Independent play

When did your LO start playing by themselves? My daughters 18m now and still needs me to sit with and play with her. She has age appropriate toys like shape sorters, building blocks etc but wants me to play with her all day long. I’m getting so tired of not having any time to myself (my husband works long hours) along with my daughters sleep issues (won’t nap for longer than an hr if I’m not laying with her). Has anyone else experienced this? Does anyone have any advice?
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Over 2 for anything more than about 5 mins. What's the routine for naps, waking and bedtime?

@Natalie naptime and bedtime routine I’ve literally tried absolutely everything. Following cues, following wake windows, dinner at different times (she tends to ask to eat when she realised I’m trying to put her to sleep even though sometimes she’s JUST eaten). I’ve tried bath before bed, i don’t give her screentime or sugar before bed, I’ve tried rocking her to sleep, laying next to her, letting her lay on me. I’ve tried lullabies, pitch black room, my husband putting her to sleep. I’ve tried taking her to get some fresh air, going for walks and playgroups. I feel like I’m at a stage where I’m going to rip my hair out because i can’t see an end. It’s actually made me decide I don’t want any more kids because I’ll go crazy if I have to do this again 😭

By no sugar before bed I mean no food with sugar in it 😂 I don’t give my LG any sugar 😂

I think some toddlers just aren’t good at independent play, mine was well over 3 years old before she did at all.

@Marjana there is a sleep regression at 18 months (a bad one) so it could be that. Consistent timings I would say are important. Wake windows are a good starting point. What time does she wake, nap and bedtime?

Mine only really started independent play at 19mo and only for very short amounts of time. I believe that’s developmentally normal though.

My boy is 1 and has been doing 10-15 minutes of independent play since maybe 11 months. Now he's crawling he goes to his toy cupboard and box and just helps himself to the toys he wants to play with. I would say he wants me to play with him after 15-20 minutes

My boy is 3 and independently plays but I have to play for a bit and wonder off.

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