Is 4 months too young for soft play?

[Kickintheovaries]

I’ve found a soft play centre nearby. It says that they’ve expanded their baby section and to look round to see if there’s anything suitable for baby.

I know nothing about babies! Is 4 months too young?

I wouldn't take just a 4 month old, but my second liked the baby area at that age when I took her with my toddler.

Far too young. Soft play is vile; don't add more years of it to your life than you have to!

More seriously, I'd not bother without having to take an older sibling until able to crawl at least, there's just no point.

Also, they're germ ridden places (even the cleanish looking ones), I'd not want to take a young baby there ideally. I'm convinced that the bugs that end humankind will start in the ball pit of a softplay centre...

Exactly as the above poster says. Definitely wouldn't make a special trip with just a baby that age, but it's good to have a baby area if you're there with an older child anyway.

However I'm pretty anti soft play in general, and have avoided it where possible in my nearly 15 years of parenting!

Can your little one sit and roll unaided? Otherwise to be honest there isn’t much that you couldn’t do at home and less germy other children!

Thanks all!

I didn’t realise soft play centres were that dreadful 😂 although I’ve not been to one since I was like 7 though!

Yeah she can’t really sit up unaided. She can for a few seconds and either falls over or sways like a weebl.

There’s no harm but I don’t think they’d get anything out of it at that age. Mine wasn’t really interested until she was walking.

Also I really don’t find soft play that bad? And ours is just a local leisure centre one so I don’t think it’s especially posh or anything xD

My tip is to go around 2-3ish as everyone who has older kids at school leaves to pick them up around then.

I took my first to soft play at that age but honestly it was a bit pointless (I used to go with friends with babies so it was more for the mums). My second gets taken because her sister wants to go but she's only starting to get anything out of it now she's 8 months and crawling. At 4 months I'd make the most of taking baby to places you want to go (museum, shops, garden centre etc).

Mine started to enjoy soft play once he was nearly crawling (sort of dragging himself around) at about 7 months. I only take him to the tiny one at my gym occasionally, it’s nothing fancy. I haven’t tried since he’s started climbing stairs though as it seems like a recipe for disaster!

Not before they are strongly crawling, pulling themselves up. The baby section is really for younger toddlers, too small (or not trustworthy enough) for the larger equipment, not vulnerable babies

Soft play is vile; don't add more years of it to your life than you have to!

This with germ-infested knobs on. Plus I' be worried about older toddler/kids hurting the baby inadvertently.

I think that's too young. If you were going with an older sibling, then fair enough, but why expose a tiny baby to that kind of germ ridden place when you don't have to :)