My Sons Issues

he is a normal 1 year old.

he will not leave the christmas tree alone. you either tell him no everytime that he goes near it... or move the tree someplace where he cant get it.

We put out tree in a room that the kids dont play in and there is a gate to keep them out.

My kids didnt sleep through the night till they were past 1 year old. And when they were getting teeth they were up and down all night.

Motrin for babies works better tahn oragel.

A.,
My daughter didn't walk until she was 14 months old. Do not worry about it...each child progresses at their own time. Have you tried any of the walking toys? I know that VTech has several wonderful ones that have some resistance to them. As far as the Christmas tree goes, I'd suggest putting a baby gate/yard around it so that he can practice walking but not close enough that he can pull off the ornaments. Finally, my son used to cut 8 teeth at once. Zwieback toast or frozen bagels help with the gnawing.
Good luck with everything.

Definitely do not stress out that he is not walking yet. Many babies do not walk until they are over a year old. Also, you may want to try infants motrin for the teething issues. It lasts 8 hours, so he may sleep better if he has some before bed. They also sell these all-natural teething tablets and drops that you can give him throughout the day.

I have 6 year old twin girls. Both of my girls didnt take their first steps until the first and second week after their first birthday. Just be patient Jayden will walk when he is ready and after he takes that first step you will be amazed at how soon he is running around the house. As for the christmas tree, at that age everything has to be investigated, that is how they learn. That is how I still learn sometimes.
The sleeping may have something to do with his teeth. The best product I found for teething was an all natural teething tablet. My sister has a 7 year old son who she gave them to and now a 10 month old and she is giving them to him now too. You can find these at Walmart somewhere by the vitamins (ask the pharmacist because i cant remember the name of these). These are an ALL natural teething tablet. If I remember correctly they are in a smaller retangle bottle, the tablets are white and they will COMPLETELY dissolve in their mouth. After he takes them the first time he may take a nice long nap. Dont worry though, I dont believe the tablets cause this, I think the child finally feels a little relief and is exausted from not sleeping at night. As he naps just keep checking on him, not because I think something may happen because of these tablet just to make yourself feel better to know that he is ok. When I first gave my daughters these or any other new product I always watch them to make sure I know how they are going to react to them. It is just the mother in us that needs to know our children are ok.

A.; first of all buy your parents a gate to surround the tree, second most kids go through stages of i cant sleep in my room, its ok and perfectly normal, we put a small matress under our bed, so they could sleep in our room, and yet not disturb us in our bed, this worked well, third yah orajel never worked on my kids at all, however i did hear someone tell me to give them a dill pickle, my oldest son teethed on a dill pickle, just make sure he is not gumming off bits and peices, my third son however nothing helped him teeth, but crying, not orajel or pickles, ahahah and by the way my oldest hates pickles today, so you win some you loose some, hahahahahhhahaha , just enjoy life, oh , i also heard you can rub whiskey on their gums, this is not alot, nor does it get them hooked , i would dab my finger in the bottle, so you just have some on the tip of your finger, and then rub that finger vigorously along their gums, dont know if this worked, but it seemed to help, dont know if its the whiskey , or the rubbing, but i bet its part both, after all in orajel there is alcohol too, porbably more than on your finger, any way , enjoy life D. s

Ok, I am not sure how you feel on spanking or hand slapping. But when my kids were that age, and even now if they forget, and they grab something that is off limits, I take there hand and slap it and tell them firmly "NO", not loud or mean, just firm. At this age, any explaination will go in one ear and out the other. But a hand slap and NO go a long way. Same would go for gifts that are to wait, or breakables at your or someone else's house, or a hot stove or a knife. They have to learn what is off limits. Like I said, at this age, explaining things to him will not work. This method is called "home-proofing a child". My house is not considered "child proof". I just slap my kids hands when they first get into the cupboard with chemicals and say NO, when they are a little older, that cupboard is a a NO because HURT YOU. Later, it is explained by opening the cupboard, showing the cleaners and pointing to them and saying hurt you, but that was when they were around 2 or so.
Seriously, I hate child proofing except when babies start to crawl up stairs then I block them during the day. I also blocked some electical outlets, but still taught the kids that they are NO. If you house proof a kid, then no matter where you go, you wouldn't have to worry hardly at all (i.e. Christmas trees, gifts, breakables, cleaners etc.)
Please don't think I am cruel b/c I slap my kids' hands like this, just know that my 2 year old will not grab the sharp knife off the kitchen counter, and none of my kids go nuts at other people's homes breaking things and getting into things. It works. And it would be more cruel to not train them like this and have something bad happen.
P.S. teething rings and tylonal and popscicles are great for teething! The awake at night can definatly be related to teething.... my youngest would be up a lot at night when he teethed, wouldn't eat much either... But he loved the frozen teething ring, less messy than a washcloth. Orajel only works for a little bit, like a few minutes, try putting some on his teeth at the same time as giving tylonal, so after orajel wears off, tylonal kicks in!

