Reply to Question for SAH Moms with infants- how do you play with/entertain baby all day? (Seeking ideas)

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Reply to "Question for SAH Moms with infants- how do you play with/entertain baby all day? (Seeking ideas)"

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[quote=Anonymous]Concur that you don't need to be actively engaging with her all day. Do your stuff and set her up so she can watch, participate, and imitate (the last one will be a bigger thing later). I would put her in her bouncy chair while I cooked or baked or cleaned. I'd set her on a mat next to me while I worked out. I'd take her to a park with a stack of board books while I read my own book or did work. Get used to checking in with her every few minutes, but then go back to your thing.

And sometimes you can just set her up with some stimuli and let her play on her own while you do something else. Create a little play area (some people will get those play pen things but I personally didn't find them necessary) with a blanket, some board books a couple toys, maybe a stuffed animal or two. Then just let her play while you get work done, again, checking in periodically. As she gets older, you may need to spend more sustained time with her before letting her free play -- maybe read her a book or two and then let her flip through them on her own for a while, or show her how her toys roll down a ramp for a bit and then return to your work.

Also, being on a schedule helps a ton at this stage. Make sure she's getting enough sleep and eating so that her awake times can feel relaxed and easy. If she's getting cranky frequently, you may need to increase eating times (this will be even easier when she starts some solids and you can set her in a high chair with food, which is an extremely easy way to entertain a baby), or move up the timing of her naps. At 5 months, my daughter was going down for her morning nap super early, like around 9am (after a 7:30am wake up). She'd sleep for 90 minutes and I could get a ton done before our lunchtime meal and playtime (then another nap). She was also held onto a late afternoon cat nap until she was 8 or 9 months, which made bedtimes easier. It gets tough for a while after they drop that third nap because they are very tired at bedtime. But then they adjust and regulate.[/quote]

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