Taking Care of an Active Baby

[Hjrk]

Hi there, I'm a FTM of a 7 month old baby boy. DH and I love our son a lot - he's such a cute baby, but we're just looking for advice. Since this is our first baby, we're wondering whether he'd be more active than average. I remember getting comments during scans even in pregnancy that he's an active baby. From around 3 months he was able to move around in circles on his back on his playmat and then he started to turn from back to tummy and tummy to back also at 3 months. He then started shuffling around on his belly at 5 months and ever since then he's been crawling on his belly and he's getting faster and faster 😅 Also, he's starting to raise himself up on his knees, so he's preparing to proper crawl. We live in a small apartment and it's hard, because we can't let him crawl around everywhere as it's dangerous. We can't move a lot of things as there's just no space for it. He's growing out of his bouncer and Tiny Love rocker napper, so there aren't many places we can place him safely. We have a playpen and this would be a perfect place for him to play, but he hates it - the moment we put him in it he yells and he's very persistent, so he could keep it up for ages. We also try to fence in a safe area on the floor for him to play on and move around on, but he hates being fenced in. He doesn't like sitting for long either as he wants to be on the move a lot and usually wants to touch everything that he shouldn't be touching 😅 I'm glad he's developing well, but I'm pretty tired.. I didn't get much of a break between the newborn stage and my baby being on the move.. Does/did anyone have a baby like our DS and has any advice on how to keep him entertained and how to take care of an active baby (and yourself - I'm not a very high energy person and am having some health issues 😅🙃)? Or are all babies like this? Thanks

He sounds like a normal baby to me. My oldest was meeting those mile stones at that age and my youngest earlier, walking the day she turned 9 month and climbling at 11 months.

You need to make your home safe for him. A play pen does not give him enough space to do what he need to do.

Most babies are not that keen on playpens but it's necessary at times to keep them safe, for example if you need to answer the door or do some ironing.

Try showing him
a new toy he wants to play with. Make it a playpen toy only. He only gets it if he is in the playpen.

It's not cruel as you need to keep him safe sometimes. He might be a bit young to understand the concept but try to persevere.

I think that amount of activity is pretty normal.

He needs space to move and crawl. Take him out to somewhere he can do this if it’s not at home - soft plays often have a baby area, baby groups too. Ideally you’d have a space at home that he can explore freely, moving dangers if needs be so he can move and play.

He's going to be a toddler one day and you'll need to proof your flat then. Might as well do it now. He lives in your home, you can't really restrict where he goes long term.

Some babies are just inherently more active, just like some people are naturally good runners.

They're all like this. We have a lovely mid-century coffee table that has been banished until both children are old enough not to tip it over, and all small hazardous or inappropriate items have gradually moved higher and higher. When we visit a friend with small children and their toilet rolls are kept on a really high shelf, we now understand why. Our pot of pens and stationery lives on top of a high cabinet.

Why can’t you make the apartment safe for him to crawl round?

Things to sort:

breakables out of the way
small objects out of the way (choking risk)
shelves/tall furniture attached to the wall (tipping risk)
hazardous substances kept up high
possibly - child locks on kitchen cupboards (some kids open cupboards some don’t)

It takes one weekend and then it’s done for when they are a toddler too

Yeah... totally normal. It's only going to get worse. You've got years of this to deal with so you need to find a solution now and make the environment suitable for him

Between the age of 9 months-ish and 3 years, you just don't get to sit down much. They're on the go the whole time. Naptime becomes your downtime.

Jumperoos can be a godsend, have you seen those? They need to be able to sit up and shouldn't be in them for too long.

Baby proofing is about making sure they can't harm themselves eg pull heavy lamp on their heads, eat small things. It doesn't mean the space has to be entirely free from anything. They learn fairly fast from clonking themselves with things and as crawlers and toddlers, have bumps all day long.

Just to clarify - we're renting a small apartment temporarily, we're hoping to move into a bigger place soon, so DS will have more space to move around, just for now it isn't possible for us to move many things around, it's just how the apartment is..

You have to baby proof it or keep going with the play pen. Surely you expected him to crawl at some point? The problem won’t go away I’m afraid. His instinct is to explore.

What kind of things do you mean? Sofas, lamps, chairs?

He's a baby, even a small flat is massive to him. So long as something won't fall on him, he'll be fine. My DC spent quite a lot of time under the sofa! Sometimes they get how to crawl backwards before they can do it forwards and get themselves under the furniture.

Exploring nooks and crannies is what babies do. They bash themselves on edges a few times, then learn not to.

Lots of advice on how to practical baby proof your apartment- joking aside it might be more practical for you to stack all the dangerous things into the playpen and let him explore the rest of the flat.

My daughter is a few months older than yours now but she’s been extremely curious/refused the playpen/always on the move. I have always taken her out on a daily basis as then it’s easier when we’re home. I’d sit in public spaces for her to people watch on her front: we used to go to the library for nursery rhymes but also when she was frustrated at home too. If you’ve got any contemporary art galleries near you as DD would happily spend all afternoon chilling in there - it’s essentially baby sensory. We started going swimming once a week by 4 months too. I’d also give her a bath in the middle of the day too as more of an activity than to ‘relax at night’. I’ve just looked back through my gallery and I think out of sheer desperation to keep her occupied I used a tuppawear container with water for her to splash in the living room.

I think I used to sing nursery rhymes all day to try distract her from getting frustrated. Each stage comes with new challenges. It becomes easier when they can go to groups as 7 months is just on the cusp of too young for locally ran toddler groups but see if there’s any baby groups near to you. I’d definitely sign up to some sensory classes if you haven’t already.

I don’t understand the issue about the small flat. If there is space for you and partner to walk around, there is space for him to crawl. You don’t need to move the furniture or anything large, unless you have giant Ming vases or something.