Winter With Baby

[ladybird30]

Parents of Babies 6 Months+ What Do You Do With Your Little Ones During Winter?

I had my LO in April so had the pleasure of Spring/Summer to adjust but now Autumn/Winter is on the way I've no idea what to do with my days... I usually venture out on a walk everyday at the least but I'm not sure how to keep myself sane in the colder months.

Any suggestions welcome

As long as it’s not pouring with rain, still go out! Just wrap up really warm. I know less is open during the winter months but you can still go for walks, just dress accordingly :) I love the cold so my favourite days are cold winter walks!

I would still go for walks most days unless very rainy or unsafe eg icy. Just wrap baby and yourself up very warm.

Meet up with other mum friends at cafes or each others houses so babies can 'play' around each other.

Baby classes.

I actually much prefer autumn/winter walks anyway!

The same as in summer really just wrap them up for walks, enjoy lazy days in a cosy house.

Wrap up warm and take an umbrella everywhere! And once baby is a bit bigger, puddlesuit and wellies so they can roll around in mud for ages and tire themselves out.

Once they are mobile, community hall type parent and baby groups are brilliant in the winter - in our area they are usually about £2 and you have a big spacious indoor area for them to let off some steam. You don't have to be sociable if you don't want to!

I've always done lots of classes, swimming, gym and stay and plays with dcs so that just continues through autumn and winter. At weekends we go out with my older dc and DH to museums, galleries, theatre shows and concerts. Lots of shows going on through Nov-Jan as it's the Christmas season. There are often community-based Christmas festivals/light switch-ons too, as well as bigger ones. We wrap up to go to playgrounds if its cold and dry, but not in the rain (we did during lockdowns but only because everything else was shut!).

Still get out, just wrap up for the weather. Don't stay in, you'll both go insane!

Swimming
Play centres
Classes like baby massage, baby yoga or baby sensory
Some exercise classes where baby goes in a sling
Play groups at churches or surestarts
Play dates with friends

Thanks everyone for your replies :)

Does/did anyone go to soft play? Not sure if LO is too young? (6 months beginning of October) and I worry about the germs.

I'll definitely try and still get out though. Hopefully the typical rainy UK weather holds off a bit this Winter!

When my 2 DC were little & it was winter we'd go to various baby groups; soft play; shopping; walk round garden centres; go for walks in the park; go to friends houses; to go local attractions; museums; the library.
If you're going to be outside wrap up in layers; have wet weather gear. Seek out indoor plays if it's really horrid - lots of places like museums & libraries offer toddler or baby sessions. Go & look at the Christmas lights in garden centres; malls, etc.

Classes / church toddler groups (once open - I had a COVID baby so they weren't always, but it meant that when they were I went a bit OTT with them)

We probably did try soft play for the first time around 9 months or so - we went to a 'nicer' one that cost a fortune but had a specific crawling babies area, and a lovely sensory room. It was pretty clean. These days we take our chances at Wacky Warehouse with the rest of the mob, but there are some nicer ones around and about. There are also quite a few play cafe type places round here too - enough that it makes me think that it's not just a local thing and there might be some near you too - the kind that have different role play areas set up and construction toys etc.

More days out type things like sealife centre, science museum near us which has a great kids bit, smaller museum in local town which actually has a nice play area, farms. We're lucky to have a nice farmshop and cafe nearby that has a lovely outdoor play area but also lots of toys undercover too, used to be free though they charge a few quid now.

I wouldn't have known half the things existed round here for babies and toddlers unless I'd gone to the baby then toddler groups and joined their whatsapp groups - again because of lockdown that was why it became a whatsapp thing - I know they are a lot of people's idea of hell on here but I only had good experiences really, and the whatsapp groups have been so useful with people sharing information about places you can go, what's on for kids and families, what special offers/ vouchers or freebies are going. It might be worth looking to see if there's any mums/ parents facebook groups for your local area that share similar info - it's quite helpful to have somewhere to just say 'I'm sick of the park, any idea for what else we can do today?'

We still did walks too, just wrapping up. Once it gets to December you have a whole month of walking around looking at lights, outdoors when the weather isn't too terrible, and if it is then you've got garden centres and shopping centres etc.

Still get out with the baby. I couldn’t think of anything better then getting all wrapped up on a lovely autumn/winter day and the baby all cute and in a little hat and walk round the park or somewhere scenic.
Baby groups are good for bad weather too.
I did take my little boy to soft play and they tend to have a baby section with baby toys. But I do hate the germs 😂 everytime we’d go he end up with the sniffles so getting out in the fresh air is always my first choice.

Yes outside still. Ds was covid baby so nothing was open his first winter. I don’t feel he missed out at all as tbh soft play and baby swim is more for parents benefit that 6 month old.
Ds loved walks outside in sling and pram in winter ( and we get full on snow here).

Do the same as in summer really, just with some extra layers of clothing. You’re really approaching the end of that period where baby can just be carted around whilst you do whatever it is you want to do - make the most of it!!

My DC was a summer baby and then there were Covid restrictions. I can't recall when soft plays reopened but I wouldn't have gone near such a germ-fest at that time.

Just wrap up and get out and walk, if that's what you enjoy doing now. Get good gloves or pram mitts, a cup holder for your pram for a thermos cup, a fluffy muff for your little one and keep on enjoying the great outdoors.

If you do want to be in, classes are a good idea, and once you get over the aversion to soft plays they are bearable.

I’d try and avoid soft play for as long as you possibly can. It’s hectic, full of germs and you tend to get other people’s kids trampling over the littlies. So def save your sanity for a while yet. I didn’t take Dd till she was 4 😂

Baby I a sling with a big coat over both of you is delightfully warm and snuggly. I tend to stay in if its wet but you can still go outside in the winter. Otherwise baby groups, swimming, soft play (it's quite during school hours), visit friends or family.

I think there's so much pressure on parents to be doing this and doing that. At 6 months baby will be stimulated looking at the surroundings and getting fresh air. My eldest was born during lockdowns so we couldn't go to anything, went on lots and lots of walks which was great for us both.

When the time came we went to a baby art class which we loved, it was once a week on a morning. Messy and fun and we have 2 canvases we made together hung on the wall.

Library's also do lots for babies.

Look at a website called happity, shows you all the classes and things going on depending on age and location etc.