Archive Development FAQ: 6-12 months

What toys should my 9 month old be playing with? We have a basket full of rattles and soft-shaped contrast toys which I think she is bored with now. I look in the shops and think most things look either too difficult or too easy for her. How do I know if a toy will help her development? Should I look for toys marked with her age now or for a few months time? Can you give me an idea of how I should play with her?
Team Response

Although I was excited when my son began to crawl at 7.5 months, I had no idea how much chaos he would begin to cause. I seem to be constantly tidying up and putting back the books and videos he pulls from the lower shelves. I don’t want to keep saying no to him but the house always seems to look a mess and it really gets me down at times. How do I balance his need for freedom and my need for some domestic order?
Team Response

My son was previously a perfect Gina baby, sleeping well for all naps and eating well. We moved house 2 months ago, I started work 1 month ago. My son started to become more unsettled. Now he always wakes crying and screaming whereas he used to chatter in his cot. He jumps up and down in cot in anger until we pick him up. Usually we control cry for at least 45mins in morning. We never bring him out of cot before 6.30am which is a fine time for us. We tend to give up more quickly when he wakes from day time naps.

Now he won’t settle for morning nap any longer, but really is too tired to drop it. So I give him quiet time in buggy, early lunch, and settle him early for his lunch time nap. But he is only sleeping a maximum of one hour at lunch time resulting in overtiredness in evening and early waking.

His chronic over tiredness is starting to make him cranky and now he has also started rousing frequently in the night although we don't get up to him and he does settle again. How can we get back on track? It is difficult not being sole carer to enforce routines more rigidly but other the carers are on board to try things out. He is cared for by a child minder 2 days a week, my mother takes him for 2 days and I care for him the other 3.

He is ever so active during the day chasing cats and toddling around everywhere but is not as contented as he used to be and is becoming more wingy, clingy and he seems to be regressing further away from the routine that he kept so happily for so long. Is this normal for this age? I also carry a lot of guilt about returning to work and am unsure whether I am meant to be firm setting consistent boundaries or whether I should be reassuring and relieving new anxieties he may be having?

My son eats three meals a day having breakfast of cereal and fruit. He drinks cow’s milk and formula mixed from a beaker. He will have a small snack midmorning followed by lunch at 11.30-1145am. This is his protein meal of the day which he eats well. He drinks milk from a beaker at 2.30pm and eats a vegetarian tea with finger food. At 6.45pm he takes 7fl oz milk from a cup.
Team Response

My baby hates any sort of shops. She is fine in the pram out and about but really screams in any shop. The supermarket was the first place, so I tried the supermarket with the pram but that still didn't help. I always make she that she has had a good sleep before we go anywhere from home but this still doesn't help. It makes my day very boring as I can't go anywhere. She also seems grumpier when at other people’s houses; she can cry all the time I am there and be perfectly content when we arrive home.
Team Response

My 8.5mth daughter has just started to become very clingy towards me. If she knows I am in the room she will whinge until I pick her up but isn't a cuddly baby. She loved sitting with her dad when he gets home from work whilst I go into the kitchen to prepare dinner but this past week she has screamed as soon as I walk out of the lounge. Also, my husband takes her to bed and always brings her into the kitchen to say goodnight. She has also just started screaming as soon as he walks out of the kitchen. Is there anything I can do to make her less clingy? I thought going to nursery 2 mornings a week would help.
Team Response

What are the dangers of rough play with a ten-month-old? My husband likes to play with James in a very physical way, which leaves me unable to watch. I have told him of the dangers of flipping James' neck too much, but James seems to love it and will cling to his father’s legs begging for more. Is rough play just a father/son thing?
Team Response

We have just moved to a house in the countryside. Our neighbours have offered us a puppy from their forthcoming litter which we are thrilled about, as I long for a dog. Our son Tom is 7 months now and is a happy, contented baby. He is still not yet mobile in any way, spending much of his time on a play mat on the kitchen floor. Are we taking on too much to consider having a puppy in the house in about two months? What are the problems we might face as Tom becomes more mobile?
Team Response