14 Month Old Hates Shopping!

I did most of my grocery shopping in the evenings when my kids were that age. Not only was the store less crowded but I got some much needed time to myself.
Leave the little one home with daddy and do what you need to do!

If you have to take her with you, can you:
-bring a toy w/her to play with
-let her out for a few seconds when you know you're going to be standing
in that aisle for a few mins
-can she sit up in the big area of the shopping cart in lieu of the sitting seat?
-I say just give her something to entertain her (a musical toy) and shop
super fast. Be efficient. Get in and get out.
My son never hated shopping but my friends with girls? You guessed it, couldn't stand it!

Wait til your husband gets home and then go to the store. It will be good for him to take care of her, and good for you to go shopping alone. Honestly, kids and shopping don't mix...

Dawn

Quit taking your 14 month old shopping. If your husband isn't available, then hire a babysitter while you run errands or change your errand running time to a time when your hubby can watch her. You'll be amazed how much faster all your errands go when you don't have a 14 month old in-tow. My daughter is 4, and I still prefer to do my errands while she's with a babysitter.

Really...just find some other time to shop. You're not a single mother in dire straits - mid-week, daytime shopping is optional and it's not working for you so why stress yourself and your baby out unnecessarily? Go when your husband comes home from work or on the weekends. I work FT so I always shopped at night or on the weekends and rarely, if ever, took my kids. This is not a battle worth fighting and trust me...without needing to spend time and energy trying to entertain and soothe a toddler, you'll cut your shopping time in half, be more focused and spend less.

Babies think shopping is boring... much like husbands. But husbands don't cry (I think) - they just look for the tool section.

Your lovely daughter is saying, "This should be a place for me to play and run, not a place to sit still while you don't pay attention to me." So your job is to work out a way to pay attention to her while you're shopping. I had running conversations with my kids when they were that young. I'm sure people thought I was weird, but that didn't matter. I'd strap my assistant into the cart and we'd talk about colors of boxes, we'd talk about pictures on the boxes, we'd talk about what was in the containers. We'd talk about what the animal who provided the milk says. We'd talk about round, square, rectangular, triangular. We'd pick something relatively safe and indestructible (on my list) that my assistant could hold for a while, and trade it for something else to hold later.

You have to know pretty well what you want and where to go in the store to do this. And you want to be as fast and as efficient as you can. But your assistant gets the desired amount of attention, and a lot of praise when the trip is done. She's not acting this way in defiance so much as in, um, toddler-ness. A good kind of distraction can often be key.

Next time try grabbing a toy or something to distract her while you shop. Focus on getting only the essentials to minimize the time spent in the store.
Go to the store at a time when it is not so crowded and you can move the cart around easier.
Leave the baby home with someone (dad or other) when you go shop if possible.

What about wearing her in a backpack/Ergo carrier or rescheduling youur shopping trip so hubby will be home with her while you shop alone? I often go on weekend mornings or after the kids are in bed.

This is why Mother's Day Out is there. Mom's realize that they need some time during the day to run errands, go to the OB/GYN, clean the house, all sorts of things. It is a program that is part time and kids are enrolled by the day. If you only want to take them one day per week then that's all you enroll them for. You also can enroll them for each day they are open.

Mother's Day Out programs are usually in the local Methodist Church. I think taking kids shopping and to other activities they hate is not only hard on you it is hard on them.

I suggest you manage your stress better by leaving her with a babysitter or some sort of Mother's Day Out program.

Its a phase she will grow out of. WHen she gets a bit older bring a video game or let her play on your phone-oh and bribery works too.

Our son was pretty good in the store when we took him, (but we didn't take him often).
But one time I was getting something from a shelf, turned around and he was delicately taking the eggs from the carton and placing them around the cart around all the other groceries.
It was a miracle none of them broke and I managed to get them all back in the carton.
At that age I mostly either left him at home with Dad (shopping during the weekend) or I'd get a few things from the store on the way home from work just before I picked him up at daycare.
Another thing that worked well was giving my husband a list and sending him off to the store while I stayed home with our son.

