What do you do with your baby during the day when he/she is awake

adahc

adahc

Registered User
Here we go....What do you do with your baby (esp. 4 months old) when he/she is awake during the day. Do you constantly play with him/her? (how?)
Do you leave her/him in the cot? What do you do with your baby all day long?
In my opinion, I can only take her/him out for so long, play baby games as in shake the rattle etc for so long....I run out of things to do!
It could be because I'm not a natural born mother? As much as I love my baby and find it hard to stay clear from him, I find it boring...a little. It depressed me..
What do you do all day everyday?
 
Hi
I actually found it easier to go out with my first when he was very young - shopping and having playdates with other mums - this way the children can lie on the playmats with different noises and surroundings. My little one started crawling at 6 months so not long to go until you are busy chasing your little one around.
I know a lot of people don't agree with babies watching TV, over stimulation etc, but I put on the baby Einstein for 20 mins everyday for my little one, he is now almost 4 years old and he still only watches TV for up to 30 mins a day and sometimes non at all.
Just putting your little one in a chair whilst you are doing different things will keep him happy. I used to sit mine near the kitchen door and talk to him whilst I cooked. I also used to walk the dog a lot with him either in the pushchair or the baby bjorn.
I know you find it hard now but this time soon passes and they get a lot more interesting.
Do you know many other mums to have playdates with?
Hope this helps.
 
I agree with cwbmum....when my little one was four months old I took him everywhere.

My son could sit by four months so we use to go to the park and sit and roll around on the grass, we went also to the beach (when not so hot). I use to take him out a lot with our dogs, as well as to the supermarket, shops etc.

At four months my son watched some dvds....but I kept it to less than 30 mins a day, a rule I still stick to now he is 18 mnths old. He use to spend a lot of time on his play mat/gym which he loved. And we began to introduce a greater variety of toys...soft books, rattles, balls etc.

My son went swimming for the first time at four months, and I agree it's as good a time as any to start or attend a baby group.

I think four months can be a tough age activitiy wise...because they are past the stage when it's all about feeding and eating, buy tey still aren't partic. mobile so activity wise you are limited. But believe me the time goes so fast and before you know it they will be walking etc. and the things you can do are endless!
 
You know although I said I can not wait for him to grow up a bit, I must say I do enjoy him being totally depend on me these days.
 
You know if you have another you realise that you don't get that special one to one time - with the second everything seems to happen so much quicker - I can't believe my little on is now 11 months old - the time has gone too fast. I used to spend so much time with my first, lie together on the sofa, with the second one if I do that the older one is jumping on us! It's all fun though.
Enjoy your time with your little one - they are only that little once.
 
Yeah - you should see how many photos I have of my first, soooo many! I have tried to take many of my little girl too but no way can I match the amount!
 
At the other end of the spectrum are working mothers ( like me) who doesn't have much time to spend with bub each day except for the hour before his bedtime ( and that is IF I hurry home after work). I try and make up for it on the weekends....but there are times when I wish I can stay home and play/be with him a bit more.

I try and read books with him , tho most of the time if he is happy to play by himself I let him be. Finally succumb to TV as well, altho I try and be selective about what I show him. H's only 8 mnths and probably doesn't understand TV yet, but I make sure that he only watches educational stuff, like little einstein.
 
I had a much more relaxed attitude to what to do with my babies. I didn?t worry so much about what they wanted to do but rather what I wanted to do. My theory was that so long as they were with me they?d be happy and generally this worked out. So I?d go out and meet my husband for lunch, visit friends, shopping or whatever. I didn?t worry if the baby needed a nap or not ? as the baby could sleep in the sling if he was tired.

I recommend that you think a little more of your enjoyment and then just take baby with you to whatever it is that is entertaining you. If you are having fun and enjoying yourself it will rub off on the baby and he will have fun too ? you don?t need to do anything special.
 
barb, always nice to hear such things from a seasoned pro ;)

i worry endlessly about kids missing naps, missing meals, being bored when they're out with me and hubby always ends up getting the shortest end of the stick. it's a good reminder that we need to have fun ourselves too.
 
I have a 6 month old and my view is that almost anything is "play" for him. Just watching me cook, going shopping or to the supermarket or meeting my friends for coffee are all enjoyable for him so long as he is with me and I include him by talking to him and keep him stimulated. Just being pushed around the supermarket in the pram is "educational" as he gets to see and speak to different people, look at the bright colours and smell the different smells. Of course, I do play with him one on one too.
There is endless information about educating your tiny baby and teaching him/her skills but I really think that (at this age) at lot of that stuff is just to keep the mums amused. My baby does like Baby Einstein but I don't kid myself that those DVDs are any more "educational" than watching cartoons or music videos (which he loves - must be the music!). He is a very happy little fellow so I don't see a need to change anything.
Hope this helps and goodluck!
 
I'm currently on my 20 minute door bouncer break as my 5 month old (in a couple of days officially, but I want to get used to saying that! :)) is happily jumping up and down. This has been a great addition to the 20 minute baby gym break or the 20 minute baby Einstein break hehe. Only major deadline days has caused me to use all three but that's happened only once and never consecutively. Little un's need some time to themselves (as do us mummies) but generally we do a bit during the day.

Playtime is always fun (for both of us, I hope!) We read a couple of books, and sometimes it doesn't matter if the second one is one of Mummies as she's racing to get to the end of the chapter -- I honestly think a baby knows when you're reading to him. That you're sharing something with him.

Some great toys we use for 4-5 mos have so far been, a colourful cloth ball with a tinkling bell on the inside to play catch with, cage rattles, his little monkey textured teether thingy (one of thse clothey noiseless rattles? from lamaze) he's loved his baby rocker chair since about a month old and has started to take to playing with blocks

From 3 months on, I found little K really interested in more physical games - row row row your boat, peekaboo's a classic :) having him 'fly' around the flat and then look out the window, this little piggy, round and round the garden etc.. (right now he likes it when I jump alongside with him)

We go to the park a lot as well as shopping malls and more recently museums. We're going to the elements mall today and the history museum sometime this week (more for mummy than him, granted -- but we;ve been taking him out in his buggy since week 1 and he loves looking at things)

Playgroups are great -- we try to go to one regularly but with us living in Yuen Long and the playgroups we like being in Central doing it every week doesnt always work out as too many factors kick in sometimes. He enjoys the toys and babies, and mainly tries to eat well, both.

If all else fails, he has a little stuffed blue monkey we gave him since birth and Cheeky comforts him. And is always there for a good chew
 
my bb never seems to be contented left alone on her own to play...she always screams for company or for us to entertain her after merely on her own for like ONE minute...im so tired out!
 
fennho,

Hey bub was like that too when he was younger, but I think it gets better with time as they have more abilities and skills later on . At 8 months, bub is happy to sit by himself and play with his toys ( Ok, at least for a bit of time before he calls for us ) but as they grow, they would be more able to entertain themselves !!
 
My 4mo also likes his colourful toys that we've hooked to the side of his crib. He also loves it when I tell himstories...especially his Mr Men books and Elmo stories. I can actually see the difference... he used to want people to be around when he's up and playing but in the past few weeks, he's become a lot more independent. Honestly, they grow so quickly so savour the moment. And if you ever get bored and feel like you're not doing your job well, think of the poor mummies who have to work and can't spend the precious first years with their babies.
 
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