Roomtime troubles...

[unwordable]

My daughter is 13 months old and I'm trying to get her to play in her room alone for a little while each day. But she just screams at the baby gate as long as it takes for me to come get her. I've been seeing if she'll just fuss for a little while but she freaks out from the moment I put up the gate until I take her away from the room

Comments

[happyhothead]

I have two different experiences to share. I didn't start my son until he was almost two because I kind of forgot about room time. But I had to do when my daughter was born just so I could nurse her in peace! I got him a couple of special toys that he was ONLY allowed to play with during room time. When room time was over, the toys went away. It worked great for me but my son was a bit older...

Another of my friends experienced the same thing you are going through. But she perservered through the screaming. She decided she wanted her daughter to have one hour of room time every day so she put her in there and let her scream for the whole hour. After almost two weeks, her daughter just didn't scream one day and she's been fine ever since!

To keep your sanity though, you might just want to continue with playpen time for a while longer. Can you put the playpen in her room?

[unwordable]

Yeah, I'm trying a combination of all the ideas - her noisy toys are room toys...I did that for the sake of my husband and I's sanity, but if it works as an incentive for roomtime then great. I was thinking that she may just be too young, now that I think about it she fights pretty much everything I try to do, so letting her cry it out is probably my only option. I'm also closing the door most of the way, but leaving it propped open with a blanket

[mybabythomas]

Just curious, why do you want her to play alone each day? I find it easier to allow my son to follow me from room to room - the house is reasonably babyproofed so he can't come to any harm, and he likes to 'help' with the housework. But there are occasions when I leave him unattended, such as when I go to the bathroom or if I'm doing something 'dangerous' like opening the oven, and I just have to put him in his room and close the door. He's usually fine about it but if he cries there's not a lot I can do about it, I still have to open the oven, so I have to just let him cry. However, he's become a lot more independant since he learnt to walk; I used to carry him from room to room with me so that he wouldn't cry, but now that he can get around by himself, he's usually happy to play by himself while I'm out of the room

[unwordable]

Hmmm...how to say this in a short way