Find playing with 12 month old boring

[Meredithgrey1]

At the risk of being flamed, does anyone else find looking after their baby/toddler incredibly boring? DD is 1 in a couple of weeks and I just get so bored. She wants to crawl and explore but seems too young for any actual playing so I just sort of let her crawl around but then feel bad for not being more engaging and coming up with different activities. But then she doesn't really care if I do try and play with her. What do people actually do with babies at this age?

I have a 3 month old who is just about happy to lay under the play gym. I do tummy time, sit him up with cushions around him, but its so dull.

Honestly if she entertains herself that’s great. Don’t feel like you need to be engaging her all the time. You will regret it when they’re five and you still can’t get a cup of tea in peace :)

Just make sure her space is safe (you can read up on “yes spaces”), put some interesting things in front of her and then get on with whatever you want to do while occasionally chatting to her.

I don’t think I ever really played with DD when she was that age! I tickled her and sang songs with actions etc but most of the time she just did her own thing and was perfectly happy. Now she’s 18 months there’s been a noticeable shift and we do play dough,crayons, duplo,tea parties and making dens etc but tbh I still find it boring after 5 minutes as the play is very limited

My DD is 10 months, I sort of feel the same as you OP, however she is really happy to just crawl around/climb and play by herself. I just put a rug down and set some toys out for her and I’ll usually just sit with a cup of tea on the floor with her. She’s happy as long as I’m nearby but more than happy to play by herself. A couple of times I’ve actually tried to engage with her and she’s crawled off! As long as you’re around and interacting a bit, I wouldn’t worry too much.

I do the same with my one year old. The living room and her room are totally baby proofed and she just cruises around looking at stuff. We put a bit of household tat in her treasure baskets, which she looks at, but mostly she just crawls about. She likes to pull things off the shelf in her room and inspect them. Keeps her entertained for ages!

You can look up baby sensory and gymbaroo videos that will give you activities you can do.

Yeah...it’s dull. Mine is 14 months and it’s a little better now than a couple of months ago - she now brings me books/toys which I assume she wants me to play with her with, but mostly she just plays by herself. Half an hour or so or a few 5 minute sessions a day yes, lovely, but 10 hours a day+ as it’s been over lockdown...dull.

I actually find the toddler playing more mind numbing- the same activity 6000 x or 30seconds on 20 diff activities to try and fill 8hrs of the day.

Thank you for posting this. I've been feeling so guilty about not wanting/thinking it's incredibly boring to play with my 9 month old. I really thought I was on my own. All DD wants to do is stand and walk around holding my hands. There's only so much of that I can take day after day. She'll bat at her toys every now and then, but she's not as interested in them as she once was.

Recently I've taken to putting her in her pushchair and getting out of the house just for a change in scenery. Even if it's just for quarter of an hour every few days. It's something to alleviate the tedium. I can't wait for baby groups to start up again. I'll never take them for granted again.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers I have been feeling very similar with my 22 month old - there's honestly only so many times I can press the doorbell on the toy house before I go stir crazy or look at the same page in one particular book 😳😳