Any tips for getting through the day with a 7 month old?

[MrsBumblebee]

I'm a SAHM to a 7 month old little boy, and recently I'm finding it harder to keep him entertained all day. He seems to me to be an extremely active child - he's never still for a second (never sits quietly on your knee for a cuddle etc) and appears to get bored with activities quite quickly. He'll play happily with a toy or look at a book for a few minutes, and then lose interest or get cross. It doesn't help that he's quite physically frustrate at the moment - if I put him on the floor he immediately rolls over and tries to crawl, but starts to cry because he can't, and if I put him in his playnest he launches himself over the side and bangs his head on the floor. He's also just started a very tiresome habit of emitting piercing shrieks while he's playing, for no apparent reason.

Everyone tells me I'm lucky to have such an interactive child (which is true - he loves to 'chat' and usually has a beaming smile for everyone), and I love him to pieces, but he's wearing me out!!

I guess I have two questions. First, is this normal behaviour? When I'm having a bad day with him, I occasionally wonder if he's got some sort of hyperactivity disorder or something. Second, does anyone have any suggestions of how I can keep him entertained? We do the normal toys and books, and he loves physical activities like going in his door bouncer or on the baby swing, but I feel I need some new ideas. He's much calmer if I take him out, but I live in a small village and only have access to a car a couple of days a week, so it can be tricky.

Any thoughts gratefully appreciated!

He sounds completely normal to me - boys are very physical! The only thing that has helped me is to get out as much as possible. Go to every available activity, I know you are in a village so maybe you are already doing that! Do you have any friends who are at home with children? I find that if I spend a couple of hours at a friend's house or they come to me it really cheers me up and makes the rest of the day go much more quickly. I think that people are often too reserved to reach out and suggest meeting up, particularly with people you haven' known long, but my theory is that there are lots of mothers around who would love some company and you just have to ask. I don't think that it matters if your children aren't exactly the same age either. Good luck and don't get disheartened - everything is just a stage that he will grow out of!

Wine?

I had one like this! He's 7 now. Somedays he wore me out so much even the thought of going to the shop with him was too much - i'd just sit and stare into space. It can be very hard. I felt my relatives and friends with more placid children couldn't possibly understand.

My second was alot more placid.

Even now he's alot less likely to entertain himself than his brother. However, he is chatty, lively, clued up and on the G&T register for communication and performance and he goes to stage school once a week. He's also very affectionate, loving, sensitive and very much his own person and happy with how he is.

Your son will be more entertaining when he hits toddlerdom believe me! In the early years i wish i'd handled things better with him and maybe not got so frustrated.

Sorry - not much help other than to say i think i know where you are right now.

My dd has started doing the piercing shrieks too! I think she's just finding her voice, after a pretty quiet first few months (she's 6 months next week).

I try to vary what she's doing when she gets fed up, so we go between tummy time, door bouncer, under baby gym, looking at books on bed, sitting on sofa making faces at each other etc etc etc. We go for a walk in the park with the dog every day for about an hour and people usually stop to say hello to us which keeps her entertained. Just looking into story times at library/music group/playgroup etc as I've never felt she was old enough before but now I think she would like a bit more variety in her day.

I don't think you need to worry about hyperactivity. Babies and small children have pretty short atttention spans and need lots of variety. I worked in a nursery for 6 years and we always reckoned we needed a new activity about every 15 minutes to stop the children getting bored. Which was quite exhausting with 20 children under 2!

try to go out every day.

since ds sat up i took him to toddler group 3 days a week, swimming once a week (since 5 weeks), tumble tots once a week(since crawling), and rattle and rhyme story time once a week at the libaray pretty much since he was born. we go to the park most days aswell.

what about building blocks? ds loves chucking those around!! or a ball pit?

Hi MrsB

Perfectly normal! Especially the piercing shrieks! As others have said - think he is finding his voice.

With Ryan I have started to do the following.

