on their own. And it is super cute to watch. They do have radar though and frequently point out to us all the things that aren't 100% baby proofed yet (lint balls that come from who knows where, leaves that we track in from outside, cords that have escaped the cord keeper by 1/2 an inch, their diaper changing station, and any items left to close to edge of anything).

Eventually we know we will have to let them out, but until we really get the house baby proofed we will keep them contained in their room, the superyard, or the living room while also letting them roam free when we are home and can keep an eye on them.

 

QUOTE(Fran27 @ Jan 15 2009, 10:16 AM) [snapback]1148214[/snapback]
I love your house by the way!!! Mine is nowhere as clean because of the dogs... lol. I think you can find plastic encasements to attach the cords on the wall, so they can't get them that way. Honestly seeing the pictures I'd just hide the cords that way and attach the furniture to the wall and let them roam free.


thanks!

I'll definitely be looking for those cord things, I think it will help a ton.

 

I am really lucky I suppose My children play for 2 hours or more. The majority of their day is spent in their play room (just another bedroom, used to be office, but we put one desk in our bedroom, and the other desk in the guest bedroom). They love their play room. We have a gate at the door, as that is the ONLY room besides their nursery that is baby proof. We have walls of windows, so I don't really like them in the livingroom... that and our entertainment center is low and they like to climb. So the play room is the safest place to be. My kitchen floor is way too messy, and I don't think I would allow them in there anyways, that's a dangerous place, baby proof or not IMO, same with the bathrooms.

 

QUOTE(beemer @ Jan 15 2009, 10:54 AM) [snapback]1148275[/snapback]
We were also incredibly smart when we built the house and have tile floors thorughout (not good for wobbly walkers, and hard on crawling knees) and lever door handles which they have already figured out they can open simply by grabbing hold of and hanging on (as most of the door swing in.) We also haven't found any lever locks they can't already open in a simliar fashion. So giving them free rein without supervision isn't really an option.


We have those lever door knobs too. Luckily they haven't attempted them yet. Our neighbors are using child proof locks on their lever knobs now and they seem to work good. It had some sort of locking mechanism you had to slide down before you attempt to open the door. I even had trouble figuring it out!

 

If they are in the playyard they may last 5 to 20 mins depending. If I let them roam around they can play up to an hour without a fuss.

 

I babyproofed the livingroom and babygate to the kitchen. The kitchen is somewhat babyproof but I only let them out there for short periods of time and not everyday. It is nice not having them underfoot when I am cooking.

My one girl did go through separation anxiety at about 9 months and it made it hard to leave the room, but it did go away. I did find it came back recently after our Christmas holidays away (13months old now). It really can be trying at times so I feel your pain. I hope it passes soon for you.

Heather

 

We blocked off our steps, locked the cabinets in the kitchen and would just let ours go. They can play together for about 90 minutes. The way our house is set up the first floor is the living room, dining room and then kitchen. It's not a big area, so we never set up a superyard because the space is too small.
Denise, I love your pictures!!! Thanks for sharing them.

 

Here's some pics
http://i421.photobucket.com/albums/pp300/d...o/P10100067.jpg
(They love crawling to the front door to look out the windows and attemp the stairs that are around the corner. Plus, I guess the rug tastes yummy. I cringe every time they go over there.)

Im a very easy going, relaxed parent (or so many others tell me). IMO I would put a gate just across the stairs,let them look out the windows by the front door. Let them chew on the rugs too (just be sure to wash them regularly), the germs that are on the rugs wont hurt them. Im sure if you dont make a big deal out of it they will stop doing it. You could also try divereting their attention when they do chew on the rugs by giving them another chew toy.


http://i421.photobucket.com/albums/pp300/d...o/P10100077.jpg
(they also make a beeline for the dining room. There's nothing really in there, but I worry about the chairs tipping over or them bumping their head under the table. The opening is kind of wide to block off. Then there's another yummy rug around the corner by the garage door entrance.)

If your truly worried about the chairs, open your blinds there and put the backs of all the chairs against the window. They can still play under the table and if they pull up on a chair they will pull on the seat end, the backs will be against a solid surface.

http://i421.photobucket.com/albums/pp300/d...o/P10100117.jpg
(they also love to pull up on the kitchen chairs and play under the table. One actually came down one time, luckily it missed both of them.)

So I'm not sure what to do, short of putting all my furniture in storage!

I try to make things safe but still adult friendly. If there are things they ar doing that I particualy dont like (such a rug chewing) I try to make sure the items are cleaned regularly, give them a distraction/diversion and not make a big deal out of it and hope its just a phase that will soon pass! I think the more you let them explore , even incurring a few bumps and bruises along the way the quicker they will learn what to do and not to do.

 

I think someone already mentioned the cord keeper things. Just make sure you save your receipts. The outlet covers we bought wouldn't work on our outlets (argh).

We have taken to rearranging our furniture to block cords and other hazards. For example, I have an old writing desk of my grandmother's that has a loose leg. There is an outlet underneath it with a lamp plugged in that is usually blocked by a chair. Wouldn't you know, that desk is the one piece of furniture they are obsessed with--probably the most unstable thing in the house. So we're moving it to the living room and moving a chest of drawers that has our dining room table linens in it to cover the outlet so I don't have to get rid of the lamp. It's not the most convenient piece of furniture to have in that spot; but we need the light there or the family room will be too dark. So you might think about whether there are things like that you can do to save a little money on all the crazy expensive baby proofing products.

Good luck--isn't this mobility thing crazy!?!

 

I'm lucky if I get fifteen minutes to myself. My girls start screaming when I'm out of sight. They just turned 9 months yesterday.

I've seen those superyards and would like to pick one up. Which one does everyone have? Can I get one at Babies R Us? The one that I see in E&Msmom's pictures looks like a good one.

Thanks!

 

QUOTE(lovinglife @ Jan 22 2009, 03:45 PM) [snapback]1157805[/snapback]
I'm lucky if I get fifteen minutes to myself. My girls start screaming when I'm out of sight. They just turned 9 months yesterday.

I've seen those superyards and would like to pick one up. Which one does everyone have? Can I get one at Babies R Us? The one that I see in E&Msmom's pictures looks like a good one.

Thanks!


I think you might be referring to the links of my pictures within E&Msmom's response? We have the Super Yard XT. I got it off Amazon, but they have it at BRU as well. It has 6 sides and we also got the extension kit with 2 more pieces. We were only able to use it sporadically with our babies, they didn't like being contained for very long. We recently took it apart and used sections of it to gate of other areas, so now they are contained within a couple baby proofed rooms. They are much happier this way, but still get frustrated of course.

 

Thank you very much Denise!! I need to go out and get one. I'm sure my girls won't like being contained in one area, but it's worth a try.