14 weeks old - frustrated with toys???

[~Belinda~]

Hi All

I was wondering whether anyone else has had their baby frustrated after about 10-20 minutes with playing with their toys? We put Madeleine under her play gym and she'll play for a short time and then start whinging (she doesn't look happy at all) and she looks so frustrated. She seems to get like this when we give her a toy whilst she is in her bouncer too, just after a little while.

Is it something they go through or is our daughter the only one?

Thanks!

Bindy xo

[KatieRabbit]

Bindy- mightn't help you but my DD (4 months) has never played under a play gym or with toys. I put her on a rug on the floor or in the bouncinette and she plays with her hands, feet, looks out the window, watches met in the kitchen, sucks on her dress etc In the past week I noticed that she appeared frustrated but DH pointed out that she wasn't, it was just a different sound that she was making. And he was right- she now squeals (!) and makes diff noises than before. My point is a) is she really frustrated?, and b) can she lie so that she can see you, out the window etc so that the view changes for her?

[~Belinda~]

Deirdre, she plays with her hands too and sucks on her clothes also. She is not with toys all the time, only once per day I put her under them for something different. Trust me, I have to be where she can see me otherwise she'll get really cranky and start crying, a real mumma's girl this one I must admit, she loves looking out the window for sure! Just gets cranky and frustrated after a little while, like she's either (a) sick of it or (b) is frustrated she can't pull them off her gym to suck on them!!!

[Roryrory]

Deirdre has made some good points, and in addition I would suggest that maybe she is tired? Little babies get tired from stimulation, and while it might not seem like much to us, lying under a play gym for a baby is a big deal. It's like looking at a whole heap of different TV shows and hearing different music all at once, as your little one doesn't yet have the filtering abilities (and understanding of the world) that we do. All bubs are different, my first boy HATED his play gym and mobiles and dangling things and so we didn't use them at all, while our second loves them and has from an early age (2 weeks or so). He now plays and kicks for about 20 minutes at a time but then gets tired or bored, so what your girl is doing is perfectly normal. In my experience the frustration stage comes later, when they try to use their hands but can't. Then they creally crack it! Bubs also have favourite toys - our baby now loves a particular set of plastic keps but isn't keen on other stuff.

[Emma1979]

my dd was frustrated for the first 7 months of her life, literally, and then she learned to crawl and was SO MUCH HAPPIER. it was like she had been here before and was trapped in a baby body, hahahaha. no seriously it was.

hang in there, just try to change the setting frequently, and it can sometimes get worse before it gets better, at 4 months my dd learned to roll onto her tummy and couldn't get back, you spend your days turning them back only for them to turn back over again... WHAT FUN!

does she like music, maybe try some different styles.. also the don't just have to play with toys, some random household objects often make the most interesting toys. hang in there she might be happier once she's mobile.

[aussienic]

It's perfectly normal Olivia has just started to play with toys now but we get about 5 minutes before she wants someones attention. Although I put her in her swing yesterday with a noisy toy hanging off it and I got 30 minutes

Is she on her tummy or back when she is playing? Sometimes laying down with them as well is fun. Get some jobs done or take a break when she is happy then when she starts to call for you go and play with her and see how she goes. Olivia also calls for us if we aren't in the same room. Its really funny when I call back and she squeals at me

[August]

I noticed early on with my DS that we would need a mountain of toys to keep him occupied and I was very surprised that he would have preference of toys and be bored of them at such a young age too Bindy! (It's going to cost us a fortune in the future!). I tend to keep certain toys in certain rooms, for example today he was on my bed and I gave him his "ducky from mummy's room" and his little eyes lit up. I guess you need to be as creative as you can, probably the best time I've seen him facinated with something was when I was going through the laundry basket, packing things directly into a suitcase for holidays. He loved seeing his clothes and bunny rugs and it is a moment I will never forget actually! he was only very youny then but nowdays I always hunt through vinnies to find him new things, I picked up a great toy for 10c last week that has kept him amused most of this week!