Please help...this is really worrying me?!

[womba1]

Hi All,
my ds is 13 months old and for the last 2 months, whenever he's placed in his playpen or cot, will sit against the side and bash his back against the bars! He does it with such force that the playpen will invariably end up in the middle of the lounge and when in his cot,it constantly bashes against the wall.

He has now got several unsightly bruises along his spine and i'm worrying that he's going to do himself damage. Is this normal behaviour and does anyone have any ideas as to how we can deter him from doing it?

I don't what is worse...being woken up at 6am by a screaming baby or the constant thud of a cot against a brick wall....can only imagine what it sounds like to the neighbours!!!

Thanks in advance,
Womba x

Don't worry, it is normal and it is a phase. He clearly enjoys the fact that he can move the playpen around and make these wonderful noises. You could move the cot away from the wall so there isn't the reward of the fantastic thudding noise and give him some toys in the cot with buttons to press so he can have the fun of making a noise and maybe not use the playpen for a while to break the habit. If he's not in it, he can't do it. But it isn't a sign of anything wrong IMO. Just a realisation that he can do something rather exciting.

Thank you Aloha, i have moved the cot as far away form the wall as possible, but give him 10 mins in it...and its thudding again!!

It's such a relief to know its just a phase too!

He sounds very fit and strong!

He's certainly that Aloha!!! He's a typical boistrous, bruise covered boy...and i find it amazing that he's only 13 months old!!!

Dread to think what he'll be like when he's walking.....:0

When ds was about 8 - 9 months someone gave us a play table, with a support in the middle for him to stand up in it.

After a couple of weeks, he started using it more like a baby walker, shuffling right across our living room, and on several occaisions getting wedged in the kitchen doorway.

Do you have carpet under the cot? if not, get some non-slip feet for the cot from Lakeland. Might slow him down a bit

Easy, both the playpen and cot stand on carpet...it doesn't seem to stop them moving!!

When he does it in the playpen, its not so bad as the sides are soft but when in the cot,i'm convinced he's going to snap the bars!!

Bless him.....

your neighbours probably just think that you and your dp/dh are having LOTS of fun!!

This has just reminded me that I was able to get springs to put in the ends of the legs of our cot instead of the castors - then they could thump as much as they liked and it hardly moved at all because the springs took the energy (this was on carpet).

We got them in America, may not be available over here, Easy's non-slip feet might do the same thing though.

Thanks for all your messages Mums...and as for the neighbours thinking my dh and i are having lots of fun ninja....we are ..!!!

Will definitely have to give those feet things a go...during his afternoon nap, he moved the cot so much that i couldn't get in his room as he'd blocked the door.

Isn't that the kind of thing he should be doing when he's a randy teenager...???