Hardest things about parenting a 12-18 month

[Sleepyhoglet]

I am going back to work when dd is 14 months old and although I know it will be hard, I'm wondering what bits about having a 12-18 month have been the hardest. My dh will be doing most of the childcare so I'm interested for him. I've loved the stages so far, I suppose because she doesn't move when I put her down! I think the stage when she is crawling will be hard. I suppose he can take her to pettig zoos and attempt craft... I really have no idea!

The hardest thing they have no sense of danger and Is likely to be crawling climbing walking then running during that stage. He'll need eyes in the back of his head as she will want to explore all her surroundings

Mine is obsessed with emptying the cupboards and trying to climb over the back of the sof a! Apart from that he does entertain himself well for a good amount of time and now he can walk gets much less frustrated. I find this a lovely age and is easier than the first year as he naps reliably and you can go places and he's interested in things he sees. He spends ages looking out of our living room window waving at the people walking by! tbh I don't do much in the way of crafts with him, iirc my other dc were about 3 before I braved that! we mainly hang out in the garden, go to park or swimming .

Watching just to see what I can look forward to. Ds is almost 8 months and it's getting harder. He's crawling, rolling, pulling himself to stand so I literally can't leave him anywhere on his own like I could before!

I have a nearly 3 year old and my husband and I agree that the 12 to 18 month age was the hardest stage so far. Our son walked a couple of weeks after his first birthday but he literally stood up and walked confidently and could walk miles straight away. He had no sense of danger and he was a climber. You couldn't take your eyes off him for a second, we had to supervise every waking second and getting jobs done like showering or washing up etc was near impossible. He spent his whole time emptying cupboards climbing furniture etc so it was really hard to relax for a second while he was awake (thankfully he was a good sleeper!) Now he is approaching 3 we are loving that you can trust him a bit more and we can do things like let me play in the sitting room while we sit in the dining room drinking gin in the early evening while he potters in and out.

DS is 16 months and is an accident trying to happen all of the time. It feels like he's constantly trying to top himself. As pp said they are perfectly able to get around/climb etc but don't have any sense of danger so you have to be all over them/know how to stem bleeding.
Tantrums have started which is hard as they are old enough for tantrums but "discipline" doesn't really work yet. It's knackering as they need so much more attention and entertaining than when they're really little.
Teething with molars is crap.
On the plus side though, they're so funny, learning how to talk, sleep much better.......erm...... more plus sides........they're still cute!!

I found 6-12 months harder , after then they begin to focus more on toys or just playing in the curtains! Also they get a few words , or noises !so you can understand what they want. Hopefully they sleep a bit better too so you have more energy! Make life a bit easier by putting up baby gates and making the main room safe so you don't have to watch them every second . Teaching them to play independently gives you some freedom to get housework done or rwatch TV ! now my dc is walking he follows me about like my shadow as I clean up!

Agree with Florin. 12-18 months was the hardest time. The novelty (where you're floating on a cloud of mummy happiness) has worn off, you're sleep deprived still (even if they're good sleepers, most babies in my experience are early wakers) and they start to move. They won't go in the pram / pushchair without a battle, they're into everything, emptying cupboards, climbing, running away the minute you turn your back, getting more vocal. Remember trying to devise a way I could get 12 month old twins safely out of a car when they were walking, going to the park when they seemed to have developed a sixth sense every time I was momentarily distracted and would run off in opposite directions. Then combine it with going back to work (in my case when they were 14 months), the realisation that none of your work clothes fit or is that just me?, getting them used to childcare (nursery), trying desperately to keep them awake on the 10 minute drive home or else they'd never go to sleep at night. Having to do the whole bed time routine after a full day at work, then have dinner, then pack their bags for nursery the next day, lay out all of their clothes in the hope that you wouldn't be late for work the next day (because one of them would need their nappy changing the moment you were ready to leave). The list goes on.

But actually, for all of that, it was a lovely age . They are super cute. It was just bl00dy hard!

Hard stuff...teething, fussiness with food, into everything, tantrums about silly things, obsession with Peppa Pig!

Good stuff...learning to talk is so cute and so much fun, watching their amazement at every day things that we just take for granted, better sleeping, better understanding and ability to follow instructions.

