My baby was born in early lockdown and is now 6.5 months. Initially I was planning to go along to lots of baby classes as soon as they started up again, which some in my area now have.
However, after trying a couple of different ones I've found that I really dislike them. I hate having to wear a mask to play with my child for one thing, and I find that social distancing makes it harder to interact with other mums.
There was also a list of Covid-related rules as long as my arm for one of the classes I went to - and whilst I totally understand this is necessary to keep everybody safe, it just makes the whole experience quite unenjoyable IMO.
In addition, my baby seems to scream and cry quite a lot compared with everyone else's calm and happy DC, which I find very stressful in a class setting.
However, whilst I'd rather not go to any classes at all, I worry that I'm disadvantaging my baby socially by avoiding them. Do babies benefit from other babies' company by 6.5 months and should I force myself to attend? Or does it not really matter at this age?