• Take him out/ into the garden twice a day. He happily sits in his pushchair and will watch the world go by for a while.
• Different toys/ mats in different rooms. When he gets bored, a change of room sorts him out. Any mirrors he can sit and play in front of? Keeps Ryan amused

- Which highchair do you have? I have the tripp trapp and it is a godsend, he can happily play for 30 mins after feeds allowing me to clean up - I have a little box of toys in each room and sit the box in front of him on his side. He happily pulls the toys out for 20-30 mins

Also try and break up your days/ weeks with trips out and visits to friends. Have something to look forward to. I know it can feel quite isolating. Do you have a playgroup/ creche that you can start leaving him in for a few hours a week? Just to give you a break?

My final suggestion is to have another baby. Bound to keep him entertained. Eventually.

agree about the garden - ds would sit in the garden for hours

Am also planning on getting one of these as one of the other posters has suggested. Apparently keeps one of my friends nephew entertained for an age when filled with balls!

ball pool

and when all else fails, Watching Mummy Dancing is good for at least five minutes...

also remember things that are Not Officially Toys - stuff out the kitchen cupboards (dd's favourite toy at 7m was a wooden spoon), clothes pegs, old curtain tassels if you have any

blowing bubbles or balloons.

get out of the house as much as possible - watching the bin men is often a winner if they don't come too early
also watching window cleaners/ builders/ gardeners etc if you can find some at work in the village
is he big enough to go in the baby swings at the park? this wears dd right out so we get a good nap afterwards.

nappyaddict - think it is the trees that keeps ryan amused. He cannot figure out what moves the leaves I think!

ds also had a bubble machine which kept him entertained for ages.

My ds who is now 20 months has always been like that. I think its normal although I too used to worry he was hyperactive or something. He is at a really exciting stage right now! It sounds like you are doing a good job. I agree with what everyone else has said - filling up the day is a great way to keep the babies busy and you from going mad from repitition. Like you I live in a small village and I dont drive so I know its hard but maybe you could organise something yourself for the Mums in the area?

I do feel for you, my ds was exactly the same and it's very un-relaxing and exhausting. I also found his early toddling period VERY tiring, I just could not sit down...was at a wedding recently where the 18 month old 'pageboy' was adorably toddling happily between pews, smiling at people, and it just made me laugh; DS would have HARED out of that church and up the road! Some children are just like this.

There's loads of good advice on here already with which I totally agree, just wanted to add my sympathy and understanding! Getting out and letting them be stimulated by other environments is pretty much the best you can do at the moment I think - that, and count the hours till bedtime!

Oh my ds is exactly the same. Very active, hates to sit on your lap, doesn't like sitting still even in his highchair or buggy. It's very tiring. He will sometimes (rarely) sit on his own and play for around 30 mins but he quickly gets bored. Mostly after a few minutes he's whinging or crying. He's 8 months old now and is just starting to crawl but very very slowly and backwards! This seems to be frustrating him even more.

He does exactly as you described... lays on the floor, immediately rolls over, then whinges to be picked up again. Not wanting a cuddle either, just wants to be walked around with and shown things. Not easy as he's a rather large baby (24lbs!).

It's very hard work. Try getting out and seeing friends or going to baby groups on the days you have the car. Swimming is a great activity for babies too so try going as often as possible!

Also, not saying you would want to try this as I was dead against it to begin with but everyone reccommended we get a baby walker. I hated the idea of one but eventually decided to give it a go. DS loves it and it has saved my sanity, even justfor a few minutes of whinge free time! It should get easier when he is mobile (or at least that's what I keep telling myself). Good luck!

Oh and also, I worried about ds having hyperactivity or somesort of an attention problem. I posted on mumsnet and apparently lots of people have active/frustrated/grumpy babies! I'm sure there's nothing wrong with him!

Gin.

Thanks so much everyone. It's very reassuring to know that DS is perfectly normal! And there have been some really good suggestions of games and activities, some of which I've already tried. We had our first major bump yesterday - nose first out of playring onto wooden floor . Only the first of many, I fear... Luckily my gin and wine cupboard is very well-stocked .

Get out as much as possible. It's hard being a one woman entertainment complex! Is there a softplay area with a bit especially for babies nearby? My DS loved this when he was a baby. Get to mum and baby groups / the park / swimming etc. Tire him out!