MSE Parents Club Part 16

*BigBird*

Hi CL. Joe's 11 months now and is crawling, cruising, climbing and generally leaving a trail of chaos in his wake! He started pulling himself up on the furniture fairly soon after he learned to crawl, which was about 8 months. And he can now climb all the way to the top of the stairs on his own :eek: I'm not sure he's close to standing on his own or walking though as he doesn't let go of the furniture and it's only in the last week that he'll take a few steps with one of us holding his hands to keep him upright. He does toddle around with his walker though.

He's been holding his own bottle for a few weeks now, though he needs a bit of help to keep it tipped up. Yesterday he was holding it and decided he wanted to fiddle with my top, so grabbed my hand and pulled it over for me to hold the bottle so he'd have a hand free!

I do wonder how much their personality has to do with when they learn to get around. My friend has a little boy who's 2 days older than Joe and is only just commando crawling, but he's just the most chilled out little chap and quite happy to sit and watch the world go by. Joe, on the other hand, is Mr Nosy and wants to see what's over there, or what's up there, so that's maybe why he had the urge to move around and start pulling himself up earlier.

Joe's also a babbler but with no real indication of actual words coming through. He says dadadadada a lot. I've tried to get him to say mama, and might occasionally get a vavava in response.

I think Joe is getting ready to drop to one nap a day now as it's getting really difficult to get him to have a nap in the afternoon. We've been trying to keep him going til 10.30/11 ish and then he'll have 90 minutes or more. He's still tired at bedtime, but not as much as if he has his usual hour at 9:30 and then nothing for the rest of the day.

I'm not sure when growth spurts happen at this age, but maybe your LO is having one CL? Joe's appetite can be quite up and down sometimes.

pigpen

Mine at 14 months has taken 4 steps.. she has no interest in walking esp. as she crawls superfast... she looks ridiculous because she is so big (size of average 2 year old!) She can stand but refuses to if you try to stand her up it is all on her terms.. she just lack confidence she can dance and clap hands an drink while standing so walking should be a doddle!.

She climbs and dashes upstairs.. and has mastered coming down too..

sparkle76

Becles wrote: »

Don't feel you need to entertain babies all the time. It's good that they can learn to play independently, so you can get on and do other jobs while they are amusing themselves.

You need to find a balance between playing with them, and letting them figure out things for themselves.

I can see what you mean Becles but I don't mean that I am overdoing it, he does have time on his own, just that I feel guilty and want to check if the stuff I am doing is what everyone else did/does at 11-12 weeks. I don't want to over or under stimulate him if you see what I mean

Also only way I can seem to get him to sleep on the day is by breastfeeding, for now it's fine but I want him to learn how to fall asleep on his own more at some point

*BigBird*

Sparkle, one of the best things you can do at that age is just talk to them. Whatever you're doing, even just making a cup of tea, tell him about it. I'd pop Joe in his bouncy chair while I pottered around the kitchen and just chatter away to him. At that age Joe also loved his gym, or even just lying in his cot with the mobile going.

Can he settle himself at night? Around that age, I was still having to rock Joe to sleep in his pram, or put him in the sling and let him sleep on me during the day. He mastered settling himself at night first, and then we worked on getting him to do it during the day. We got there eventually, but he was at least 4 months old by that point (that's when he outgrew the carrycot, so rocking in the pram was no longer an option!)

sparkle76

Hi BigBird,

Thank you - yes at night we never have an issue thankfully, he has his feed and sleeps beautifully. It's the day that I just need tips on, as I say I know that as he is coming up to 3 months there is no pressure yet but I would like to know what things people have done to get them to sleep themselves in the day. I guess he will outgrow the issue eventually so maybe I shouldn't worry about it too much - but having seen Supernanny....

I chat to him lots, in fact most days I feel as if he is the main person I have spoken to... he loves it and I leave a little gap to he can 'reply' with a little coo or gurgle.

*BigBird*

Once I knew Joe could settle himself at night, I just started trying it in the day. Some days were a complete disaster and he wouldn't sleep unless he was on me, but other times he would. And gradually we had more days when he didn't need to sleep on me. (And, seriously, make the most of it while you still have that. I miss it now that he never wants to sleep on me anymore )

I know some people don't like to let their babies cry at all, but I don't see that there's any problem with it as long as they aren't getting upset. There's a difference between shouting because they're annoyed that the cuddle-giver has not immediately come running when summoned, and crying because they are genuinely upset. I found that Joe very often liked to have a bit of a shout before he fell asleep. It would literally be shout, shout, shout for a few minutes and then silence! I'd look in and he'd be fast asleep. But if those shouts started to sound like upset cries, then I'd go in and give him a cuddle.

sparkle76

Thanks BigBird - I am happy as LO is still asleep from 12:20 til now, it's a marathon nap... I might just have to sumbit to feeding him to sleep more in the day to get things like a precious bath in, reading time... I agree with you re: the sleeping with him, I did enjoy him sleeping with me earlier, and then quietly moved him to his day chair and he's in the kitchen with me now listening to Radio 1 in his sleep. Such a little angel!

I agree with you that for practical reasons I can't always pick him up and he will cry, whether I like it or not, and knowing he has fresh nappy/full tummy/has had attention, if he still cries I can't drive myself mad over it. This morning though he was really crying and I was beside myself thinking what else I could do for him to ease things.

I have tried him in the moses basket in the dark during the day but he won't have it for long so I kind of gave that up...

wendz86

Hello everyone

I am working on Poppys's self settling at night now which she is slowly getting the hang of and then will work on her naps once she is going good at the night, we are still having quite a few wakings at night so would like that to improve first.

I think you are right about their personalities BigBird as Poppy has always been wanting to go somewhere, never really been a chilled out baby.

She has started pushing herself up onto hands and knees but then she just slides backwards instead of moving forwards bless her!

CL

I agree about personality BigBird. My LO is a bit of a lazy lump!

Sparkle, my LO was breast fed to sleep until about 5 or 6 months. When I decided she was going into her cot for a sleep without a feed during the day, it only took 2 or 3 days for her to be content to do that. She gets a bottle before bed now, but goes into her cot awake and is happy with that.

She has out grown her bouncer, but we would really like a chair for her that she can sit comfortably in, like her bouncer. Any suggestions? (she is 10 months old and I would guess about 21 lb.)

Becles

*BigBird* wrote: »

Sparkle, one of the best things you can do at that age is just talk to them. Whatever you're doing, even just making a cup of tea, tell him about it. I'd pop Joe in his bouncy chair while I pottered around the kitchen and just chatter away to him.

I did that with Charlotte.

When we were out with the dogs, I'd chatter on about things I could see, like the leaves changing colour now and stuff like that. It turned into conversations when she got older.

Her teacher said the other day that she knows an incredible amount of stuff about nature. I said I'd never sat down and specifically taught her about nature, it's just all from random chats we've had while walking the dogs.

So it does sink in, even at an early age

Charlotte and James were very different in terms of movement. He was walking by 9 months, but she didn't sit up until she was 10 months! However she seems brighter academically and James has always struggled with school work. They've both been brought up the same - just have different skills.