what to do with tiny babies?

[booyhoo]

baby due in 3 weeks. im thinking after the initial excitement and exhaustion passes i might feel a little claustrophobic in the house. what can i do with ds4 and a tiny baby? including on rainy days as i know we'll have some. also, do babies have to have their jabs before they can go swimming?

we go to library on rainy days (don't worry about being noisy they are trying to change the way people view libraries), some early learning stores are hosting stay and plays 10am on a Tuesday now, contact your local children centre and see if they have toddler and baby groups running, local NCT branch? some have house groups, friends with similar aged dc's to your ds4, you could visit them for a play date, look for free art galeries? I guess it depends how old your ds is...

I don't think babies need their jabs before swimming but I was told to wait till they are about 8 wks as they get cold v quickly

hth x

thanks insy ive already discovered one m&t group. i lived in a different area with ds and went back to work when he was v young so this is new ground for me. shall ask around what friends and neighbours do as there are quite a few with small babies.

Have you checked out your local children's centre? Mine is fantastic, they are all free and they didn't blink when I turned up with a 3 week old baby who slept through an entire 0+ session because I was just bored and wanted to get out the house!

a friend of mine put flyers through her neighbours doors when she moved house saying she had ds and was expeting baby and if anyone fancied coffee or could let her know what baby groups were on in the area that would be great, it worked really well

My DS was 2.8 when DD arrived. Within a week she was going to all the toddler groups, singing sessions and library visits that I did with DS. The second and subsequent DCs have to fit in with family life rather than running the family around them, as I think most of us tend to do with teh 1st DC! Have a good pushchair or whatever, and a sling and DC2 will just go along too.

thanks all, im not sure if we have childrens centres in northern ireland. we do have surestart so thats probably the best place to get info on groups and classes. will ask at ds nursery school tomorrow to see if they no of any aswell.

Babies don't need jabs before swimming.

You do hear this, but it's a throwback to when Polio was around. Now Polio's been irradicated - through a successful vaccination the population - you don't need to wait for vaccinations.

Having said that, I wouldn't want to take a very little one (e.g. 1 week) because the chlorine seems a bit much to me. No evidence to back that up, just a gut feeling.

I'm taking my DS to Splash Babies right now, and it's really good.

Now summer's coming, what about hanging out in the park? (Parasol, picnic etc)

ive just found out about a little swimmers class and another m&t aswell, thanks for all replies, im just trying to get as many ideas as possible, i dont want to get into that routine of not doing anything and then getting resentful of being at home al the time. thanks again.