I went thru a time when I could never take my daughter to the grocery store because she climbed out of the cart no matter how I tried to tie her in the cart and it was a constant danger that she was going to fall on her head.
Go when your hubby is home. Have a master list printed from the computer and circle things as you run out in the hopes you would only have to go once a week. If you only need one thing mid week hubby has to stop on his way home from work.
With my boys I would bring a toy and snacks (small snacks that would keep em busy longer like fruit loops that he didnt ever get a home) I NEVER Let them out of the cart. EVER.
Have a toy that a) she only sees when you go shopping (two or three to switch out would be better so they are like new) and b) can be tied to the cart.

Your first mistake was letting her out of the stroller. Oops, that was your second mistake, your first mistake was taking her in the first place. Okay, I really am teasing you! It can truly be challenging to take some little ones shopping. Some kids were made to be content in their strollers, some were not. I have both. My daughter loved to shop from the very beginning and still does! My boys? Ugh. Too much to see and touch and do! Can't blame them for not wanting to sit quietly for that. So I was a little serious when I said you made a mistake letting her out, we had a rule about staying in the stroller, if out then holding the hand, period! Tough? Yup. Doable? Yup. Fun? Nope. Out of my four kids my youngest by far was the most difficult. He is five and loves to go shopping now but it takes me forever and a day to get through it because he wants to look at everything!!! Hang in there mama.
Oh, forgot to add that when I shopped I would let the kids "help" by holding unbreakable items, switching items when they got bored with the one they were holding and also lollipops, lots and lots of lollipops! ; )
Oh, and shop at night when hubby is home. Not so much of a crowd then either!

Stop taking her. It's a tough age to expect a baby/toddler to sit and not run around. Go at night, or get a sitter or a friend to do some trade off babysitting or something...

If dad is in the picture & works a traditional schedule, then can't he help out with the shopping? Either he can do it, or he can stay with baby while you do do it. No need to stress when there is an easy solution.

14 months is an age where it is very hard to do lots of things that you could do with a baby or older child. It's okay to alter your schedule until it's easier to bring her to the store. Personally, there was a whole year or so where we didn't eat at sit down restaurants because keeping DD happy & still was super difficult.

My 16 month old is good 99% of the time. I tell him its time to grocery shop and we will be fast. We stop at the deli and get him a slice of turkey, the produce department lady will give him some watermelon. He is happy to munch on that until we are done. But...I have a list and coupons organized before I go so we are in and out in about 45 minutes. The mall is another story. He sometimes does not want to be in the stroller. Again, I have to know what I want, get in and get out. Always prepared to leave at a moments notice. If he is handling it fine that particular day, I get what I came for first, and then we will browse and window shop until he gets tired of that. Always have a back up plan and it won't be so frustrating. Prepare for the worst and then be pleasantly surprised when it actually works out. Hopefully it is just a phase for her, but I disagree with leaving her at home with Dad all the time as she will never learn how to behave in public and you will always dread taking her with you and eventually resent it.

It may seem weird, but she is probably getting over stimulated. my kids used to lose it in stores too. The best thing that worked for me was putting a hat on them, preferably a cotton pilot cap (Hannah Anderson sells then) because it covers their ears, but any hat will help.If you can find a thin cotton hat, she will be able to wear it in the summer while you are in the store. It may take her a little time to get used to wearing it if she hasn't worn hats much.
I would stop letting her run around, that will drive you crazy if you have to chase after her. My children also liked being in a front pack that faced me, I would place a blanket over them, but left a little place for them to peak out.

Is there a drop in daycare center? This might be your best bet. You get to shop quickly without daughter and she gets to play with other kids. I used to use the child center on base and it would take me 35 minutes to shop and then get him and go home.

Shopping with a kid takes up so much more time. Also have a grocery list so that you can whiz through and get it done.

As others have said letting her out of the stroller is a no no in a grocery store. Never feel embarassesd because your kid is crying most people know that she wanted something she can't have or have been there done that.

Good luck to you. It's a phase that will end soon.

The other S.

My 'trick' to get my kids to be content in the shopping cart was to give them the list and the pen and let them 'help' and talk to them the whole time...'Should we get regular PB or chunky'? I like the milk with the blue lid, what about you sis'? "We're gonna make Daddy his favorite dinner tonight, you wanna help when we get home'? Stuff like that!

That's all I got. That and consistency, eventually she will grow out of this. Sorry!