What should I be ^doing^ with my 7 month old?

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[muppetgirl]

put her in her highchair whilst you are doing jobs in the kitchen and give her safe things from your kitchen cupboard to play with. (large/small spoons, measuring cups, plastic stuff, wooden spoons etc)

Read to her

Any jobs in the garden put her in her pushchair so she can see what you're up too

Play pen - hang/tie different things at different heights so she can climb, stand sit and play.

Dance with her (my 7 month old ds loves this!)

Will post agin if I think of anything more!

[Cammelia]

At that age we had lots of books, cloth books, plastic books (can play with in the bath), hard baby books.

Look at and point at pictures, a few words to say about the pictures

We were well into mother and baby swimming lessons at that age; NCT coffee mornings; creche at gym for an hour while I exercised; outings with friends of same age

[bergentulip]

Just let them watch you. Perfectly entertaining and not understimulating at all.
Mine finds everything hysterical at the moment, laughs a full belly/chesty laugh at almost anything.
Shaking out laundry before I fold it away, or washing up in the sink, wiping the table (!), hoovering is bizarrely comical for him.... strange child....

I don't think he is going to be destined for genius somehow (!)

[Again]

Pop her in a sling while you are doing things and go out and about. We go to the library a lot.

[muppetgirl]

Different textures also good, playdough, paints. You can put her in her highchair and put various things under clinflim for her to pat if you're worried about anything going in her mouth.

Pat mats are good - mats that are filled with water and have shapes/sparkly thing in them. Good for tummy time too.

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[allgonebellyup]

i remember i used to wonder this all the time..

[paperdoll]

Look out the window and talk about what you see. DS (10 months) loves this, but it is partly because we live on a busy road with loads of buses and whatnot for him to get excited about. Having said that, he also loves to see the birds in the sky and the big tree in the back garden (different window!).

We also like the local library's "rhyme time" sessions for babies and toddlers, and it has been fun to watch him grow from just staring blankly at the other babies, to getting into the songs and clapping etc. Maybe see if your area has anything similar?

[paperdoll]

God no, you're not a failure for asking! But I find getting out and about with DS keeps me from being bored too

[moocowme]

she can play independantly with her toys on the floor? that is good and she will be getting enough stimulation from it.

i just get on with the never ending housework while ds plays around me and tries to attack the vacume cleaner.

[muppetgirl]

I say all that but ds 2 -7 months- is a large, lazy baby who is just nothing like his 'let me at the world -NOW' brother!

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[AnyFuleKno]

My dd's also 7 months...

I like to put different tubs, pots pans etc on floor and show dd how to hit them with a wooden spoon to make a racket. She loves doing this and it keeps her busy for a while.

She likes to be in the sling on my back while I potter...mow the lawn, put out washing, anything where you are moving around a lot. She seems so content there for ages and ages.

I try to get down on her level while she is on the floor - crawl around with her or 'join in' with what she is doing every so often. My dd finds this hilarious. I lie on my back on the floor and she spends time prodding at my face like it's a strange new toy.

I feel weird about leaving dd to play on the floor too, but she seems very happy to do so, and I figure that it's good for her to have some time where she is exploring and observing things for herself rather than being constantly entertained.

I completely empathise, it can be draining thinking of things to keep them happy all day!

[Heated]

There's a book called "Smart Start Your Baby" by Penny Warner which, despite being hideously named is actually excellent & gets very good reviews on Amazon.

Taken from the blurb: It's about reading your baby's cues; understand their physical, cognitive and psychological growth week by week during the first year. It gives week by week description you can do to encourage the physical, mental and emotional well-being of your child.

I'm not one much for baby-parenting books but this I liked as it was simple and practical & some of the games had dd2 & me laughing hysterically at some points.