I Don’t Get Baby Sensory

[SlyAvocado]

And I’m not sure my baby does either

We spent twenty minutes thanking the sun for shining on us and the corn for feeding us, and everyone else seemed to know all the sign language.

I don’t actually like corn so I didn’t particularly want to thank it, but the other mums seemed to really be appreciative of the corn and the other things in the song. The only sign I got to grips with was waving.

My baby didn’t give a toss anyway and spent most of the class staring at a bottle of hand sanitiser.

Then we waved some scarves over our baby’s faces, while the instructor danced around blowing bubbles to ‘Morning Has Broken’

My morning was broken at 4am anyway by my crap sleeper of a baby, 10am is practically afternoon for us.

I am new to the area so I tried to be jolly and talk to the other mums but they weren’t interested, I don’t know if it’s because I didn’t thank the corn.

I wore my Tears For Fears t-shirt with a sequinned blazer which might have been an odd choice but I thought, sequins are sensory aren’t they? The instructor asked if I was off to an 80’s party and I said no, I’m on my way back from one.

We will finish the course because I paid £65, so it’ll be like that time I got drunk and signed up to Zumba classes and made myself keep going even though I hated every minute of it and was rubbish and was asked to stand at the back by the fire exit.

Is there something I’m missing, are all baby sensory classes like that? Do I need to learn all the sign language?

I’m not overly bothered from a friendship point of view because we go to a music class too in a different area which is held in a pub and the parents are really friendly at that one. The baby also loves to shake a maraca like Bez, so I think he prefers it too.

Ha no baby sensory is one of middleclass baby cons! Great if you need a structured activity and want to meet others that also have money to burn....

But all of life is sensory for a baby. You can find things to play with in a kitchen or garden or park ...

I loved baby sensory but I went with my NCT friends. I know everyone says you can make friends at baby groups but I’ve been to loads and never have - half the people at them tend to go with existing friends (NCT and the like). So half the groups I went to, I went with people I already knew and the other half I went to most of the other people already knew each other and not me.

You do pick up the sign language though. For my first child I found the weird baby sensory song quite handy actually, he grew to quite like it and I ended up singing it a lot when we were out and about to calm him down.

I once got a black cab and the driver, in the broadest cockney accent, said he looked after his granddaughter one day a week and had to take her to baby sensory classes on his daughter's instruction.

To quote him: 'why am I brushing a facking fevver dahnn this baby's face?'

I love your description of it though. You write well! You could do a "mystery shopper" report for all the baby groups in a similar style and publish.... 😁

Oh I know, that is what I kept saying before we signed up- the world is sensory 😂

This just made me laugh a lot, thanks OP

I think a lot of this is just about Getting Out Of The House. If you have other channels to participate in, or the drive to think of your own activities, then can it and go somewhere else instead. Let baby channel Bez!

(I’m partially envious as I had a baby at the start of first lockdown so none of this was available to me, and now he is a rambunctious toddler and I work full time, and his SAHD is of the same mindset as you regarding toddler groups!)

How old is your baby, OP? From your description, I've done the same class. I started taking my DD at 12 weeks and she HATED it until about 4.5months when she started to tolerate it. But i kept going because i needed a reason to leave the house and the routine did me good. Now she is 6.5months, she seems to actually engage with baby classes a lot more. I didnt make any mum friends but i wasn't so bothered about that.

I do two other groups - a baby music group and baby swimming. Everyone is much chattier at those ones than the sensory group.

I quite enjoyed it but then again it ran when hardly anything else was because of the exemptions for baby groups, so that might have coloured my view. I was so grateful for a reason to Ieave the house I could have cried.

Also our teacher was very tongue in cheek and hilarious.

I loved Baby Sensory and I think I could still do a decent job of signing the song- Ds is at school now 😂😂

Totally with you on this one! Nope you’re not missing anything, that really is it.