I disagree with many people here, in that I'm finding 12-18 months the best age! I hated the first 6 months (breast feeding agony, no sleep, crying crying crying), tolerated the second 6 months (feeding better, weaning fun but otherwise still felt very 'alone' when with dd), but now I finally understand why people enjoy this motherhood malarkey! Dd is an absolute riot, exploring everywhere and starting to talk, laughing and interacting and communicating clearly. She can feed herself without covering the floor in food, she can sleep through the night (mostly), she can communicate to me what she wants through signs, words and gestures. She can entertain herself for hours with the tiniest things, the world is her science experiment. She occasionally has cute little tantrums but hasn't hit full on toddler attitude yet. I honestly can't think of anything hard about this age!

Dd 15 months btw

I found 15-24 months the hardest. My DS entered a biting stage and everything was a battle. It was a frustrating time where he didn't quite have the language but had strong opinions.

I found 18-24 the hardest

My DD is 2.3 and with every stage I've thought it's the best yet

As a baby, my DD was never happy being put down to play: I think she felt a combination of anxiety and frustration through babyhood. Each stage seems to have eased that a bit: crawling at 6 months and walking at 11 months both opened up her world, and in both cases she was suddenly much happier, and parenting was easier because I could let her tootle around and entertain herself.

Baby proofing wasn't terribly difficult, because it didn't happen that suddenly (in both cases speed and distance started low and increased slowly over time) so we were able to move things as we saw the dangers. I was never able to leave her for more than a couple of minutes, so I didn't find the need for watchfulness too onerous - perhaps if your baby currently tolerates you going to make a cup of tea / have a shower without her, you'll find it more of a shock!

In terms of activities, we started drawing at about 12 months and painting at 18 months. She's only started getting really interested in art from about 2 though,and now we paint most days. Baking also started becoming interesting rather than damage limitation at about 2.

Petting zoos and excursions to gardens are definitely a nice thing to do from about 12 months - and will be easier when she can walk confidently. Garden centres are also nice, especially if they have fish. I think playgrounds came into their own for us at about 18 months, although we started at about 12 months and I know some people start earlier (perhaps just swings). One of my friends was very adventurous and went all over the place and visited museums pretty much from the start. I found that got much easier at about 2: that seemed to be when DD started getting excited about things like going on trains, seeing different places, having her face painted at a festival etc.

I think 12-18 months is very much a continuation of the first year, where you meet friends and let the babies roll around together, go on short trips to the shops and library, maybe some baby classes if that's your thing, and lots of picnics in the summer. Your DH will have a lovely time,and it's fab that he will get to do that since often only mums get to. You could start introducing him to your mum friends, since I think that having a nice circle of friends to share the days with makes a huge difference.

As lots of others have said, I think it is the most exhausting age as I could not blink without dd trying to kill herself. However, seeing her personality develop was lovely. (I think the toughest age was when they were just unable to crawl and frustrated/bored and around 2 when the tantrums start but they haven't developed the ability to communicate what is wrong or listen to reason.)

Lack of being able to understand/communicate with him effectively for me. It made for some extremely trying, stress filled exhausting months.

The hardest parts for me are:

Being into EVERYTHING. Can't seem to be able to walk past a cupboard without wanting to open it and empty the contents out.

Not being able to effectively communicate a lot of the time, so lots of frustration on both mine and her part.

Her wanting to walk everywhere, often without being willing to hold hands, resulting in tantrums if I insist on hand holding, or heaven forbid, I actually dare pick her up and carry her!

But having said all that, whilst I'm finding it one of the most exhausting stages yet (she is coming up 18 months), she is developing such a lovely little personality and character, and I love seeing her grow up and change so much.

I nanny a 16 month old who walked from 9 months. The 12 - 18 month stage is great.

I love that we can go out and do things that she enjoys playground, feed the ducks, go to groups, paint, see friends.

Things that are hard; dropping the morning nap - done usually around 12 months - you have to juggle a tired baby and a ery early lunch time for a few days/weeks before you get into the new routine. The first set of molars coming through. The determination that they can do it - feed self, walk the whole way to town, climb equipment at the playground etc. The start of the tantrums [see last reason "I can do it"] the start of attitude when you ask them to do something/say please etc. Separation anxiety.

But it's definitely 1 of my favourite stage - was a 1-2 room leader for several years so I've done it before and still like it.