Tips to wear out spaniel baby

[Paaseitjes]

I've got an 11 month old spaniel baby who can crawl, cruise and climb, but not yet walk. He only sleeps if he's crawled round and round the giant playground for an hour. The weather's only good enough to let a crawler do that every few days, otherwise there are just too many puddles. We walk to the shop every day, so exercise will be easy when he can walk and we'll get him a balance bike, but in the meantime I need to think of more exercise methods! We only have a small living room but are open to buying stuff if it will be used for a few years, we take him swimming at the weekend and there's no softplay in our town (plus that everyday would bankrupt me!) He goes to nursery twice a week. Any ideas? I did consider a trip to the pet shops for enrichment toys...

I have never heard this way of describing a baby. I assumed you meant a puppy!
You could make him things to climb on in your house put of sofa cushions on the floor. You can make a slope or a mountain or an assault course.
If you have space you could buy a small plastic slide for indoors. I think you can get fold up ones.
Have you tried a door bouncer?

How about a playgroup to tire him out? They are usually in church halls and are relatively cheap and would let him crawl indoors.

He will be running soon though so make the most of him not being too fast.

Softplay is the answer I'm afraid. Shop around for one that's not too pricey or look into a membership.

Sometimes you can find places like farms or other attractions that also have softplay. They often offer a season pass type thing and then you have the animals/other activities as well. It's a big outlay but honestly worth it!

Swimming is also great, it doesn't have to be only at the weekends. Again, look at membership of a gym/leisure centre where they'll often have swimming and softplay (plus sometimes a crèche).

Playgroups are another good shout. They often have a bouncy castle/little bit of stuff to climb on. Plus the mental stimulation of other kids etc.

Otherwise just take him to places he can crawl round at...libraries, museums etc.

If all else fails at home you can use sofa cushions etc to make a climbing zone/softplay area. Can he climb the stairs? This is a good energy burn.

spaniel baby? what is that?

A pikler triangle might be worth a try?

Also a fleece lined puddle suit?

You've got years of telling them to be quiet and to sit still. Enjoy it while you can!

I thought you meant a dog too!

Stairs. Stairs are basically a climbing frame for crawlers.

Our leisure centre used to do a thing called bounce about where they put out loads of mats and foam blocks in a gym hall. Can yo find anything like that?

Social stuff should also use his brain and tire him out so things like library song time might feel like hard work for you but still help him sleep.

I think with mine being chronically overtired was a large part of the problem. I used to put him in the buggy and walk til he fell asleep, then find a bench to sit down on myself. When he stirred, start walking again to put him back to sleep. But maybe by 11m that sort of thing doesn't work so well.

Spaniel baby: a little bundle of energy who chases the robot vacuum cleaner, bites my toes and never stops moving

I'm not in the UK. Where I am, most women go back to work (part time) at 3 months, which means there's very little in the way of playgroups or socialising for parents. That's what you pay nursery for. I haven't worked out what other families do in the rain, although if my day off coinsides with a friend's we do play dates. It's a vicious circle: parental leave is so boring every one goes back to work making leave even more boring! I use the remainder of my leave to work 3 days.

An assault course is a good shout. He's going to work climbing on the table out himself anyway, so encouragement isn't going to make that much difference. We don't have a car, but I guess bus fare and entry to the swimming pool in the rain are worth it if we get to sleep! He's still a bit inclined to eat books so the library is dangerous.

He likes the IKEA step stool and we have IGLU blocks, so maybe this is next. I might give the chairs and coffee table a try first.

He has a puddle suit, but it's not quite up to actively crawling through puddles when he's not big enough for wellies! He's a bit small for his age, I think because he moves too much and burns off so much energy despite eating 4 good meals a day.

I'm starting to consider setting up a playgroup, although I'm not sure I can cope with the extra commitment besides work.