Smile! :)

Hi A.,
I wouldn't worry about the walking. That comes at different ages for each child. My neighbors little boy did not walk until 18 months and the same with her daughter.
Each child developes at their own pace. I know that's hard
to accept when all the other playmates may be starting to walk. Your chld may be working on socializing or on his fine motor skills and the walking will come when he can focus on that (sounds like he is on his way though with the pulling up).
The Christmas Tree problem....oh yes, I remember this well. We could not put presents out because they would be torn apart. A baby gate around the tree can help but pretty much this will be your season to watch Jayden like a hawk. Believe me next year will be totally different.
For the teething. We gave our son a cold wet wash cloth that he could chew on and the cold would help ease the pain and he could chew hard on it for the teeth to break through. Teething can be hard on a baby. Lots of rocking and comforting helps. I personally hate Orajel, have you ever
tried it on yourself. It taste horrible and I hate how it feels. (that is just my opinion though).
You are doing a great job, being a mom is hard.
Best wishes to you.
M.

Hi A.,

The fact that your son isn't walking yet is of no concern. Some kids just take their time with things like that. I have a friend whose daughter never crawled... just around 15 months stood up and walked! Every kid is different. If he is meeting, in general, all of his milestones, then everything is fine.

It really sounds like he is a normal 1 year old.

As far as the sleeping at night, with so many teeth coming through THAT alone can cause trouble during the night. Often times kids are so busy during the day they might not notice the pain, but then when they settle down at night it's like 'oh! hey! my mouth hurts!'

When things get really bad for my daughter, I use infant tylenol. I don't normally like to give medications, I am much more a propnent of homeopathics and such...but when those don't work, then you have to do something.

My pediatrician ok'd us to use the infant tylenol, so we did. It worked really really well. I didn't even give the full amount. I would actually piggy back the oragel and the tylenol. Numb it up a bit so the tylenol had a chance to work.

In addition, this age there can be a lot going on. Walking could be around the corner ... new emerging skills can cause night waking as well.

As far as the Christmas tree...well, that's just the age. All you can do is tell him no and redirect his attention. That being said, you're going to be doing that ALOT. A 1 year old can not understand that no means no for now and always.

To get through all of these things, you just have to relax and take a 'go with the flow' type attitude. You can't expect your little guy to act like an adult. He's not. He's curious, which is GREAT, and wants to explore. He is learning new things and has SO much going on in his body! New skills, new emotions that he doesn't know how to handle, new sights and sounds...it's all so exciting!!!

As parents we have to recognize that everything is so new. We just need to relax, help our little ones find outlets for their energy and emotions and in the process teach and direct them. It's alot...for sure! But, it sounds like your little one is right on track. Mommy just needs to relax a bit. ;-)

Easier said then done, I know. Trust me.... I know! My daughter is almost 15 months old... and boy oh boy ... she keeps me hoppin'!

LIke everyone else said kids walk at all different times....my daughter started walking at 9 months and we were soooo happy...but then realized that she was really moving and kind of wished she ahd not walked so fast. I hear boys are usually behind girls too....just enjoy every minute of watching him try to walk and before you know it he will be running...away from you :)

For the x-mas tree you could buy one of those play pen gate things....I am not sure what it is called....we have one, it works well for all kinds of things...we didn't use it last year as like others said we decorated where our daughter could not reach. We let her help decorate and she put the soft, non breakable ones near the bottom and we left them there and she was good about not rattling the tree or anything....so you could try that, or the gate or decorating half way up.

For the bedtime thing....just do what you can to soothe him but my advice is to not let him into bed with you....or a habit will form which will be even harder to break. We have never let our daughter sleep in our bed and she is the BEST sleeper! Goes to bed by 8:30 at the latest and sleeps until 9-9:30am. Sometimes later....she sleep so well. May have to let him cry it our for a few nights as maybe he knows you will come for him....you didn't give much info so I am not sure of his routine. I mean if he crys for more then 10 min, you can go in, don't pick him up, rub his back...leave....then if he crys wait 15 min then go in, dont pick him up rub his back, and leave again. We did that when our daughter was almost 1 year old and still getting up once in the night, finally we said she should be sleeping through the night and we did that for I think 2 nights and ever since she has been a great sleeper. Every once and a while she will wake up...if sick...or hungry (growing) but that has only been about 3 times.

