Playpen and standing

[RosieGirl27]

Hello, I have an 8 month old who has recently learnt how to pull himself up from sitting and walk around either the playpen or the cot. However he is prone to falling as it is all quite new to him. Most of the time I am in the room with him or even in the playpen with him as he likes me in there to play with however I’m not always close enough to catch him and usually I just say whoopsy daisy or something along those lines and smile at him and he gets himself straight back up again but sometimes he seems to hurt himself and cry and I need to pick him up to sooth him. Is it okay for me to leave him in the play pen whilst I make him lunch in the next room or quickly get a bit of housework done? Or should I constantly supervise him just in case he falls. I don’t want him to get hurt or anything but he loves to explore and my living room is not baby safe and cannot be made so as it’s rented. I just want some advice as I don’t want to halt his development but I don’t want him to get hurt.

Is he falling straight backwards or sitting down hard onto his bum? Nursery had this issue with DD at about this age, they used to say she'd fallen down and had a bit of a wail and we were baffled because she never cried if she fell over at home... eventually we worked out that it's because she falls down onto her bum, and at home she's in big thick comfy cloth nappies and at nursery she's in the thin paper ones! So no padding.

I would say, in terms of leaving him alone, i would make sure he's in your eyeline at all times, but i wouldn't hover. There's no point, and he needs to learn!

I leave mine in the play pen for up to 5 minutes whilst I have a quick shower/go to the loo/make a cup of tea/prepare food. I make sure I can hear.

@Ohalrightthen mostly on his bum occasionally flat on his back which is what I’m worried about. I’ve got the squishy mats that slot together that cushion most of his fall. I just don’t want to halt his development. Thank you for your reassurance. @3WildOnes I can always hear him and don’t leave him for longer than 5 minutes but he’s so active. It was so much easier when he was little and I could just put him down and I knew he wouldn’t be the other side of the room if I blinked.