Entertaining 7 month old and getting stuff done?

[Firsttimemama01]

Just looking for tips on how to entertain my crazy active smart 7.5 month old! She's a great happy little baby but recently she gets so incredibly bored and frustrated and screams and shouts (never any tears) just pure yelling! I'm talking all day long she will scream unless we're out and about. We're getting into the colder months now so being out isn't always going to be possible. Might I add some days I don't get to brush my teeth till 4pm lol because she needs constant attention and stimulation and currently has started contact napping again. I love cuddling her whilst she naps so it's no bother if only she'd let me get some housework done when awake. Haven't had a cooked meal in ages haha! P.s. I have a jumperoo she hates it and will whinge till I take her out and walk her around

What sort of toys do you have for her? Are they stimulating for her age and stage of development? Was she interested in them but now bored of them.

I copied some strategies that I learned from working in a nursery with babies. Such as: toys and activities on rotation so that they don’t get bored of the same ones.

I set up play spaces. Blankets or rugs with toys or activities set on them like islands. She could go from one to another to explore the toys, board books, musical instruments (baby safe ones with no choking hazards).

So, I created different areas with different activities. When it’s time to pack up I pulled up the corners of the blanket/rug with the toys still on it and loosely tied the corners so toys contained and easy to set back up tomorrow. (Any toys that had spread to different areas were easily picked up and tossed onto the blanket before I bundled it up.)

When baby started pulling her self up and cruising (that’s walking while holding onto furniture, people’s hands etc.) I bought a sturdy children’s sized table to create a play space for standing up. I covered the table with paper and put out a couple of large crayons for drawing.

I would take mine to the toy section of a shop or op shop and watch her to see which toys grabbed her attention and she showed a lot of interest in. Then I would buy it for her.

Don’t stress too much about housework. more importantly baby is well and happy. Do a bit , one job/ area just before you go to bed and plan an outing/ errand with your little one. Sure enough it will be another busy day ahead with your baby girl.

Is she ok to place on baby mat somewhere within visible distance, to play with baby toys while you make dinner?

If it’s working for you to have nap with her keep doing what you’re doing. Maybe sometimes if you want, put baby girl in her cot for sleep & you can make dinner or do a quick vac or clean one room at a time. ?

For making meals would it help to put something into slow cooker or make a tray bake meal ?

Agree with @Ifallelsefailschocolate regarding the housework. I had to lower my standards a bit and just fit in the most important jobs where I could.

I cleaned the shower whenever I managed to have a shower. I read that shaving foam was good at cleaning the tiles. So I bought a few cans of cheap shaving foam and it worked great. And safe on my skin.

I bought paper plates and disposable cups, cutlery to reduce my washing dishes.

I loved my slow cooker. I put in the ingredients for a meal in the morning, set it on auto and we could even go out and not worry about having to cook dinner when we got back.

When bubby was a bit older I would set up a tub of water play outside, squirt in some mild detergent and let her wash any of her dirty toys for fun.

Oh, and when I was cooking dinner I would give dd some pots, wooden spoon etc. and she would sit on the other side of safety gate watching me cook and she played with the kitchen utensils I had given her. I think she liked feeling included.

Oh I feel you OP. When I had my DD last year in March 2022, all we did for months was sit on the sofa, and watch below deck whilst she contact napped. Sometimes we would go back to bed and sleep for 3 hours. Nothing would get done until bed time lol.

What I would say is get yourself into a routine. Soon as baby wakes up, feed & change and put in bouncer and bring them into the bathroom with you. Shower, brush teeth & get clothes/comfies on. I did this every day as it brought routine to my mornings

Once that's done most/every mornings you'll feel so much better and won't feel as bad about sitting about most of the day. At least you've showered and changed.

My LO at that age loved Ms Rachel and she currently loves Sing & Learn. Or when I really needed a distraction coco melon. Oops😂 we definitely don't watch that now.

Don't be so hard on yourself. I think staying at home with a toddler is 100x harder than getting up and out.

I would recommend sensory activities like water play, sand or stones in a bottle to use as a rattle, play dough, painting, musical toys etc. if you haven't already join a baby class. Meet other mums and yoir LO will love it!

