to feel guilty about leaving my baby in chair/pram/playmat ...

[Newmummytobe79]

whilst I clean and get on with house hold chores.

I do often think sod it and just sit and play as the cute grin is just too much to ignore.

What I'm really asking is how much attention do you give your babies throughout the day without letting the house fall apart?

I feel I'm not interacting enough sometimes and everyone tells me to cherrish the first year as they grow up so fast.

[porcamiseria]

HA HA, wait till you have 2. then second one get IGNORED and you will look back at this and laugh!

[Iggly]

Agree! Am on number 2 and DD gets way less attention (she's only 5 weeks though). I did feel guilty about leaving DS and he probably ended up being massively overstimulated by me trying to interact all the time
If you feel guilty, bring baby with you. Stick them in a sling for a bit while you cook clean etc (although, I have to ask, surely you should be having a rest )

[LingDiLong]

It's an eternal conundrum OP and one very few people manage to solve. I've got 3 DC but 2 are at school. When I'm at home with the little one I constantly feel guilty about the housework when I'm playing with her and guilty about the baby when I'm doing housework!!

I've worked out the bare minimum I need to do to stop myself feeling like we're sliding into chaos and filth and make sure that gets done - if she has to occupy herself for a bit so be it. If she's having a good day and is happily playing by herself then I'll do a bit more.

This morning I've probably spent about an hour on tidying/shopping/cleaning and 45 minutes on playing with the baby. That is unusual for me though I'm usually of the 'sod it and give in to the cute grin' persuasion myself!

[IneedAbetterNicknameIn2012]

I left mine playing on the mat for as long as they were happy. When they started fussing I played/fed/whatever with them for a while, and so on :) Agreed about second babies though!

[Newmummytobe79]

I should have expected the 2 comments!

Currently dragging a bouncy chair around with me :) at least it'll tone my arms up - I hope!

[Sparklingbrook]

We had a door bouncer and I used to take DS1 from room to room with me and he was happy bouncing and watching.

[Sparklingbrook]

Just realised your baby may be too young for that. Sorry.

[thefurryone]

Don't feel guilty, babies often quite enjoy sitting watching you do everyday things around the house or having a bit of time to gaze at things hanging from their baby gyms.

When DS was still able to sit still I used to park him in front of the washing machine, he thought it was ace! Now he's a bit more mobile he is very good at playing the getting clothes out of the clean washing basket game. What we think is dull is actually rather new and exciting for them.

[GodisaDj]

How old is LO? I've always left dd to entertain herself from an early age, normally on floor on her back with toys, no hazards and no tv. Just check in on her or watch her from another room etc, IMO f u constantly entertain them, they may not learn to entertain themselves when older.

My dd will happily play on the floor for up to 40 min on her own- I watched her from the other room the other day and she reaches for things, sometimes gets frustrated (not crying) but preservers, and she rolled over despite me not giving her tummy time. Shes 5 months now and is coming on a treat. Obviously now rolling is on the card I need to keep a beady eye on her

Read up on RIE- blog link below of a advocate of it (you might have to read a couple of blogs to get gist) Basically it's allowing children to play and interact on their own in their own time, not pushing the next development stage on to them and respecting them (sounds a bit "out there" but it's kinda common sense to me )

www.janetlansbury.com/