Baby groups

[Rhianna1980]

Been taking my 4 month old daughter to few baby groups and I can't help but think they are more hassle than benefit. She is a bit indifferent to what is around- only staring at other babies and other babies doing the same .

I'm starting to think that they are more for socialising mums and money making.

Maybe I should wait till she's a bit older. I'm curious to hear about what u ladies do with your LO.

Yes they are more for the mums at that age! I don't think anyone pretends otherwise though to be honest?! And definitely not worth paying for, go to your local children's centre, and meet up with other mums for coffee while your baby is still not mobile.

Glad to hear I'm not the only one who thinks that.

I didn't bother at that age. Here, the group for mums with babies under a year old states that it's for mums to go and give each other support (which I didn't feel I needed).

I've recently started going now that DD is 10 months old and she enjoys looking at the other babies and playing with new toys. This particular one is not money making - I pay £1 and that includes drinks and biscuits for the mums and fresh fruit for the babies, plus we've had little gifts at Easter etc.

What have you been too? My dd at that age loved baby yoga and Jiggy Wrigglers. I think interactive singing and music groups are good but play group type ones are a bit pointless unless you use it for mums benefit.

4 months is quite young, though propped up in a bouncer she'll enjoy looking at the world around her. But basically its for parents to get out of the house to meet other mums - share your sleep deprivation/baby weaning/baby colic stories. Its a nice idea, but if your not getting much out of it, just wait till your DD is older.

Ive never been to a baby and toddler group and dd is 2.3. Theyve never appealed. She goes to the CMs a few days a week, and I take her to a messy play session once a week (seems to be 1-3yos), but thats it.

Tbh im not fussed about making mummy friends which is what these are most usrful for imo.

My local children's centre does a free 1 hour baby play session once a week which is good. Now my dd is six months she enjoys the new toys and songs. I did pay ( too much) for a baby sensory sessions a couple of months ago but it seemed they were trying to cram too much in to a short space of time and she got really wound up. To be honest the things we go to are for me (pnd support session with our babies playing with toys and staring at each other while we eat cake and moan!) and she enjoys the new faces and toys. Don't think I'll be doing much else with her for a while yet, plus some of them are a fortune when you're on mat leave.

more for socialising mums

Yes and this was my lifeline. You sound quite disparaging

I took dd to baby massage at that age. The classes were a present so I don't know how much they cost. I also took her to lots of free groups.

Lots of people find maternity leave quite isolating and baby groups can be a really good way to meet people. Some people are quite disparaging about'mummy friends' but I quite liked meeting people from all walks of life, who I might not normally met socially

I didn't start taking my son to groups regularly until he was 7/8 months old and now at 11 months we go to three a week and he really enjoys them (he's crawling now, likes interaction with other children and loves checking out the new toys).

I think for the first 6 months the groups are really for mums and it's only after then that most babies will get stuff out of them, although some 4 months olds are sitting and I think once they're doing that, they're probably up for some external interaction.

As with most things, if its not working for you, don't do it.