Entertaining alert 4 month old

[Nat888]

I.AM.SO.TIRED.

My 4 month old has always been so alert. 10 minutes after he was born a midwife commented how alert he was.

Since then he has not been one for usual wake windows and while we are out he would want to be out of the pram. Just happily looking around taking it all in.

He is already rolling, giggling and keeping his head up so smashing milestones. Has a bit of eczema but otherwise can stay awake very happily for 3 hours at a time.

I'm just at a loss how to keep him entertained all day. On the days I cant take him out.

Swing, playmat, walking him around the house with me lasts about 10 minutes before he makes it known be is bored. .
the TV (no judgement please - im tired!) About 15 minutes tops
But 30 minutes on my lap in a restaurant or walking around Asda he is happy as anything.

Ideas please?! Is he too little for a jumperoo?

Oh. To add we are also at the start of the 4 month regression so going out all day everyday is just something I cannot do right now -im catching 15 minutes of naps while he does.

I put mine in the car seat on the kitchen table at that age so they could watch me

I used to sit mine in front of the washing machine.

Otherwise just narrate your life whilst he watches.

Mammy is going to empty the dishwasher now. I'll put the glasses up here in the shelf, and then the mugs next, they go up here. I'll put this green one here next to the kettle because I'm going to have a cup of tea later. Etc.

That's not a bad idea at all - will give that a go. Have a good amount of counter space too so could actually mean getting somethings done in the kitchen without hearing him getting bored in the living room...

I like that idea a lot!

At that age, we had a jumperoo and played some baby sensory videos on YouTube - basically a black screen with different coloured shapes floating around and the jungles to nursery rhymes in the background.

It would give me enough time to make a sandwich and eat it with a baby clung to me, and time to sort some laundry.

The jumperoo was the absolute best money we spent. He loved it!

Yeah I've definitely thought about a jumperoo so great to hear your little one loved it at that age. I think its the next purchase for me..

Sit him on your tummy with your knees up like a chair and talk to him. Pull stupid faces, sing etc. I had the boys in a jumper ii from about 3 months but they were big big boys. Doubt my wee lass will be ready then.

The other thing you could do is get another kid in. Babies love kids. When I had my first my friends with older kids would come and keep mine entertained then I had more and the older ones done it.

He does LOVE when we visit his one year old cousin. Just kinds stares at him crawing around! I'm in a new area and don't know may people near (cousin is 2 hours away) but maybe time to visit some baby groups and get to know some then...

When your child says "washing machine" repeatedly for days in a row you will regret it.

Hopefully you will be blessed and have a child who doesn't talk clearly until they can talk in sentences.

Yes you will panic over having a late talker, but it is a blessing not to hear your child's brain farts. (My DP and SILs who have suffered both, have decided later talkers are easier.)

We had two jumperoos, both picked up off Marketplace. We had one at home and then my nana got one for her house. He much preferred the one at home because it had more "stuff" on it. It was the Finding Nemo one and had plenty of little bits to play with. I think we got it for £30 second hand x

My son sounds very like yours. He had his head up in the bassinet in the hospital. He was also very fractious, if he was awake he was crying and as for sleeping, never a big fan. Someone lent me a baby walker, the sort you put your baby in ( quite often frowned upon these days) but it was a god send. He absolutely loved it. He liked being upright . He moved around in it and tired himself out. Someone told me it would delay him actually walking. He walked very strongly at 9 months to the day.

If you can afford it take public transport especially bus trips to other places with your son in a sling or at least out the buggy on your lap. Make sure you are sitting near a window plus near strangers preferably children/teens/younger adults.

He will love it while he's awake and easily fall asleep.

I'm in London and have visited random supermarkets on a bus just because it kept my DD entertained when a baby and still as a pre-schooler. Though to be fair I entertained some of my nephews and nieces in the same way when they were small kids.

My DS was super alert like this and loved the Jumperoo. To be honest he was never happy until he could sit up and hold stuff properly. That’s what he wanted! So the Jumperoo does provide an element of that and keeps their little brains ticking over. He’s 11 now and always reading, fiddling, playing with something. He can never be still! Very fun to be around but sometimes exhausting!

Not opposed to giving a walker a go myself - not actually something I thought of so will have a look

Yeah I can see him getting angry that he can't move around etc...! Think I'll look at jumperoos before I go to sleep.. think it's possibly a winner

@Nat888 I honestly think DS resented being a baby! It was like it pissed him off so much that he couldn’t walk, talk, do the fun stuff everyone else was doing. He did learn it all really early too which I suspect was sheer bloody-mindedness. DD was the opposite and loved being a baby. Even as an older child being picked up, cuddled, told what to do and put to bed is her dream.

He's too young for a jumperoo.why can't you get out every day that's the one thing that saved my sanity, just, with DTs.

I literally cannot everyday. I'm exhausted to the point I need a day in during the week

Get out to groups 100%, getting out helps you feel less shattered too. Church hall ones will have older kids they'll like to watch. Or more structured ones will engage them in activities. A good hour of that will really help for the rest of the day.

Look at sensory toys - can be an old drink bottle with rice in, some ribbons tied to a stick, huge piece of tin foil, nothing fancy necessary.

Have you been able to move them out of the bassinet on the pram, if they're big enough with decent head control and they're not in it for hours I wouldn't worry about any 6 month limits. Really helps when they can look out

EXACTLY THAT! I constantly cuddle him to sleep but the more I think about it walking him around the house and boring him to sleep is what really works. He gets angry if he can't do something and stares at his cousin doing things he can't with amazement.

Will hopefully get better when he can be more mobile!

I feel like I wrote this, I got the bug from mamas n papas with the play table. She loves it

Thank you. Not yet out of the bassinet but that's out of fear with the 6 month thing ...he has great head control and we never go far so may give it a go. He really loves looking around so think it's probably time I tried that

Thank you! Ill look at that x

Look up the American instructions for your pram. They often seem to say to swap at three months rather than six.