Playtime with 6 month old

[1stimeboymum]

How much of the day would you say you actually spend playing with your baby? Everyone seems to have a routine by now but my son can wake up anytime between 6-8am so I can't predict his naps/feeds. I just don't feel like I'm doing enough

Don't worry about not having a routine. If you think about your day, I bet you have a general rhythm to the day anyway. My 9mo will wake between 5:30-7:30, usually around 6ish so our day doesn't have exact timings for everything. I time naps based on her awake windows and this works for us.

Don't feel like you have to do loads with your baby. At 6 months we were reading books, nursery rhymes, playing with a few toys. I made up a treasure basket around this time (look it up if you haven't heard of it). We were limited because of lockdown but I think taking your baby into town or around a supermarket is good stimulation. Don't put too much pressure on yourself to do everything.

I didn't have a really strict routine at that age and still don't really at 8 months. Babies will wake at different times and be in different moods each day, so just follow their lead and judge things based on their cues as well as normal awake and feed windows. I don't think it makes sense to always do things at exactly the same times, babies are unpredictable and can't tell the time!

In reality I don't "play" with my 8 month old that much. I find sitting on the play mat and stacking blocks, shape sorting etc so so boring. Probably only do it a couple of times a day for 5 or 10 mins so she will generally do this type of play more independently. I think you have to play to your strengths and I much prefer going to baby classes, days out, walks, reading books together so I try to fill our days with more of this instead.

One of the struggles of parenting is never feeling like you're doing enough. I find short 15 mi chunks of good high quality interactions can help quell this