Reluctant to go out much with 8 week old. Is it normal?

[veggie77]

I've got an 8 week old boy and am starting to get a bit frustrated that he sleeps so much that there isn't much point in taking him to any baby activities. There's a couple of surestart baby play groups I could walk to but even though I want to leave the house to do them, I just chicken out every time and start to wonder how it will work when I need to feed him again in an hour or so. I'm breastfeeding on demand which is every 2.5 to 3 hours or so. Don't get me wrong , I do go out for lunch with mum and have met a friend and gone out with hubby places. But when I think about motivating myself to take my son to any organised activities, I just bail out cos it involves planning ahead feeding times earlier than normal or getting in the car to drive to it. I just find it stressful. My Mum told me its normal not to do a lot with young babies and to relax until he's 3 months old.

Are other people feeling the same? It's just that some other Mums I know with babi this age are heading out 2 or 3 days a week to various classes and mum groups. I just can't face it yet.

Thoughts please!

At that point it's really more for your benefit then his, so I wouldn't worry about him not developing or the like. Take your time and do what is comfortable for you!

The "classes" are for you as others have said, so you can chat to other mums and not be isolated at home on your own. I think they are excellent at helping you not feel depressed.
Does your local surestart have a breastfeeding support group? That might be a good place to start as you won't have to worry about feeding - everyone else will be doing it too. You can't plan around feeds with a newborn - if you are going to make it work you will have to either breastfeed in public or give bottles in public instead unless you want to stay at home for months on end. Another good place to start is baby massage - this is calming for baby and will also be full of mums of newborns. Your baby doesn't need rhymetime yet or sing and sign or any of that competitive parenting stuff. It does not matter if you go to baby massage and your baby stays asleep - you can still watch and learn and use it later on at home and you get a hot cup of tea and to chat to other people and get out of the house for a bit.