What to do with a 4 week old?

[hiss42]

Is there anything we can do in Manchester? Other than baby massage at sure start, we're stuck at home bored or walking round the park!

in my opinion, 4 weeks (is it your first?) is the age for doing what you want to do & taking them along! Galleries, museums, coffees... You could get into NCT tea groups or similar too.

I would definitely recommend an NCT Bumps and babies groups. They are a great place to meet new mums. have a look on the NCT website - enter your postcode to find a local branch and they can tell you where your nearest group is. It is usually only a pound or so to go - I found it a life-saver when I was in the same situation as you with a newborn and bored out of my mind (no-one prepares you for the isolation of it do they!?). The number of times I walked up and down our road with the pram is unbelieveable. I knew everyone's garden by heart. And I couldn't believe how quiet the house is in the day.

I also found some church-run baby and toddler groups to go along to (I am not religious and they don't mind if you are not either).

Where are you? PM me and I could offer you some hints if you want. Good luck - it does get better as they get more interactive.

If I could do it again, I would chill out and appreciate the fact that s/he can't crawl yet! But that's not much help. When my son got to 16 weeks, he loved Tiny Talk and Jo Jingles. (We're in Trafford but there's similar things all over Manchester.)

Oh, and check out Netmums Manchester site's local listings for your area, if you haven't already.

Definitely second what Fenner says about checking Netmums local listings. There are quite a few baby-groups around for mums with young babies. There is one near me in Chorlton on a Monday afternoon called Bumps and babes which is run by NCT for babies up to aged 1. Once baby is around 8 weeks you could try baby yoga - again, there are lots of classes around.

I signed up for MeetaMum on Netmums and replied to the first posting I saw where the lady in question could construct a sentence. We met up, spent vast amounts of maternity leave together and are still great friends more than a year later. Honestly, try it. I was really nervous but it worked out fantastically for me.

It is desperately isolating though, isn't it. I didn't get out for 7 weeks due to snow up to our ears and I nearly went mad. When I did get out, I used to stare at mums in the park wishing I had the balls to go up and talk to them. I bet they thought I was a total nutjob.

Also Rhyme Time at the library, join NCT (wish I had now), Rhythm Time franchise is good.