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Playing with babies - whats normal?

Hi all

Just wondering if this is normal or not!!!

Toby is generally very happy playing alone. We will take toys and books over to him and attempt to "play" with him, but he won't sit still with us for long before he wants to crawl away and play with something else.

We try and give him "calm down" time every night before his bath and let him watch some TV but he doesn't want too - he gets bored really quickly!!!!!!!!!!

Hubby and I both bore REALLY easily (LOL!!!!!!!) and so has he picked this up? Or is it normal that he's just happy playing on his own?

Nursery say he is VERY sociable there and always playing with his friends. They said he's one of the most socialable babies there.

Its just a lot of my friends babies when I see them, they sit and cuddle for ages but Toby just isn't interested - he just wants to go off and play!

Has he just got a short attention span or does he not like me?!?!?!?!

Don't get me wrong - there are times he wants us for company - he's going through a clingy phase right now and when he's tired or hungry, he won't leave us alone. After his bottles as well, well always have some time cuddling together whilst he plays a bit with the empty bottle.

Joo xxx

Replies

  • Sounds exactly like Oscar! He wants - and has always wanted - mummy for food, books and cuddles sometimes. Recently he's decided he wants me for dancing or reaching things on shelves but mostly he's very independent and doesn't like playing with boring mummy :lol: I've never worried about him tbh and just enjoyed sometimes having time to myself while he plays happily image xx
  • My ds is 8 months and is exactly the same! He has recently started cruising along the furniture so is so busy doing that he doesn't sit still for 5 minutes!
    He too is an independent little boy and i love seeing what he's going to get into next,he is at this moment pulling my blinds!! xx
  • Charlotte is the same. She loves to play for a short length of time but soon wants to wriggle off to something else. At the moment she only wants me there to stand her up against the sofa or at her walker as she wants to be on her feet permanantly but hasnt figured out how to pull herself up yet, its exhausting.

    She will play a bit at bedtime in her cot with me but overall she's constantly on the move ! I play with her when I can, hubby finds it really hard though think he'll play with her more when she's old enough to play the Xbox ! LOL
  • Children have an attention span roughly equivilant to 1 minute per year of their life on one activity so Toby will only be interested in a particular activity for roughly a minute before it loses his interest so don't worry it sounds perfectly normal to me.
  • sounds exactly like austin, when i play with him he generally ignore me and moves onto something else, he won't sit still for two seconds, in the last few weeks tho he's been asking for cuddles and to be picked up lots, btu as soon as u do, he wants to get down again. and the only thing eh watches on tely si peppa pig, he won't sit down for anything else, and even then hjalf way thru he gets up and goes over and stands up to watch it...he's just not a sitting still kinda guy lol. x
  • I wouldn't worry at all, my lo is 22 months and he will hardly ever play alone, he constantly wants us to help him do things like set up his train sets or put the characters in his bus, or do jigsaws, colouring etc together. He won't watch tv for a long time unless Something special or Show me show me is on, in which case he'll stand about 2 feet from the screen and be glued to it. He loves books and we read about 3 a day at bedtime. Books are hard as you have to judge age-appropriateness otherwise they will get bored and possibly put off. It was ages before my lo moved from 'Spot' books, 'each peach' and those 'thats not my' books as anything longer bored him. But now he is a bit older he will happily read 'The tiger who came to tea' or a similar length book, however he does sometimes bore slightly and start turning the pages to the page HE likes which drives me absolutely nutso but I feel mean forcing him to do it 'the proper way'!! But at bedtime he will generally sit on me for 5-10 minutes. When it comes to books I would recommend Spot as 1. they are short 2. they are colourful and good for bubs but have a proper story and 3. they have those lift the flaps which babies love. I wish I had a lo who played on his own but he just won't !!! xx x
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