What do you do with a baby?

[cryMeASliverOfPie]

I have an 8 month old and I'm looking for ideas of what to do with her in the daytime.

Currently we:
Go to a baby and toddler group once a week.
Sing nursery rhymes.
Read.
Play peekaboo type and games.
Bath time play. As she's always found baths more fun than relaxing I've made this a play activity.
She sits alone for a bit playing. About 10 mins a time.

In total, apart from time at the baby and toddler group, these activities don't take very long.

I'm struggling to get her to eat solids so not much time used there. She breastfeeds. I go for walks. As the weather picks up I'll start going to the park with her.

Any other ideas? I don't know what else to do to fill out the day.

I have a 1 year old so bit older but I was doing these things when she was that age too:

Go to the children's library
Swimming
Go to country parks and walk around and play on the swings, doesn't need to be warm just wrap up!
Go to coffee shops
Look round the shops
Go and visit anyone that will have you or invite other mums from baby group over for tea and cake
Lots of playtime at home, watching me do bits and pieces sometimes I pop her in her highchair so she can watch what I'm doing
Let her play with a washing up bowl of water and some pots and pans
Let her play with something like cornflakes just stirring them with big spoon and making a mess really
Read stories

My dd is poorly today and has basically been in bed all day I'm a bit bored !

Oh and soft play places are good too they usually have a cafe attached! And a baby zone

Pretty much everything you do!

Is she crawling? I found life got easier when DD crawled as she crawled around the house exploring and amusing herself. I just baby proofed and let her get on with it. Do you have play cafés nearby? They're good for using up an hour or 2. We've been to swimming classes once a week since DD was 8 weeks and that takes up a whole afternoon with getting there/getting changed etc. We saw friends with babies, went out mooching round the shops, went to cafés (much easier at this age as she would happily sit in a high chair for an hour whereas at 16 months she just wants to get down and run around).

Go wherever you want to go. So go look around some museums, or new exhibition, or art gallery. Go look for new home decor, go for swim, visit a friend, take train to next city/ beach. Go shopping. Go running with baby in pram, fitness DVDs with baby watching. Walks in woods/ parks. Bake cake ( let baby 'help' from high chair. I've eat ingredients)

Thanks everyone. I'm in London so could go to some galleries and museums. Lots to choose from. I really like the cornflakes idea too.

She has been making attempts to crawl for over a month now but still hasn't got the hang of it so usually ends up crying in frustration!

Are there any petting zoos or an aquarium near you? DD is only 7 w but I am planning on doing a lot of this.

Go to the free zoo, Pets at home.

Mine loved the lighting displays in Ikea.

I have a non crawling 8 month old!
We go to baby groups, swimming once a week, play on the floor etc, jumperoo, walk the dog, potter round shops.
So basically what you do!
I try to get out the house every day.

Definitely get out the house at least once a day, even if it's just a walk round the block.

Great suggestions already. Mine also liked banging the saucepans with a wooden spoon or some dried pasta in a saucepan with a spoon, but cornflakes would work too. Dd also loved being with me so would stir the odd thing in the kitchen.

Thought you might like this too

This has all been great, thanks for the link Jilted!

I've got stuck in a bit of a rut and haven't left the house for ages apart from the group once a week. We were both sick and I never got back into the swing of things and have been running out of inspiration for indoor games too. All this is really fantastic!

Think you are allowed a bit of hibernation if you have both been sick

Sometimes I just put mine in the bath to play, they love playing in the water and I then don't bother bathing them at bedtime so makes the evening a bit more relaxed

Agree that it is important to do what you want and just have her tag along - I used to do a fair bit of voluntary work, meals on wheels and driving old folks - they loved having a baby to chat to - I took my DS with me to visit old peoples' homes - it was quite sad as many older people had just not seen or held a baby for years..

Your DD is old enough for swimming classes, or you might find a sports centre with a creche so you can do a class or two?

Excellent ideas - and great link from jilted, I shall be using those as my (also non-crawling 8-month old) DD gets older :) I'll put cornflakes on the shopping list, somehow I don't think weetabix will be quite the same?

Great thread, OP, I have been having exactly the same thoughts, sometimes just looking at DD and panicking because I can't think of anything to do

The problem with "tag along with what you want to do" is that I want to read my book or go to sleep...

I feel with you, I'm running out of ways to entertain my 7 month old.

My 4mo baby loves nothing more than watching other children playing. It will amuse her for hours. So anywhere like this is good, parks, soft play centres, toddler groups even the weighing clinic!!

If you are in London you will have lots of children's centres within walking/bus distance. Download the programmes for all your local ones - I bet there's something fun to do pretty much every day.

Laundry baskets are good especially if DC is still wobbly sitting up - plonk them in with cushions and a selection of noisy toys/objects and when the drop the toy they are still within range to pick up. Spin basket round or slide across floor every so often for added giggles

Bubbles are also good. I got lazy and now have a bubble gun from sainsburys so no passing out from hyperventilating!

How did you get on today? Was it more manageable?

I found that I always coped better if I had a bit of a plan, like today we'll go food shopping or swimming kind of plan. Think the plan was to help me as I was extremely sleep deprived with DC1.

My DC seemed to play much better if I had only a couple of things out, say a couple of books, a basket with different things that made noises and maybe something like the tissue box filled with different pieces of material. Whilst they had their afternoon nap I would swap the toys so there was something else on offer.

It might be worth reading up on Montessori. If nothing else the blogs have some great ideas for activities