Playing and routines

[aliphil]

Can anyone recommend a book which gives some idea what I should be doing with DD at different stages (other than feed, wind, change)? At the moment (10 weeks) she spends a lot of time in her bouncy chair while I do stuff and I'm not always very good at remembering to talk to her. She sometimes likes going under her baby gym, and I try to read to her every day (if I can find a slot between feeds when she's in the mood), but that's about it, apart from cuddling/carrying her when she wants to be held.

Also, I don't want a rigid routine, but I keep reading that she should have started to develop some kind of pattern by now, and if she has I can't see it. Am I doing something wrong? She doesn't sleep much during the day. I've tried putting her down for naps when she seems tired, but she just screams and will only fall asleep when I'm holding her or sometimes in the car.

Although I am not a very big fan of Gina Ford and I take much of the routine stuff with a pinch of salt I do like some of her info for older babies and children. I found the 'The Contented Baby's First Year' book really interesting but not to be taken too seriously.

The 'What to expect...' series is also interesting if you are looking at 'ages and stages'.

If sleep / routine is an issue I like the 'Teach your child to sleep' book - fantastic for all ages.

I have spent many a happy time in the library borrowing all the parenting books. I read them - ignore what I don't agree with, try out some new ideas and then move on!

There's a massive website that I've seen linked on here that has heaps of activities for children in age categories. i can't for the life of me remember what it is though and I don't seem to have it bookmarked on either my laptop or phone.

Hopefully someone will be along that knows what I'm talking about!

Hurrah, I found it!

This website is full of ideas for activities.

www.babycenter.com/0_lets-play-weekly-activities-for-your-babys-first-year_1501475.bc

this?

Cross posted, tempus but that one looks good too :)

so does yours

Thanks, these look helpful.

Don't worry about her not having a pattern, some babies seem to have their own routine and some don't. DD1 didn't have a particular routine and didn't want one imposed on her either so I just went with the flow. DD2 imposed her own flexible routine from a few months old. 10 weeks is still very young.

On the whole sleep/routine thing I'd second the recommendation of the "Teach Your Child to Sleep" book - it's worked wonders for us (6 month old twins). I wish I'd had it earlier!
We saw a pattern emerge with our girls at about 12 weeks but it was basically sleep from 7 till 7, eat every three hours day and night and flake out exhausted after about an hour of being awake.

Does she sleep in her buggy at all? I used to pound the streets with the buggy.

And on the play activities I would say don't sweat it! At 10 weeks they don't really do much and as long as she's not crying she's happy :-) Give it a month or so and suddenly you'll see the baby gym toys getting lumps knocked out of them!

She quite likes the baby gym already, at least sometimes, but that's putting her down again. What I'm feeling guilty about is that I don't do more with her.

Sometimes she sleeps in the buggy, sometimes not; there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it either! Must admit that given the weather at the moment I don't feel very inclined to take her for walks.

DH thinks I worry too much and he may be right. After all, as he pointed out, we have a healthy and often-happy baby.

Little ones don't need much done with them. I used to talk and sing to DS. He seems to have turned out okay.

It's not like you can do painting or role play with a wee baby!

Don't worry. At the moment she'll be very interested in everything you do. Whether you're putting washing in the machine or having a shower when she's in the bouncy chair.

Yeah singing is good. They start to recognise things and smile when you sing.

It all started making more sense for us when they got about 5 months - suddenly they're grabbing stuff when they sit in your lap and things like that, you can read them a story and they'll sit for it for a while. Before that it was really hard to get them to do stuff with us. One thing that was really good from about 4 months onward was taking them to the baby playgroup at our local children's centre - they were massively entertained looking at the other babies and I think it helps them learn new skills a little faster because they see what the other babies are doing.

You don't need to 'do' much with her - she's getting plenty of stimulation just from watching you and being around you. At 10 weeks you could start to look for signs of settling into a 90 minutes awake/ 45 minutes asleep type rhythm, settling down into three longer naps in a month or so.

Well, that would save me having to think of anything to do with her, as most of her feeds run to 90+ minutes ...

I take my ten week old to 'wriggle & rhyme' at library, an under ones group at the childrens centre and a baby sensory class. The sensory is the only one I have to pay for - it's £4. She loves looking at other babies and different toys to the ones we have at home and it's a great way to meet other mummies with babies of a similar age.

Thanks easy. I want to take DD to the library bounce and rhyme but so far things have kept getting in the way. What's a baby sensory class?

Singing and stuff but also using things that light up, different materials .... toys to look at and touch to develop senses. It's fun and there are quite a lot of them around.

A friend told me today about a local one so I might go next week.