Infants and Floor Play

[daymommy]

Hi guys, I was just curious how everyone gives their infants safe floor time. My group right now is 3 mo, almost 6 mo, 2, 2, 4, 4, 5 and another 5 after school. We have a large family room that we use for daycare so I've been just keeping in the infants in a separate area of the room for floor play. But my 6 month old is very mobile. He's not crawling or sitting, but her rolls EVERYWHERE! There is no keeping him on a blanket or even in a certain part of the room. He can be all the way across the room in the time it takes me to dig out a toy or two for him! And he LOVES it, honestly he really doesn't even care for the toys he just wants to roll around, if he gets "stuck" somewhere he can't roll anymore he gets SO mad (he hasn't figured out he can just go the opposite way when he gets to a barrier yet !). My 3 month old is just doing short periods on the floor for tummy time so she's not as hard to keep contained. I just get concerned about the older kids tripping over him, toys landing on him, etc.

What do you guys do? If you use some sort of a play yard can you give me some recommendations of what you use. Do you give babies time in there one at a time or let them "play" together (I'm kind of worried my 6 mo old will roll right over the 3 mo old!). We have a train table that I think we may have to replace with some sort of a play yard.

Thanks!

[blandino]

We definitely use play yards for floor time when they are immobile. After that we used a baby corral gate/fence, to keep the mobile infants safe. Also, if the infants want to be down around the older kids, I Have the other kids choose an activity where they must remain seated, while the babies are out playing.

[SunshineMama]

Hi guys, I was just curious how everyone gives their infants safe floor time. My group right now is 3 mo, almost 6 mo, 2, 2, 4, 4, 5 and another 5 after school. We have a large family room that we use for daycare so I've been just keeping in the infants in a separate area of the room for floor play. But my 6 month old is very mobile. He's not crawling or sitting, but her rolls EVERYWHERE! There is no keeping him on a blanket or even in a certain part of the room. He can be all the way across the room in the time it takes me to dig out a toy or two for him! And he LOVES it, honestly he really doesn't even care for the toys he just wants to roll around, if he gets "stuck" somewhere he can't roll anymore he gets SO mad (he hasn't figured out he can just go the opposite way when he gets to a barrier yet !). My 3 month old is just doing short periods on the floor for tummy time so she's not as hard to keep contained. I just get concerned about the older kids tripping over him, toys landing on him, etc.

What do you guys do? If you use some sort of a play yard can you give me some recommendations of what you use. Do you give babies time in there one at a time or let them "play" together (I'm kind of worried my 6 mo old will roll right over the 3 mo old!). We have a train table that I think we may have to replace with some sort of a play yard.

Thanks!

I use a superyard over a blanket, and lots of soft toys. Its the only way you can keep the baby safe without having to sit next to them all day. It also is a nice visual barrier for the other kids, and a reminder to be careful.

[EchoMom]

I honestly have relaxed about it quite a bit. I had immobile and beginning mobile babies with young 2 year olds and I was surprised how well the 2s did around the babies. No one once ever tripped on the babies or dropped anything ever. Only once did a 2 try to pick up a baby from the floor and I made sure he knew it was NOT ok.

I do not like to seperate the babies from the 2s, I feel like when they have access to each other the interactions are wonderful. The 2s love to bring toys to the tiny babies, stroke their heads, etc. I feel like it is excellent character development. Of course I remind them often to be careful and I always keep an eye. The kids always had the rule that they had to crawl or be sitting on the babies blankets, or to walk around it. And when the babies do become mobile, they were still fine.

Maybe I've just been lucky, but I have absolutely terrific kids and they've just done very very well.

[LittleCrawfishCC]

I teach all of my kids to be aware of the babies, I've had more problems with adults running into the babies than my younger kids

[Nickel]

What I do, although my littles aren't quite mobile yet. Is I put a blanket on the floor on one end of the play area and place the baby equipment around it, bouncy seat, swing, play mats, etc. Then I place my large pull up baby toys, like the leap frog musical table toy, the large plastic piano thing and another big toy and make a barrier between the older ones and the little ones. It doesn't prevent them from interacting per se, but it does let the bigger ones know they are in the baby area and need to be cereful. The little ones are pretty good but my parent walk all over the rug with their shoes on! I mean come on, I have a blanket down so it's clean! Gross

[littlemissmuffet]

I honestly have relaxed about it quite a bit. I had immobile and beginning mobile babies with young 2 year olds and I was surprised how well the 2s did around the babies. No one once ever tripped on the babies or dropped anything ever. Only once did a 2 try to pick up a baby from the floor and I made sure he knew it was NOT ok.

I do not like to seperate the babies from the 2s, I feel like when they have access to each other the interactions are wonderful. The 2s love to bring toys to the tiny babies, stroke their heads, etc. I feel like it is excellent character development. Of course I remind them often to be careful and I always keep an eye. The kids always had the rule that they had to crawl or be sitting on the babies blankets, or to walk around it. And when the babies do become mobile, they were still fine.

Maybe I've just been lucky, but I have absolutely terrific kids and they've just done very very well.

I no longer take kiddos under 12 months, but when I did this is how we did it as well. I think it's really great to teach the toddlers how to behave around babies... they might have siblings one day

[GoodKarma]

I use the Friendly Toys Little Playzone play yard. It's comes in panels that are lightweight and portable. You can easily take it apart at night, move it to a different room or even outside. One of the panels has toys built in and one has a locking gate. You can buy extra panels or even extra play yards and make a play yard any size you want! They are expensive new, but I bought 2 from Craigslist for less than half-price, and I see more listed all the time.

[Blackcat31]

I teach all my kiddos from a very early age that NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE touches the babies, the baby's item and equipment and the baby toys. EVER.

The babies get their tummy time on a blanket on the floor. The may not walk on or come near the blanket unless invited to do so.

There are several opportunities during the day for the kids to be invited to spend some time with the baby. Any other time and the baby is strictly off-limits.

I hate having to be so strict about it sometimes, but honestly, another kid injuring a baby on accident is just not a situation I want to ever happen. For sibling groups, they can get their together time at home under mom and dad's supervision.

[daymommy]

I hate having to be so strict about it sometimes, but honestly, another kid injuring a baby on accident is just not a situation I want to ever happen. For sibling groups, they can get their together time at home under mom and dad's supervision.

That is my fear too! All my kids, even the 2's are really good and love the babies, but they are 2 and accidents happen. I just really don't want to send a baby home and say "oh sorry about the bruise little susie fell on him today". I can imagine a parent would be a thrilled with that news.
Up until now I've been able to keep the baby on a blanket and the kids know they are not allowed on the blanket with the babies. My biggest concern is my almost 6 month old rolling underfoot of one of the others and them tripping on him, he just gets around SO quickly! Today I had one side of the room sectioned off with baby gear, but one of the pieces was one of those fisher price house things with the door. Sure enough he was able to get through the door to the other side of the room in no time. I was doing art with the others at the time so no biggie but it just baffles me how well he can get around!
The kids love to bring the babies toys and "read" to them, but I just prefer they do it when they are in a bouncy, swing, exersaucer, or just something up off the floor. I haven't had a round of infants since my 2yo daughter was an infant herself, so maybe some of my paranoia will go away! ::