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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

DS can climb onto the sofa [shock] please help nerves frazzled

18 replies

mindalina · 27/10/2007 09:13

He's 9 months, and is quite an adept little cruiser (is that the right word? ambles round the living room clinging to things for dear life). Last week I caught him trying to climb onto a shapesorter to get in the toybox , and yesterday I was pottering about doing nothing much in particular, and I happened to glance round at him to see he'd plonked himself on the sofa and had a very smug smile on.

I've tried to show him how to slide off backwards onto his feet, but I'm fighting a losing battle there as he thinks it's a great wheeze to slide off headfirst instead.

What can I do to either stop him climbing up there or to show him how to get down safely? There must be something because my nerves can't take this terrorising.
[desperate emoticon]

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

peskipixie · 27/10/2007 09:17

you just have to persevere with trying to show him and him ignoring you. he will get it eventually. ds1 was a late crawler, i got used to sitting him on the floor and him not moving. one day i turned round and he was gone out of the room (literally took seconds), i ran to find him an he was half way up the stairs! pesky little thing

do you have a travel cot you could put him in if you need to loeave him for a minute?

serenity · 27/10/2007 09:20

well, you can either

a, leave him be, and hope a few bumps makes him reconsider the head first approach, or

b, get used to putting a quilt or blanket on the floor in the 'danger zone' for the forseeable future (well not that long in the grand scheme of things, but YKWIM )

It was in times like these that I used my favourite mantra, usually combined with a nice cup of tea....

They Won't Be Doing This When They're 18 (But If They Are, They Can Leave)

Original poster

mindalina · 27/10/2007 09:35

No, no travel cot. To be honest our flat is so small leaving the room isn't really a problem, you can still see him! Thank god no stairs here! I think it's when I'm in the room but not watching him iyswim, I can hear him mumbling away so I know he's ok, I just don't where he is!

Is he likely to really hurt himself going headfirst though? I have a tendancy to catastrophise, so I just imagine finding him with a broken neck Sorry for being morbid. Little bumps I can cope with though.

I'll put pillows down for now, and keep trying to show him the backwards way. It's really difficult, I'm really crap at finding the balance between keeping him safe and not having to get up every thirty seconds to move him from a potentially painful situation!

A cup of tea, then!

OP posts:

colditz · 27/10/2007 09:39

Once he's bumped himself a few times, he will stop it. ntil then, he will carry on. Pain is a learning tool, unfortunately, and some chi,ldren don't learn until they hurt themselves

slim22 · 27/10/2007 09:59

I guess you just graduated to toddlermum.....you'll have to get used to these constant heartstopping moments!

You can't really restrain them, you just have to watch constantly, make the environement as safe as possible and give lots of cuddles when little accidents happen.
Live and learn. But NEVER leave him alone in a room, not for 5 seconds.

When he was about 18 months, I once popped into the kitchen to get water with the door open....in full view of the staircase and living and within a few seconds of hving my back turned he had climbed nearly all the stairs.

Good luck ( I'm exhausted just talking about this!)

VeniVidiVickiQV · 27/10/2007 10:02

Absolutely nothing I'm afraid

Instead, spend your time and energy developing an keen sense of foresight and expectancy......

Trust me on this...

Original poster

mindalina · 27/10/2007 10:23

Oh dear... We've got quite a big living room so we babyproofed a large part of it and fenced off the less safe area, but it now seems like there's no such thing as babyproof! I'm glad we live in a flat with no stairs though, I shall be grateful for small mercies. And at least this new climbing excitement has distracted from trying to eat the hoover.

So... roughly how long does it take a baby to work out that diving headfirst hurts and its best not to do it? Go on, be nice, tell me it's not long...

OP posts:

annoyingdevil · 27/10/2007 10:39

Agree with the 'nothing' approach. He'll soon learn to come down safely. Assuming you haven't got a stone floor - a few bumps won't do him any harm

Ineedacleaner · 27/10/2007 10:39

My DS has been climbing like a monkey since before he could cruise the furniture properly. I can totally ampathise with those heart stopping moments as I have an 18 month old who almost always has a visible bump on his forehead from when he has got ambition and ability mixed up.

I thought as he got a little older and got a little more able that it would get easier but alas it hasn't he now just looks for new challenges. The one thing that has changed is I am a bit less jumpy about it, ok he has a tumble every now and then but I do as much as I can to make sure they are as harmless as possible. IT is exhausting though I have to admit.

I would love to say that he has now grown out the head first dive thing and mostly he has he goes up and down stairs, on/off the furniture but there is the odd time where the deliberate head dive rears it's head just for the fun of it.

peskipixie · 27/10/2007 10:41

well ds2 is 7 and no sign of stopping yet. dh is 46.........

{hgrin]

peskipixie · 27/10/2007 10:41

grrrr

omeN666 · 27/10/2007 10:43

Cant do anything..just let them learn and be on hand with cool pad for bumps..lol
I have a 9mth old who has started walking this week cue lots of bumps and tumbles, more so as my 4yr old and 22mth old try to 'help' her. DD2 has fallen down the stairs, off dd1s bed, the couch etc etc etc because she can slimb on them. Without eyes in the back of my head or keeping her caged there is not a lot I can do. My other 2 learnt in the same way.

slim22 · 27/10/2007 10:45

at deliberate head first dive

It does get better around 2ish....but there will always be new challenges.....and then comes the "Idareyoutostopme" attitide!
My DS 3.5 now goes on top of edge of sofa and proudly shows us how to balance and walk on the edge .............what can I say, I'm the one who's taking him to little gym ater all!

MarsLady · 27/10/2007 10:49

Just keep turning him around and saying bottoms first. They get it eventually! Then they leap off of tall objects........ lol

Original poster

mindalina · 27/10/2007 10:51

2? That's it, he's going to live with my mother. My nerves can't take this, I'm supposed to be reducing my anxiety levels

at slim22's 3.5yo - that would give me heart attacks I swear. Omen I have a friend who reckons I've got a month max until ds will be able to let go of the sofa - I'm terrified. Tell me your dd hasn't hurt herself badly?

OP posts:

Smithagain · 27/10/2007 17:35

Both my DDs have been climbers. The best advice I had was take a step back, WATCH them climb, without interfering. You will probably see that they very, very rarely attempt something they are not actually capable of.

Of course, kids do hurt themselves and nothing is guaranteed. But I'm convinced they hurt themselves less when grown-ups avoid interfering and let them learn how to do it properly.

And in the meantime, pad anything that is really risky in the vicinity of the sofa. And try and get used to it. DD2 still loves the diving-head-first-off-the-sofa game and she is 2.3 She hasn't hurt herself yet.

Anabellesmumanddad · 30/10/2007 04:45

our little girl used to head-dive off the couch as well. preferably straight on to the dog! We started teaching her to go down backwards and she got the hang of it, especially since we made a big fuss every time she got it right. Its a way for kids to discover how their body works, where it begins and ends. we also stopped fussing when she head-dove, so ignored it and just repeated her name and 'backwards'.

bossybritches · 30/10/2007 06:50

CHildren bounce quite well I've found....

it's the mums who have heart failure!!!!

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