Nearly 9 month old who is impossible to keep entertained at home!

[chequersmate]

I am getting a bit desperate with my DD.

She's ok out of the house -we got to toddler groups 3 mornings a week and she'll sit and play happily and interact with the other children.

She's happy round the shops, supermarket etc. She just gets totally bored at home.

I can't leave her to play alone with her toys to get on with anything - she just screams after about 2 minutes.

If I play on the floor with her toys she is happy for about...2 minutes, then is bored and screams. If I pick her up and distract her with something she is happy for 2 minutes, then screams...

She sits very well - has no intention of attempting to move. Screams almost the instant you put her on her stomach becoming more and more worked up the longer she is left (don't normally leave her like that but thought I'd see today if it 'grew on her' - it didn't)

So, basically, I can't stay in the house with DD. It is utterly exhausting - I can't keep walking aimlessly round shops and supermarkets just to avoid being at home.

She's always been a bit like this btw - even as a newborn when my friends babies were happy to be on playmats/bouncy chairs just generally left to their own devices she hated it.

Does anyone have ANY tips, please!

Thanks!

My ds is a bit like this, think he likes other people (thankfully he mostly has a big sister around to watch!). He is clinging to my leg playing with my shoelace while I MN

How is she if you carry her?

Is she getting enough sleep? Hungry?

My ds was also like this as a baby, he was only happy if out or being carried. This went on until he could move around and then he was fine. He is now 2.9 and will play on his own happily for ages so it wont last forever.

Sorry no advice but just wanted to let you know your dd is not the only one like this.

Thanks - Umlellala, she loves being carried but she weighs a ton - well over 20 pounds when I got her weighed quite a few weeks ago.

Sleepwise she does 7 til 7 at night, then has two shortish naps in the day, I haven't been able to extend them so figure she's getting enough.

She eats plenty too, so don't think that's the problem.

Buggylovinmummy - I had a feeling you might say she'd be better once she can move around. Trouble is, she's in no hurry to do that!

I do feel for you chequers as i remember how frustrating it is, she sounds just like my ds he was a big boy and didnt start getting about until he was 11 months (think he had too much weight to carry around lol).

my DD was exactly like this
I had to entertain her constantly
I remember ringing up MIL to come round just so I could cook tea
it did get better when she could move around a bit, I think she was just bored
she is 12 now, she is very active, very quick witted and a bit brainy
Ds on the other hand would just sit there and watch the washing machine go round, he is very lazy now, he is 19 now
It is astonishing how very different they are!

Gah! 11 months!!!

I'm so jealous when I hear my friends say something like "oh, I just put him/her in the cot to play with their toys while they have a shower" I'm just at the idea that she would even let me walk out of the room, let alone have a shower!

My DD and my friend's DD both have a jumperoo bouncer thing - I said to my friend "she won't play in it for very long any more" (by that I mean, 2 minute".

"No, neither will my DD anymore" she said "she'll only go in it for half an hour now"

My parents and in-laws both live 100 plus miles away!

No wonder my house is a hovel!

My DD2 was like this, bit of a shock as DD1 would happily sit in bouncy chair or amuse herself with toys from an early age. It used to drive me mad at times especially as I still have DD1 at home as well so can't dedicate my day to soley making sure DD2 was happy.

DD2 would just scream the moment you moved more than about 3 inches from her. She did get better when she started moving about at around 11 months and now can amuse herself for much longer periods.

Sorry!!!!! I,m not helping am i

I also have a dd who is 6 and she was rolling over at 3.5 months,sitting at 5 months, crawling at 6 months and walking at 11 months so it was quite strange for me when ds didnt even roll over til 8 months and crawled at 11 months but although he was slow at all this he walked a week after his 1st birthday so your dd may just suddenly start moving about and then im sure she will be much happier.

And just ignore your friends just say well my baby loves me so much she cant bear to be without me

Thanks everyone.

She's just woken up.

She's on the floor while I wave a muslin over her head so I can carry on MNetting.

Oh she'll def perk up when she can move. Mine has been significantly less frustrated since 7mths or so when he could crawl properly. Of course, then I had the 'oops, he's just trapped his fingers/pulled tea on him/crawled into the fireplace' issues. Calming down now... Dd was exactly the same (though better at entertaining herself earlier iirc). Ds is a big 'un too, but I try to carry whenever he wants... much happier all round then (use the Ergo if desperate to get on with things).

Think it is prob a frustration thing. Which does get better. And quickly.

V of 7 til 7 sleeping...

Another vote for movement! DS2 was like this but now he can move he is much better. He was completely stationary until 10 months and still refuses to go on his tummy (he just walked). I found that DS2 was easier to deal with if I had a nursery rhymes cd on. He refused to watch tv, but DS1 loved baby einstein at that age - maybe give that a try? Also kneebouncers.com was a big hit with both of them.

For books, I found I could entertain DS1 for ages (well about 10 minutes!) with the baby touch series from ladybird.

If you have loads of space, you could get a bouncer. WE had a fisher price jungle.

