When did your LO start beig able to play by themselves?

[BotBotticelli]

Ds1 is 11mo and seems to want me to constantly either play with his toys on the floor with him, or to hold his fingers whilst he 'walks' round the house.

If I try to get on with anything else (chores or making phone calls about trying to sell out house for example) he starts moaning and grizzling, quickly accelerating into full on tears, throwing toys in frustration etc.

So I am spending most of my days crawling around with him on the floor. And otherwise he is attached to my hip.

Is this normal? Should I just roll with it cos it's what he needs at the moment? Or am I creating a problem for the future where he won't ever play by himself?? I try to leave him, I really do, but he quickly becomes really grumpy.

Will it get easier once he can walk?? Although he crawls well so not sure what difference walking will make?

My son is 7m and we've been in a similar situation where he has literally needed me to be about 6" away from him all the time. Doesn't necessarily want me to play with him but just wants me within reaching distance.

I've started to sit a bit further away from him so I can get on with emails/knitting/etc while he carries on playing on his own. He can still get very upset if I leave the room but it's better than it was. It had got to the point about a month ago where he would start crying if I even turned my back on him in the same room. All I've done is to keep talking to him all the time, and if I go out the room I come back in after a minute (even if he isn't upset) to show him that people always come back! I can just about manage to bring all his various bits into the lounge for bathtime without him kicking off now!

I had success with a treasure basket early on - approx 4 months. I can now present a toy in the treasure box that will keep DD engaged (without me) for 10 minutes or so. She only gets that toy once a day. She has shown some transference of this skill to the toys that are on the shelf.

I do toy rotation so she gets a new set of toys once a week. I have boxes in the garage so I swap a box every Sun evening. There are approx 20 things in each box - toys, books, playsilks, jigsaws and random stuff (e.g. a milk carton, a butter tub, a coffee can, a spice jar, some pegs, a whisk, etc).

My seven month old ds will play by self for short periods. I have no idea of what is normal, but I would guess that it is just normal variance that some kids like having their mums around all the time.

Bot... I don't see what is wrong with him being grumpy for a bit as he is controlling you at the moment. I think when they walk on their own and don't need you to help with walking you get some respite and they can choose their own toys and can get more enjoyment from them. Does he have any other adults he is left with? If so, how does he cope? My DD2 was clingy and in the end she did a couple of sessions at nursery each week so I could get a few jobs done whilst other DD was at school. It was a struggle as she did get upset when left but was ok soon after. She was 2 when she started nursery but had been with a babysitter occasionally before that when she cried all the time apparently. We decided we had to get out though and paid the babysitter well! I never had any issues like this with DD1 so coping with DD2 was stressful and, I'm afraid, I really resented it because I felt trapped. It does pass though but, for my own sanity, I had to have time away from her. Interestingly the children I know now who are extra clingy are all boys. Mums seem more inclined to bow to their every wish whilst the girls get on with playing. Several boys I know are real pains in the backside as all they do is whinge and behave like babies, even at 9 years old.