Anyway good luck and just know that you are doign everything right....everyone has a differetn approach to things and sometimes you just have to try different things until you find what works for you!!

S. :):)

Here are a few ideas for you..
Christmas tree - aside from being very firm about the tree being off limits and not letting him touch or pull hisself up on it, you could also put a gate around it (we have a play yard that we can open up to cover our stairs - OneStepAhead.com has a few options for purchase).
Staying asleep at night, our son did not sleep through the night until he was 13 months. It's normal that until they figure out how to self soothe them back to sleep that they wake in their natural sleeping pattern and don't turn over and go back to sleep like older children/adults do. From all that I've read, he will learn eventually - if you are not nursing and are letting him work it out on his own..if you go in and check on him each time and he sees you, he might be doing out of habit to see you. (I'm not sure if you are still feeding him at night, or if you are going into check on him...)
Soothing sore gums - freeze a wet wash cloth and let him chew on it. let him chew on a frozen bagel half, frozen peas, chill or freeze a teething ring and let him chew on that.
Good luck! Hopefully you'll find the answers that you are looking for. :-)

Normal walking is a range, it's only considered a problem if it's past 17 months. You are a long way from that. My daghter did not walk until 14 months. She gets around like crazy now, sometimes I feel like I live with spider girl she is so good at climbing. The other mothers gave u good advice about the teething. Enjoy your son.
L.

Hi A.,
Your son sounds perfectly normal- he will walk soon and he is obviously curious about the Christmas tree- that is good! We always joke that when the kids were younger, we just decorated the top half of the tree. Kids are naturally drawn to the pretty, sparkly tree. Teething is always difficult and he is pretty much on schedule. Try wrapping a small chip of ice in a rag and let him chew on it- that might help. He may need a little acetaminophen but ask the doctor for proper dosage. The teeth may be keeping him up at night.
Just relax and enjoy his infancy- he soon will be grown up.
Best Wishes,
M.

Hi, since you've a lot of good advice for everything I'll just tell you that the Hylands natural teething tablets work wonders. You can get them at whole foods stores. My son is two and he still has two of his canines to come in, I fell like he's been teething forever!

R. L.

A.,

All of this sounds very normal, it's just you're not used to it. As soon as babies get mobile they can keep you running. My sons were rather large boys and didn't walk on their own until after a year, pulling themselves up is just part of the process. As soon as he gets walking you can expect he'll try to get ahold of everything, it's easier to just put things away untill he gets a little older rather than constantly telling him no. It's all trial and error but I always felt I wanted to say yes more than no to my kids. Try to keep things on the positive. I never used orajel when my kids were teething, they didn't seem to be too cranky. Try giving him some of the infant teething toast to chew on if he gets crabby. As for the sleeping issues, there's an entire philosphy behind that one, you just have to find the one that works best for your family. Truth is, once babies become mobile they can be very tiring for quite awhile, I hear it's until they are about 25 or 30! Enjoy him while he is little, it'll all pass quickly.

S.

I doubt you have anything to worry about. Kids develop at different ages and it's quite normal for a child to not walk at one. As far as the Christmas tree....he sounds like a kid to me. Oraljel (sp???) didn't work with my kid either. Try to be patient....it will work out fine.

You may be interested in my parenting blog for moms. It has some great bits of information for these very issues you bring up!

Have a look

www.shapinglittlesouls.blogspot.com

Feel free to leave any comments!

I hope it helps!

Hi A., About the walking, I agree with all the other moms. The Christmas tree, for years we had a 4 ft. tall tree that we put on top of an end table and the tree skirt hid the table. We didn't have much on the bottom 1/3 except some unbreakables or some ornaments they helped make. We finally graduated to a full size tree only to walk by and see our kitty sitting at the top, grabbing the angel, and serenely looking out the window! We went back to the 4 ft. tree!

Your son is sooo normal. Walking will come sooner or later. I know many children who didn't start walking until
they were 14 or 15 months and then they were running.
You could try a baby gate around the tree or else putting presents around it so that he can't get to it. He will probably be interested in it for the entire season.
I gave my son children's motrin and it seemed to do the trick. Although he's never been a good sleeper, teeth or not, he just wakes up all the time.
Remember all children have their own schedule which somehow seems to never match up with ours.