9mo baby likes to play alone is this normal ?

[Hann376]

My 9mo is perfectly happy sitting on the floor and playing with toys by herself - she has always been good at entertaining herself since she started being ok with being put down around 3 months

had a few comments from relatives about it so now I’m worrying that’s a bad sign like she is not attached enough to me ?

also should I be playing more with her to help her develop? I never leave her obviously but sometimes on the sofa and watch her while drinking coffee now I feel bad like I should be doing more

What you have is a secure, curious, happy and contented baby. Ignore others and just enjoy her.

When my DS was 9 months old, he would not tolerate being left alone at all. He had to be in my arms alllllll the time. He's autistic.

His cousin didn't seem to want or need any interaction. She played happily by herself and wasn't remotely bothered if her parents left the room. She's also autistic.

People praised my sister for having such a content, easy going baby and criticised me for making my baby too clingy. So you can't win really!

You can worry about all sorts of things when your DC are tiny, especially if people are implying that there is something wrong. But please try not to take it to heart.

FWIW I'd have given my right arm for a baby who played with toys while I drank a coffee! Lots of my friends' babies were happy to entertain themselves and have grown up to be perfectly typical teenagers with no additional needs or attachment issues at all.

Your relatives sound ludicrous.

What will people find to mither mothers about next?

Baby is content! Stop the presses!

In all seriousness, just watch out for all this bollocks. Don’t let yourself be undermined about the care of your own baby by meddlesome relatives.

I think within the day they need a mix of learning to play independently, and being led in play and to explore things, sing songs, reading etc.

Being able to play independently and concentrate enough to do this is a great skill to encourage, but it's good to also feed their curiousity by introducing new ways of playing with toys, learning imaginary play, doing directed play using a variety of words to develop their language skills etc.