Am I supposed to be taking 11 month old places?

[Liland]

Forgive me for being a bit dense, I know very few mums or families.

My LO is 11 months old and starting to toddle around. He goes to nursery 3 mornings a week (I'm employed full time from home, fitting the work around him).

Should I be taking him to places with other children regularly? We've never been to a group as he has been fairly immobile until recently (projectile vomiting entire stomach contents several times daily, refusing feeds out of the house). I dont swim, so not tried that, and the local soft play closed recently. We do have parks and a beach.

It’s nice to get them out and about, it doesn’t have to be groups(i never enjoyed them) but at that age they start to enjoy soft play and a visit to the farm and swimming is good(I don’t swim but took all 3 of my dc, you don’t have to swim with them just play with the toys and have a splash), the park if there are swings and smaller equipment, the library is also good and there are often activities for little ones.

He’s at nursery 3 times a week and they don’t play with other children at that age anyway so I wouldn’t worry about needing to go to groups for interaction. The biggest benefit of doing them would be for you to meet other parents. You’ll probably find that as he gets older he will benefit from some fresh air and running around outside- toddlers are for the most part much better behaved if they haven’t been cooped up indoors all day! Soft play can be a decent alternative to get out some energy if the weather is bad but I hate those places so typically avoid them unless we’re invited to a party.

Parks and beach are perfect for toddlers. Swimming is really fun and guarantees a great nap afterwards.

Baby groups can be great places to make friends with other parents and have some support.

But nothing is compulsory.

Great ideas thanks. He has been on the baby swings in the park and loved them, I thought we might go regularly once the weather picks up again. The library is a good shout too - I havent been to our local one before, rather embarrassingly, having moved here 3 years ago! Maybe I should look into swimming, he loves bath time!

I wasnt sure if he was missing out on something he needs for development by not doing these things. Nursery is a great weight off my mind for socialising and getting him used to other people, but he has a massive problem with men as apart from DP (his dad), they all seem to be drs poking at him.

Don't worry it will be much easier when he Is walking independently and you can bring him to the park and let him potter around. He's still quite young.
Never went to one class with my first daughter as she had reflux too and vomited continuously , she is five now with age appropriate social skills .