I went with my first child when he was about 8 weeks old. I was doing what I thought was absolutely necessary to raise a bright and well rounded child - whilst paying a small fortune for the privilege.

DS2 went for a term because I felt guilty that I taken DS1 and wanted to do the same for him.

DS3, well let’s just say that he’s 4 next month and I’m yet to enrol on any ‘classes’. He gets loads of sensory stimulation from the real world!

your baby isn't meant to get it. none of these classes matter for the baby, they only matter for the sake of getting the parent (mum) out of the house & providing a chance to chat to other adults.

I didn't start any kind of groups until my DD was at least one. I genuinely did not see the point of wasting £7 a week to rub some scarves on her face which I can do for free at home

Tears for fears?!! Wtf!

I have also done the Say Helllooo to the Sun class, among many (7) others. I was bored and needed structure. I only did that one because my NCT friend went, but she neglected to tell me she already had a friend group there.

I got a lot out of Sing and Sign. Still made no friends though.

I never did baby sensory but I loved your OP! Gave me a proper chuckle. Thanks OP. Hope you have a later wake up tomorrow!

Oh and I think when people say how good the classes are for babies, this is bullshit. The classes were great for ME and my mental health. I went with my friends, it was a reason to get dressed in the morning, often went for coffee after…

The class I found the most mental was Hartbeeps. Now that was bloody weird.

Tee hee yes that's what most of us think about these things

I remember going to my first library sing a long with my baby DS and a friend and I was so mortified at the prospect of singing loudly along. But of course after a couple of visits you get used to it and like everyone else I became an enthusiastic singer because it's all so daft but fun.

I took my first to baby sensory, and yes it was middle class clap trap, but it was something to do. And I think she did like it somewhat.

I enjoyed it. It was fun. I'm not convinced it gave my daughter any huge developmental advantage but it got us out of the house (good for my PND), she was engaged and it was as good stimulation for her as any other baby activity.

I thought it was pretty obvious what sort of level it's aimed at...

I loved baby sensory, I mean, its pointless till the babies are about 4 months old, but ds1 was a complete non sleeper and I needed something to structure my day around and to get somd adult company.

I started going around 6 weeks I think. I'm off on ML with DS2, 4 weeks old and I'll not be signing up for a few months yet, I'm much busier, but also DS2 seems more content to just pootle about during the day where DS1 had higher needs!

What’s wrong with Tears for Fears I love them.

My baby is four months old, he’s actually the youngest in the class so I think the other mums have just been going for a few terms.

Completely agree. Ours was exactly the same except they would hand out homemade 'toys' (think a hairband with a bell looped through, often coming loose and a choking hazard) and as soon as they were handed out they would be collected back in so as not to 'overstimulate' the babies. The last 20 mins were free play, which was a handful of soft play bits left out, far too advanced for the non moving babies attending.

We lasted 3 sessions before I asked for a refund.

On the plus side, that intro song was magic and would instantly calm DD, so much so that it was my most played song on Spotify

Haha, completely agree OP. DSIL has a DD a few months older than my DD and she'd already done a term of Baby Sensory and thought we should join as her DD loves it.. we went with her and my god, I have never felt so out of place. They'd all done previous terms so knew each other, all knew the sign language, I bloody hated it and couldn't wait for the term to be over. More often than not, DD fell asleep so I'd be waving ribbons for myself. It was the only time I've been grateful that we had a Pandemic and went in to Lockdown because the classes ended mid-term and I got a refund😂🙌 We did Rhythm Time which was much friendlier and DD loved that!

My friend with a deaf child left baby sensory after the first lesson because as far as she could tell it's something Baby Sensory made up. It's certainly neither makaton nor BSL which are the two sign languages used in the UK, so I wouldn't worry too much about learning it....

My DS found it so overwhelming he burst into tears at 3 months old, he really enjoyed exploring it all at about 12 months though.

Ha. I took my baby to baby sensory. He was an early crawler and while everyone was thanking the sun he had fucked off down the back to the toys and was having an amazing time.