Baby explorer sensory classes

[1963andbewildered]

Ok so my children are now in their late teens / early 20s . Maybe I am completely out of touch ,but what do these classes actually achieve? Have just skimmed FB and so many people advertising these classes !! Are these classes actually beneficial?

I found them more beneficial for me on maternity to be honest- out the house, speaking to other adults / mums, and a fun activity we went to together

Boring as fuck. Hated shit like this. I should have just gone for a walk or stayed at home drinking wine whilst my kid happily trashed the house.

Both my babies have absolutely loved them, laughing the whole way through. They liked hearing lots of people sing, I learn little activities we can do together they enjoy, there are loads of different new toys which change every week. And it's good to get out the house and be with a load of other mums with babies the same age and go for a coffee after. They're not for everyone, but I look forward to it every week.

Are you me?

We've been going since baby was 8 weeks and she is now 8 months. Her favourite song is the intro song to the class, every week is themed and they come up with play ideas that I wouldn't. It meant in the early days when her reflux was awful that there was one day a week at least that I was dressed and out of the house on time. I wouldn't say I've made lasting friends but acquaintances I know well enough to have a superficial chat with and that's good enough for me.

I only ever went to a free library class with my eldest and when I had two under two was that frazzled by time I got anywhere on public transport I just didn't enjoy it.

I don’t know if ‘baby explorer’ is a particular brand type, but once classes were an option for my lockdown baby I went to any and everything I could. And when they weren’t I did stuff on zoom.

Bloom baby classes were my favourite. The songs were catchy as fuck. At first the main benefit were the pictures of my baby dressed up/ arranged around the themed props looking absolutely bored and unimpressed which still make me laugh now, but as she got a little older she really loved and engaged with them too.

Mainly I just liked having a reason to get dressed and leave the house every day, and something to structure our day around.

We also did a baby sign one which was pretty useful, and DD still signs quite a few things now.

I still do groups on my non work days now DD is a toddler, though I tend to go for
the church toddler groups £1 for a cuppa and a biscuit type ones.

They’re not necessary for baby development at all, but some babies do really enjoy them and they can give you some ideas and some fun bonding time if you like that kind of thing.

They are similar to NCT vs NHS antenatal classes. A way for the middle class parents to socialise without any benefit riff-raff you find at the children's centres because they are priced out. I did the odd term here and there, and the big benefit is because you've paid upwards of £10 a class in advance, you are going to go if it is raining/you've had a bad night etc. But otherwise, the £1 church hall type parent and child groups offer the exact same benefits to parent and child but don't allow for feelings of parental one upmanship.

Just gets you out the house, baby ones maybe not essential, but they certainly benefit from doing something once they start crawling and exploring. Some people don't have friends or family around to visit or visit them.

Around here toddler groups are so hard to get a space at.

I remember one where there was a huge plate of jelly and my DS - now 9 - enthusiastically buried his hands in it and scrunched it with a look of absolute concentration and wonder on his face!

Used to love baby sensory.

Aah thank you for the replies..so basically somewhere to socialise and the Mums benefit! Am glad I had my babies 20 years ago TBH …local mother and toddler group was fab. People from different backgrounds all mixing and sharing advice etc .

It's benefits the mother as gets her out the house in early days. I took DD there and got the most amazing photos of DD as a baby. It was fun and DD seemed to enjoy the different toys and songs and now aged 5 still sings the intro song. Has benefits but mainly for me I'd say

I also went to local church play groups and they were amazing but the sensory class was my something special

Ah another “I don’t really understand it / it never existed in my day so I’ll be judgemental about it” post.

Of course the baby won’t miss out on not going to it, but it’s a good opportunity for the parent to get out the house and not have to think for an hour cos someone else is entertaining your child.

We did a few of these classes and they’re quite sweet, but the branding is just different for basically the same thing - music, wafting some scarves, baby shaking some things, light shoes etc

I didn’t enjoy Baby Sensory but the woman who runs the local one seemed to be out to make as much money as possible, cramming loads in and it wasn’t good. Other groups run by an opera company were good.

We went to loads of classes including baby sensory and water babies. I'm a single parent so not middle class.

I really enjoyed our baby classes! Gave me loads of ideas of things to play with DS (as I had no clue bar peekaboo and singing a handful of songs), made some good friends and DS always slept really well after. I found the church stay & plays awful when I had a little baby, I'm not from the town we live in and every other mum seemed to come with a friend or meet friends there so you'd just be sat there with your baby on a play mat drinking an instant coffee. I could do that at home for free. They were fine once he was crawling and toddling as I just used to follow him round.

Here half of the church hall type groups haven't reopened post Covid and all our children's centres have stopped running free play sessions so it's not as easy to get out there as it used to be.