Moms with Walking Littles

DiFazette · April 2014

I know Lax and Trademama's babies have been walking for a while and I'm sure there's some others. People keep saying (unsolicited) how much everything changes when they start walking. Is it true? Did you do anything additional to baby proof for a walker?

O is getting close and I'm wondering what I'm in for.

delino · April 2014

LO is just starting to walk. She's been crawling since the beginning of February. That was when I set up the play yard gate so she has a dedicated safe play space that she can roam. When we're outside of that I'm with her because she'll get into everything. As far as if it's harder now that she's walking...it's harder because she falls and hurts herself or cries because she's frustrated. Again, we're in the early stages so I'm sure it will get harder.

blush64 · April 2014

A has been walking a while but even before that she was quite mobile. She was pretty early with that sort of thing. We had already made everything safe for her so not too much changed. I don't find anything harder with her walking than cawling, I found a bigger difference going from rolling to creeping and crawling.

After babyproofing where we thought necessary we got down on her level and moved everything that we didn't want her to reach. I like her to be able to explore freely and I don't mind moving things around until she is a bit older. When she climbs up and down the stairs I sit with her because I am not comfortable with that yet.

I guess it depends on what you find harder and how much you have baby proofed already.

LaxMOM44 · April 2014

She became much more independent and definitely gets into more things. But it also makes it more fun because she can play so many more games. I basically baby gated off our dining room since we never use it and took the table out and turned it into a playroom. She can be completely contained in the one room. The only thing I noticed tht really makes life difficult is now that she's really comfortable walking she doesn't want to be in her stroller. So either she walks and it takes four hours or she screams and arches her bck while I hurrily push her down the street. Yes I'm now that mom, I will never judge again.

Eta: boo spelling.

c-elizabethf · April 2014

Dd has been walking for awhile and not much has changed. She's pretty good about staying out of stuff and we had stuff already baby proofed so not to much change

nbatchen · April 2014

LO had been walking for a little while now. The only baby proofing change we have had is he can walk over and pull stuff down. But that was an easy fix. He is a lot more independent now though. Cuddle time is at a minimum. We have the stairs gated off so no worries there.

emmy236 · April 2014

R has been walking for a bit but before that he was crawling all over and pulling up/cruising since about 7 months. We baby proofed then. I actually find it's easier now that he's walking. He just walks around and is happy. I guess he had already gotten into everything he wanted to before. It's also way easier outside because I'm not as worried his hands are getting filthy/eating dirt. I usually give him a sippy/cracker/lovey and he'll just happily walk around.

fancefpp · April 2014

He's been walking for about a month. I find it easier than crawling, he's not as quick yet

smg2302 · April 2014

She's not getting into too many things as we're pretty well baby proofed. She does fall more and is sleepy much earlier now.

DiFazette · April 2014

I've had so many 'everything changes' when they start walking' comments I was wondering if I was missing something. I can't see how much different it would be since he pulls up to get his hands on everything now. Thanks ladies.

TradeMama · April 2014

It wasn't a sudden change for us-- C has been walking since Christmas. Now he's running and climbing... It's less that he does new things and more that he does them so darn fast. The other day I left C with DH in the basement, and he must've left the gate open because five minutes later, he had climbed the stairs to the kitchen-- and DH didn't even notice. So for us it's just constant, 100% supervision-- no more running to the bathroom, leaving the room, or grabbing something real quick. It's getting better as he understands more. And being able to play outside is way more fun and less stressful now that he can run and chase a ball.