How much do / did you actively play with your 5.5mo

[Puppster]

ie down on the playmat, interacting with toys etc? I'm worried I don't do it enough - too much MNing generally

I sing to him on my lap, talk to him all the time, we have lovely bathtime / bedtime routine with stories, give him different toys during the day etc and I feel very involved with him, I just don't know if I should be actively playing with him more.

Plus related point, what about all those activity groups that you have to pay for, do you all do those too? (I've signed him up for swimming lessons from next week with his dad, but that's about it)

reading it back this is clearly a PFB q, but i'm interested nonetheless

TIA

[laraeo]

I'm interested too! My DS is 6 mos and I'm the same way - except I'll be taking him to his swim lessons. We're signed up to start a "sing and sign" class too - although I'm pretty sure I'll be doing the vast majority of singing & signing!

[ajm200]

At that age I was taking DS to two playgroups but that was more for me than him. I didn't know anybody and was lonely.

At home, I'd sing songs and play with brightly coloured toys for him to watch/grasp for about 20 mins after a feed then put him down on his playgym or down for nap but I would stop and make a fuss of him each time I passed as I was doing the housework..

Ah housework... the days before MN and a toddler..

[Puppster]

hmmm, I definitely don't do 20 mins play after each feed, more the passing thing, with a session of play about now - oh dear

Laraeo - thats reassuring, perhaps another group would assuage my conscience slightly

[theinsider]

I have a 5.5m old. He gets very minimal active playing with. "This little piggy" a couple of times a day, about that level. He doesn't seem any the worse for it. (He gets plenty of cuddles).

He's my third so mainly it's because I don't have time, or when I do have a moment I don't have the inclination .

But he's gone to playgroups from birth and is surrounded by older two and their friends. He goes to places like zoos etc which my oldest child didn't until much older.

I started taking DC1 to playgroups from about 6m - I think they're able to benefit from the change of scene/toys/faces by then.

[ajm200]

There's no right or wrong. Every mum and child is different, as long as your lo gets some attention and stimulation and is happy the rest of the time, I wouldn't worry too much.

I think i maximised my time playing with DS because I thought I was going back to work and would miss out. Ended up a SAHM

[babyOcho]

Look up Baby Bounce at your local libraries.
It's free and I am sure that your LO will love it. My DD, 5.5mo loves it, so do I!

Started taking her on the baby swings at the park about a month ago and she now loves that as well.

I try to balance out her playing on her own with me playing with her. I think that its good that they can do their own thing and be independent.

[MatNanPlus]

Current 6m old's Typical Day :

6-7am BF and snuggles

8.05 nappy and dressed then floor time in bedroom

8.30 top up BF, not always taken.

8.45 out for a walk to seafront, harbour or for shopping that is needed, may nap for 15-90 minutes - average is 30minutes

10.30 back home, nappy & floortime in lounge

11.00 FF and stories of the week - have 4-6 books we read twice a day for the week then change them

11.45 Bed

2.30 woken for FF and after that stories

3.15 playtime in 2 of the following : disco ring, door bouncer, einstien ring - if on the floor is sick as wants to be on her full tummy.

4.00 Bed

5.30 if not up, woken and playtime if awake early then floortime in playroom

6.00 BF

7.00 out for a walk

8.00 home, bath and BF

8.30 in bed often asleep in 10 minutes self settles.

[MatNanPlus]

Floortime is usually me sitting/lying by the area/blanket (carpet makes her rashy )chatting with her and moving toys to just out of reach as she is getting more mobile, rings/bouncer i am in room chatting but not playing with her.

[laraeo]

I do make a point of getting out and about at least once/day - even if it's only to take the dog for his walks! Like ajm200 mentioned, for me the sing & sign is as much for me to get out and meet more mums. DS also goes to the gym's creche about 3 times/week and is finally starting to enjoy it - I think when he can sit unaided, he'll like it even more. I plan on looking into what the local library offers too - again, more for me than him

[merryberry]

mine ds2's just past 5.5. i remember the endless low level panic of wondering if ds1 was getting enough input. i wish i'd just got on with my life more, think he'd have been as happy with that as anything else. except the music/singing stuff. oh how much he loved those things. now i know ds2 is well played with, goes like this:

• get up. gurgle.
• watch mum get dressed and look interested in eating the deodorant or play with toys if she's in the shower
• downstairs with dad and ds1. lie on mats, chew stuff, wriggle, watch dad and ds1 eat breakfast
• upstairs, in exer-saucer thingy for ages, with ever changing succession of objects to explore. the more objects the more time for:
• watching mum drink coffee, eat breakfast chat to/chase ds1 into clothes.
• and/or sit/bounce on lap while watching ds1 dance, sing etc to tv, or have stories enacted by mum if coffee was good, lots of 3 way laughing nonsense etc
• bed or pram for sleep
• watch ds1 doing what he's doing out and about. pretend to take part in wildly age inappropriate stuff, courtesy of mum easing ds1 into the idea of sharing more
• meet other people. i hand him over as much as possible as he's a smiler and the great british public ask for him often, he loves a new face and i love to look at him from a new angle
• frantically try to eat age inappropriate foods at ds1 and my lunch
• roar with frustration prior to next nap. nap anyway, sucking some soft toy hard

-wake looking so sunny we tickle and roll and try and figure mirrors out during ds1's quiet time

• then it all slides downhill into a mush of runs on the toddler toilet training. And bad tempered pre-tea (ds1 and me) plonking baby on floor and grabbing nearest objects of interest to play with.

Basically, given the 'watch ds1', the 'you're plonked mate, it's a toddler emergency' and the 'practice sitting upright on my knee while mum chats' options, it's a doddle. For both my boy, with very different temperaments, what i'm sure about now is that they most love to actively watch what the rest of the human world is doing. Even ds1, who is a retiring, sensitive type. So well worth getting out there into groups

[Puppster]

Thanks all, been away so have only just got back to this. All pretty reassuring, and as you say, I think now is when he will really start getting real benefit from organised groups. We do alot of sitting on knees whilst out and about drinking vast amounts of coffee with other mums, so hopefully he's getting lots of (not really planned) stimulus as well

[MatNanPlus]

Shopping is a good activity, everyone stops to say hello or smile (tho they do touch too ) and the lights, sounds and colours are great.

[HolidaysQueen]

puppster - i have a 5 month old and this has always worried me. but he never seems unhappy or bored and he is always smiling so i am trying to not stress so much.

the stuff i do with him is gymboree (once per week) and swimming (once per week on course plus probs every other weekend with dad). 30 mins pre-bath every day naked on his mat singing songs, blowing raspebrries at him, waving cuddly toys in his face and generally completely overstimulating him, then bath with dad for a further 20 mins of overstimulation before passing out exhausted in his cot. i have also started trying to sing to him when carting him around for nappy changes, into buggy etc. as he loves it. i've also taken to putting him in his bouncy chair while i cook dinner or wash up and just tell him what i'm doing so i'm sort of interacting and doing my stuff at the same time. and usually have a nice chat with him after each feed, maybe playing with one toy or reading a book.

but he also spends a lot of time (at least half his awake time i reckon) amusing himself on his playmat, in his bouncy chair, in his door bouncer while i get on with household stuff (or have a cuppa and watch a bit of telly if it's been a bad night ) and just occasionally chatter with him