My DS is exactly the same - he's nine months, sleeps twice a day for about 45 mins and needs constant entertainment. We have bought a fisher price rainforrest jumper and he will stay in it for about 20 mins - enough time to put something in the oven, unload the dishwasher and make a coffee!

Thanks everyone, we've got the jumperoo, she's bored of it, cries almost the instant she gets in it now!

Also got the baby touch books, bored of those too!!

She won't watch TV either. Sigh.

I'll try baby einstein though, thanks for the tips.

my 5 month old is similar. i punt him about in a carrier doing chores one handed and talking him through them! sometimes let him cry a while. sounds like she just wants you!

Urgh, my DD is exactly the same. In fact I can remember her chucking a paddy in the maternity hospital, and the nurse suggesting that she was bored and needed to be walked up and down the corridors - lo and behold, she stopped screaming immediately, so even at two days old she wanted to be walked about.

The only consolation is that the ten-mile walks we used to go on every day while she was in her pram did get the baby weight off fairly quickly.

Have you tried music? DD is not interested in telly but will groove away in front of the stereo in her inept little toddler way. She is particularly partial to gangsta rap and the Talking Heads

Do you have a pet? I am not a fan of dogs but she loves them so I am considering getting one just to keep her occupied.

Ninedragons - DD has always been like it too - had to get a baby swing when she was tiny just so I could eat dinner without holding her.

I will try music.

Yep, we have a dog, she LOVES the dog - I always wheel her in for particular crotchety moments.

Currently doing 1.5 hour walks every morning, which at least the dog is enjoying!

I can't tell from the messages so far if you've already tried this, but mine will happily jump up and down for up to an hour in one of those door bouncer things - tippietoes I think it is. It's the ONLY thing she'll do however, and obviously you can't leave her to have a shower, but you can watch her whilst you do kitchen chores.

Thanks thisismyfirst - the jumperoo is a bouncer - it's just in a frame rather than a door (we don't have suitable door frames for a door hanging one, but it's the same principle, except more stimulating I guess as it also has toys on it).

She's bored of it - cries almost as soon as I put her in it now.

Mine was the same he is 8 months now and is more mobile now so is less frustrated and bored, though still has his moments, i could see my DP's face when he get in from work and the house looked like it had when he had left it, just worse mess maybe!! but i really couldn't do anything without the whinging starting. its better now. he has a walker thingy with wheels (?) and i hang the peg bag up for him to empty on to floor, seems to entertain him ( please no-one tell me pegs are dangerous!!) also he LOVES the dog too and, yes, i use the dog at particularly stressful moments too ( not sure the dog loves the baby mind, esp now he got wheels...) but the other thing was hunger i think, i am still bf but he is on 3 meals a day now (BLW) and i give him a snack mid morning and mid afternoon, which also seems to keep him entertained, nothing he can eat too quick, just rice cakes or breadsticks or something that takes a while and gives him something to do, and is def less crotchty so i think he was hungry too. he is still eating all his meals so i feel like he does need those snacks.

I feel for you as I know exactly what its like. My ds sounds exactly like yours (makes me wonder if its a boy thing!) and I spent as much of my time out of the house as I possibly could. Wandering around supermarkets, garden centres, baby groups etc..
I have to say that things didnt improve when he crawled but they did get better when he walked. I have come to the conclusion that he is simply bored and frustrated - even now I dont spend much time at home because its so much easier to amuse him at the park. Things will get better because when they can walk there is so much more they can do. I used to think I was the only person in the world with a baby like this as all my friends seemed to have content and happy children (and still do).

Sorry its not much help but when I was in your position I just used to keep going out and doing whatever made the day easier!

Its hard work with a high imput child. My DS is very high imput and like a previous writer needed stimulus in the form of new sights before he left hospital. By the time he was 6 months we were using toys for about 1 year old. by the time he was a year he was playing with 3 year old toys.

Try uping the development level of the stimulus but make sure it is safe. try a plastic spoon and pot and teach the principle of banging (not good on head but good coordination skill and a challenge) we had a push button winnie the pooh phone thing that made noises and sung (it think it was supposed to be educational and teach colours but it broken before that stage) Ball pool balls were another favourite. can be piled around child sat on floor and rolled and batted (and thrown) as child sees fit plus bonus of many so no need to move to get.

it does get better. once they get moving they don't want you around so they can do exactly want they want (but do you want them to be doing it is always the question)

Going through a similar thing with 10 month grandson, he won't let my daughter (or me, if I'm with them) out of his sight for even a few seconds without screaming, she has to get stuff done around the house and it's so draining and upsetting that he cries all the time, he's standing up constantly holding onto things, won't sit at all, not interested in crawling, just hoping the walking kicks in soon and he might be less clingy, he was such an independent little thing a while ago, played happily alone for periods of time, but it's all changed recently and it's breaking my heart!

My DD is the same (8 months). She got a lot happier once she started crawling and she loves chasing our cats.

I'm really feeling it today as we've both had the runs all bank hol weekend and are stuck in the house