When you need few mins, try hey bear on you tube. It's a baby sensory channel with dancing vegetables.

Putting stuff in plastic bottles is a real winner.

I filled some with water and various colours from food dye and added glitter to some. Some I filled with rice, lentils, pebbles, etc. They are sensory in the way they look and sound. They can roll across the floor. Be picked up and shaken. Make sure you screw the lids on very tight.

@ImustLearn2Cook is onto a winner, my little one, though he's got a mountain of toys just loves a bottle with pasta in. Could have saved a fortune on toys🤣 how mobile is she as mine loved his walker when he was that age

@ImustLearn2Cook thank you so much for all the great suggestions. I already do toy rotation and have blankets with stuff setup but ready your comment made me double think if her toys are stimulating enough as the only thing she will sit and play with is her building blocks. I will definitely try taking her to a toy shop and see if anything catches her eye!! Also will try involving her in activities like cooking by handing her safe things to play with in the kitchen!

@Ifallelsefailschocolate thank you, I feel such pressure to keep up with the house as in my culture women who keep.a pristine home with a baby are praised no end, it's silly I know but I guess has been drilled into me. I don't own a slow cooker I may have to invest!! But I'm also considering meal prepping when DH is home and watches her. The only thing is when he's finally home we have missed him and want family time together, everything else seems a chore haha!

@justanothermanicmonday1 I tend to shower at night when she's down for the night as bless her she does sleep through 4 hours then wakes for a bottle then another 4 to 5 but implementing a morning routine would be alot better for me as I avoid going out if I've got up and had a manic morning and not got ready! All the baby classes that are easy for me to get to have been fully booked since she was born and she is 7.5m!!

@Devilsmommy well she hates the jumperoo and feels too contained so I wasted £80 on that! I borrowed a friend's walker and she liked it for a bit but hasn't got too much room to move it and gets frustrated and cries so thought I'd leave that. She can't crawl/refuses to haha don't know which it is but she can pull herself to stand very easily and tries to cruise

I definitely think switching your shower to the morning will change things for you. Means you can get up and out! Have you contacted the classes and asked if you can be put on a waiting list or cancellation? Always worth while trying! Xx

I find it easier to shower at night too. I do almost all my chores when my DC are in bed for the night, as they can sleep fairly reliably for at least a few hours. During the day I do some meal prep while DC2 naps (but I do as much as I can the night before). The rest of the time I'm focused on fairly child-centered activities. I do have to get ready in the morning though, and just let her loose in my bedroom with some toys while I do hair and makeup. I agree with trying not to get stuff done while DH looks after DC after getting home, I think it's nice for that time to be spent as a family if possible.

I've been doing baby classes with mine since she was 3m and I think the way to force myself to get to them on time is to just book them ahead as I'm the type of person who refuses to not go if I've paid for it! And the other mums will be kind and not care if you're looking a mess, and your dc will get a lot out of it at thus age.

One of my babies didn’t like being put down, wanted to be held constantly. Made doing housework and cooking near impossible some days. I ended up buying a backpack baby carrier when she was around that age and she seemed happy enough to go in it for 30 mins at a time while I did cooking or cleaning - she was up nice and high so could look around and I chatted along to her as I worked. Was the only way I could get anything done.

https://www.littlelife.com/products/child-carriers/ranger-s2?sku=L14011&gad=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwx5qoBhDyARIsAPbMagDJvl7boyEH1AtUGg4TnWEPBNdcKhOoLFUa6ZQGocETZOddJmdBpeMaAt4LEALw_wcB&wgu=264005_9060_16949551062978_a166245568&wgexpiry=1726491106&source=webgains&siteid=9060

I think it was around this age I put a basket of bit and bobs from around the house together, different materials and textures, bottle with rice in it, wooden spoon, whisk, silky scarf etc. And also had somewhere she could sit in every room and tried to get involved in what I was doing.

Sorry had a busy couple of days but have an update, mum watches her here and there and she's always good there, I get regular updates from DM AND sister/brother and she's always fine there. I went to pick her up the other day and she was happily playing with the same toys she screams at and throws at me at home and cries! Maybe mummy and home are just too boring 😂