'Playing' with an eight week old

[Rhian82]

My DS is eight weeks and is starting to have more 'awake' times during the day. However he seems to spend most of them crying, so I just spend the whole time trying to get him to sleep, and then feel like a bad mum cos it feels like I'm just trying to get him to sleep all the time rather than actually doing anything with him.

But what can I do at this age? He's not very interactive yet so I feel like 'play' stuff is just waving things around in front of him, and he just gets bored and starts crying again very quickly. I read to him when he's in his rocking chair, but he either gets bored and cries or just falls asleep again. (not sure what I expect from reading really, but worth a try!)

He's still so little, I'd take advantage of him sleeping so well and get yourself out to have coffee with fellow mums (or on your own and take a book) - he'll get new things to look at and you can chat to him in his pram.

There's not a lot of play that you can do but just the noise of your voice as you chatter about what you are doing will be his favourite thing. My DTs also really liked me singing to them...although that's best saved for the privacy of your own sitting room .

You don't really need to read to them at that age. Singing is good and so are mobiles. My DS has got a wind up musical mobile that he loved at that age - lying on his blanket squinting at it. He's only supposed to have about 30 mins awake time at a stretch anyway at that age so he shouldn't really have time to get bored

Cuddles and smiles is all they need at this age. (wise older mum emoticon)
Also making funny faces, sticking tongues out (oh the pride when he does it back.
Dancing and singing.

get OUT, OUT of the house

that was always my solution

i went to lots and lots of postnatal exercise classes (sorry, expensive I know) - hilarious to watch ds in his car seat with his head following the aerobics teacher back and forth - he always slept very deeply afterwards; went to every coffee morning going; went into town and chatted to old ladies on park benches; handed ds to my mum at every opportunity (lucky to have my mum around so much - lucky that she loves small babies above all things); also did chat to ds (rather than play with him exactly); invited everyone i could think of to come and visit; etc etc.

Also a baby gym is very, very, very good value, or was with ds (the soft mats with arches over them and stuff hanging off). I can still hear his cries of ecstatic delight at his first encounter with ours. (You can almost certainly borrow one if no one has given you one.)

dd is 8 weeks corrected, she likes it when i say Hi to her and then leave a gap as she tries to make a noise back. very cute. and then i try to make her go back to sleep.

lie under the mobile/baby gym with him

(it has been done before...)

I second the going out (doesn't have to be anywhere special I still remember a friend taking her PFB to the zoo and aqaurium when she was a few weeks old and getting upset when she fell asleep!)

Oh and get twinky lights on your Christmas tree... ds was mesmerised.

Singing.

Dance to the radio.

Looking at pictures together (faces good)

Looking in the mirror.

Lots of kissing.

All good, but really all largely for your sanity at this stage.

Theres a good Miriam Stoppard book out there called "Baby's First Skills" with lots of ideas of activities for under 1s, although its a bit "at 3m my children were already doing their PHDs" in tone.

DS is 8 weeks. He loves having his nappy off and kicking his legs, and me blowing rasberries on his tummy. Also he likes me singing to him. Apart from that, I usually leave it to his older sisters to amuse him.

Carry him around in a sling.

The whole world is new to him - you don't need to do anything extra at the moment. Just have him with you when he is awake. He doesn't need baby gym, toys or books yet (fine if he likes them) - in fact it is so easy to over stimulate a baby of this age and it sounds more like that than boredom if your DS is quick to cry.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

I suppose part of it is that he's not really smiling much yet - only once every couple of days - so it's hard to tell if he likes stuff or not. But will be trying things out, thank you

I find talking to babies normally bored them to sleep. that is what is commonly called a WIN WIN situation in these parts.

I second the sling. Just being close to you is probably enough also means you can do stuff if need be. Also, lay on the sofa with your knees up, sit him up against your legs and talk to him, you watch telly over his shoulder.

Make the most of this time though, won't be long before he does need extra stimulation and then there is no sitting on your backside watching the telly!

third the sling, and second the 'watch out you don't actually over-stimulate'. if they turn their faces away from you it means their brain is about to catch fire.

norty Aitch

boucy chair that you can take from room to room so that he can see what you're doing. Time on the foor to kick - perhaps a baby gym/nest - or just on a rug with a few toys around to encourage him to reach out for them. Singing - help him do some actions etc. Walks out and about -talking all the time.

keeping an eye on the washing machine
bahts with mummy during the day
listening to rod stewart and watching mummy dance like a loon
reading aloud the newspaper ( i copied this off "3 men and a baby" )
cooking programmes
watching a funny video with mummy and staring at her while she laughed

Wiggle your fingers in front of his face making funny noises.
A guest did that to my 9 week old corrected DD last week and she was very impressed, certainly not something I'd done before!

The first thing my dd took any notice of was http://www.amazon.co.uk/First-Cot-Book-Focus/dp/1846467187/ref=pd_sim_b_1this

www.amazon.co.uk/First-Cot-Book-Focus/dp/1846467187/ref=pd_sim_b_1this

Singing and dancing about/rocking them works for me, my son loves this. Also looking in mirrors and being wheeled about in the pram so the scenery changes a lot But hey, don't knock the sleeping - they need a lot of it after all!

Naked kicking. The only thing that stopped either of mine crying for the first 6 weeks or so.

I dunno snickersnack. I am willing to entertain my DC in a variety of ways, but didn't you get cold?

arf

My DS is 13 weeks old and I second ChoosyFloosy and Taliac. And CheerfulVicky. Also "nappy off" kicking. He also has a black and white mobile, very cheap, above his cot and I can leave him looking at it quite contentedly for hours. All my "new mum" friends have one and the boy babies seem to love it more than the girs, but that could just be us.

bw mobile

Also baby massage and baby yoga. He absolutley loves them - started both at 7 weeks. Both massage and yoga can take him from intense red faced screaming to cooing little giggles in a couple of minutes. BAby Massage classes were through HV, yoga privately at place I used to go to pregnancy pilates.