not sure about play area for 8 month old DD

[asbolutelyfabulous]

My 8 month old DD is about to start crawling any day now. At the moment she sits on a playmat in the lounge, surrounded by her toys. This is getting too small for her now though as she regularly manages to push herself across it and on to the tiled floor. She has bumped her head on the tiles a couple of times.

Basically I want to have a space for her that she can crawl around in that is safe, in case I'm in the bathroom or something and can't watch her for a couple of minutes.

DH thinks we should get her a playpen/travelcot, but I don't think this will give her enough space, and I won't be able to sit in it and play with her.

We have a small spare room that will be hers eventually (she sleeps in her own cot in our room now, and we plan to keep it like this until she's at least 12 months old).

I was thinking of putting carpet down in it or another floor covering, putting all the toys on the floor and basically letting her hsve her run of it. DH though doesn't think it's a good idea because he wants to keep an eye on her while he's gardening or working outside, and won't be able to if she's in the spare room.

Should we go for both ideas? I'd reaaly appreciate it if anyone can provide alternative ideas or suggestions. Thanks.

The way I've always done it is to make sure that the living room is childproofed so that DC can have the run of it. I find that when they are small they want to stay close to you anyway so your DH may find that DD starts to follow him out into the garden and prob won't be happy to stay long playing on her own out of sight.

I have used a travelcot set up in the corner for those times when you need them contained - to answer the door, go to the loo etc, but once they get mobile they don't want to stay and play in there for long.

Re the tiled floor, maybe a large rug would be a good idea?

Once she's crawling, she'll follow you from room to room. She won't want to go and play in another room. You need to make sure the whole area is childsafe really. She won't keep bumping her head all the time, but she will do it a number of times, especially while she's learning to stand, so maybe a bigger or more rugs would be helpful? Though not if they're slipping around.

While our kids were very small, we did most of our gardening in the twilight after bedtime...

We bought 2 of the BabyDan playpens and turned it into a giant playpen, with coloured foam squares on the bottom. We put all DD's toys in there. DD is now 13 months' old, so we don't lock her in it, but we used to. Instead, DH locks himself in there to get some peace while he eats his breakfast. Otherwise DD likes opening and closing the gate and walking in and out of the pen (she waves when she goes in). Its big enough for DH or I to get in there w her, and at the end of each day, all the plastic tat her toys is put back in there. Can't recommend it enough. Obviously the rest of our place is baby-proofed.

i would do both ideas
put her in playpen when ur not able to supervise, when you want to sit & spend some time playing together with toys you can do it in her room?
but you need to make the whole place safe really as she is likley to go everywhere