What do you do with your DCs whilst at home?

[Newbeginning1]

DS is 17 weeks old and due to finances im going to need to spend more time at home. When we are at home he seems to get grumpy and tired really easily & is sleeping quite a lot and so not really at night which also means im spending most of the day with my ass stuck to the sofa. We do walks to the park etc but i just wondered what everyone else does?

You need to find yourself a good childrens centre, most areas have one and they should be offering all sorts of (free) baby groups that are a good way of meeting other new mums and not getting bored!

If you are breastfeeding there might be a breast feeding group locally .

Baby swimming?

Yes, toddler groups will be your lifeline. Don't think he's to young either, he's not

At that age, the local under-1s group was my saviour. Otherwise: lots of walks with the pram/sling; bus rides, especially with sling (he liked looking out of the window); trips to the park if the weather is nice; visit with friends (usually mums of similar age LOs).

We spent an awful lot of time in the house when DS was that age because he was an autumn baby, so it was freezing outside, but I honestly can't remember very much about it beyond a lot of breastfeeding and wondering why he would only sleep for 40 minutes at a time, that is.

Oh, I spent many hours in the John Lewis cafe, chain-slurping tea and scoffing cake since DS was sucking the calories directly out of my body. How fondly I remember being able to go to JL and actually sit down in peace to eat and drink, without having to retrieve a highly active toddler from the kitchen/dishwasher/someone else's lunch.

I found the children's centre really useful - went to various baby groups and loved baby massage and baby yoga. The one in our nearest town does activities in the surrounding villages each week too, which was great as we live in the middle of nowhere. I also went to a baby group that was held each week at our surgery before the baby weigh in clinic.

In our area some of the churches run free baby and toddler groups each week, and i know my SIL goes to one in York so i assume that many areas have them. The ones i've been to tend to be very welcoming and not at all preachy.

I have also spent a lot of time in cafes and garden centres over the last couple of years since DS was born!

I found the first year quite hard as DS was also grumpy etc if we stayed in too much. I went out just about every day. Believe me it gets a hell of a lot easier as they get older and are able to interact more.