Independant Play for a 5 Month Old

[nattymarsh]

How long should my 5 month old be left to play independantly?  Is being in her exisaucer without any interaction from me condsidered independant play?  She's content most times to play by herself with a toy, on her playmat, or in her exisaucer for extended periods of time (i.e. 20 minutes) but is this too long?  Am I ignoring her if I let her play alone for this long?

[Lola]

I am no expert but I have brought my babe to work with me since she was 4 months old. I've been putting her on her playmat since the day we came home from hospital. I have left hte room with her playing so she learned to play on her own.
I had no problems with leaving my lo for up to 1/2 hour at a time! She is soo beautifully independent but also loves playtime wiht anyone!
It's made for a lovely baby who is great at amusing herself! Much like her mother 

[jumblebox]

I was just wondering the same about my 3mo son. He seems to have a really long attention span, and be perfectly happy playing by himself. I try to check in with him regularly, just to remind him I'm here and see if he's ready for something different. He just grins at me and babbles, then goes back to what he was doing. I almost feel like I'm interrupting!

I've been trying to balance it with plenty of  1-on-1 time, but... sometimes he just really wants to be left alone with his mobile, or in his swing with his pooh bear, or beating up the toys on his bouncy seat toybar, or chewing on his hands and watching the ceiling fan.

[Erin M]

Sounds like you're both dong great!  I've always just followed my LO's cues -- if she's ok being left alone, I leave her alone....if she needs attention, I give her attention.  If they're happy being on their own, then that's fine and I wouldn't worry about it.