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| First Time Moms |
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| My daughter has been unusually fussy lately and I kept trying to blame it on teething...but of course she still doesn't have any teeth (she's 7 mths old). I finally figured it out when we went to visit some relatives. She played happily on the floor with only one toy the whole time we were there and I didn't have to hover around her and entertain her! Shes BORED! Ugh. When we're at home together shes fusses all the time and constantly wants me to hold her and "walk" with her but I need to be able to do things like go to the bathroom, or eat, or shower...Does anyone have any suggestions about making her happy? I've gotten her new toys, I play with her (sometimes I have to have a break though) we go for short walks (Its 30-40 degrees out side) and I try to take her places but I'm running out of ideas HELP!!! Does anyone else have this problem?? |
| Posted by Elizabeth on 12/21/2007 02:32 PM
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Elizabeth,
My daughter is like this too. She is four and a half months old. I just try to break up the day. We wake up and she is happy for an hour or less, then I feed her. She'll look at cartoons for a little bit. Then she will be okay to play for a half an hour to an hour. Then she takes a nap in the carseat while I shower. If I turn the fan on, she'll sleep in there for one to two and a half hours. Then I feed her. An hour later, we have to go somewhere. I walk around the mall. We go to the library (they have baby storytime. We visit my sister and her kids who stay at home. We go for a walk. I have joined a few playgroups on meetup.com. We visit friends who stay at home. We run errands. Then we come home and I feed her. We'll walk to the mailbox. We sit in the glider chair and I sing to her. Then it's just an hour or two before my husband comes home and he'll watch her. Sometimes I put her in her front pack while I make dinner. She likes that. I try the swing, the vibrating chair, the playmat. I just have to keep mixing it up and schedule several things to do and make sure we get out of the house once a day. I hope some of these ideas work for you. Keep trying, I guess and good luck. I feel your pain! |
| posted by Miranda on 12/21/2007 03:03 PM
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| Breaking up the day with different activiites is great advice. Try the playmat, or instead of cartoons on TV, try Baby Einstein cds so at least your little one is learning something. Now might also be a good time to register for classes at KinderMusik, Gymboree or The Little Gym (or all three). This is great for babies and mom's and it will tire out your little one so you can get things done aroudn the house afterward. |
| posted by Audrey on 12/21/2007 03:23 PM
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| Try reading with your daughter. My son, who is just over 5 months old, likes to sit on my lap, and this also requires less energy to entertain him than other activities. Now I can tell which books he prefers over others and he can even turn the pages of board books by himself. And of course, reading is on the best things you can do with your baby to help develop her vocabulary and begin to establish a lifelong love of books/reading. Good Luck! P.S. Books by Todd Parr are great. Nice bright colors. Simple sentences and the pictures are funny looking. My little guy definately reacts positively to these books rather than ones with dull muted colors or too much text. |
| posted by Lisa on 12/21/2007 03:44 PM
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| It is hard to entertain the little ones. Mine daughter is 5.5 months old. She loves it outside in her stroller, but the weather has been nasty/cold/snowy lately. I have a Johnny Jump up that she loves! That gives me enough time to finish some chores in the am. I really don't want her to be a couch potato, so no TV for us. She does love books, and right now is the season to give her scraps of Christmas paper to play with. Of course I am in the room with her when she has paper. And she loves her doggy, so when I notice her getting bored I call the dog in to entertain her for a bit. We live in the country, with minimal opportunity for activities such as Kindermusic and stuff like that. Maybe I should open one :-) |
| posted by deanna on 12/21/2007 04:10 PM
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| Thanks for all of your advice. I don't mean to be difficult, but we've tried almost all of those things lol. She has recently started sitting on her own so she no longer likes the swing (she tries to sit up in it and it stops swinging) and she no longer likes playing with her play mat that she used to love and i could lay her on there for like an hour..no more! we have a door jumper and for some reason she only likes it if we push her in it like a swing, today she played in her play pen for a while on her own, long enough for me to unload the dishwasher then I had to put another log on the fire so she saw me and started screaming her pretty little head off. So I guess I just need to try going out with her more....it just gets overwhelming sometimes! luckily we'll be going out for Christmas and my mother will be coming to entertain her for a day. |
| posted by Elizabeth on 12/21/2007 06:11 PM
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| I am not sure if you have tried this yet Elizabeth, but my daughter loves finger painting. It is a little messy and we usually do it in the kitchen since there is tile. However we fingerpaint together and she has a blast. She loves going outside, but since its cold our activities have had to change we now go sledding and she loves it. My daughter is a little older then yours but it couldn't hurt if you have the snow. There is also a book that they sell called the busy toddler book, my girlfriend has it and it has some great ideas inside. I am planning on buying one for chritsmas. One of the ideas was buying sand paper and yarn, cutting the yarn into pieces and showing your baby how they stick to the paper. She may get a kick out of that for awhile. Also I find it very helpful that we have a little boy who lives quite close to us around her age. They play very nicely together and keep eachother content while giving me and the other mom some much needed adult time. Good luck. |
| posted by naomi on 12/21/2007 07:13 PM
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| Hi Elizabeth. I understand what you are going through, and, as hard as it is to hear and believe, it does get better. My son is 11 months now but around your daughters age he was very difficult to entertain. He needed constant attention as well and I remember wanting to pull my hair out- luckily, it was warmer out so I could take him outside- that was my break. But, he would have nothing to do with sitting on my lap for books and I never pushed the tv thing. My guess is that she is either overtired (how does she sleep?) or, more likely, that she is going through so many changes- you mentioned that she is just starting to sit up on her own- that is a huge milestone! Mine just really wanted to explore the world on his own. Once he was able to sit up, he quickly began trying to crawl and now he is unstoppable- but he keeps himself very busy, without me constantly trying to entertain him. He just really wanted to be able to do things himself. He is so curious. I can't keep him in one room but, he is so much happier, it is so worth it. Is she trying to move around on her own? Drew did all kinds of things to move- on his back he would push with one leg and go in circles, on his belly he would squirm and then learned to pull himself around with his arms and 'push off' with his legs. It was all that he ever wanted to do. Move. Then, he started the 'normal' crawling. I think she just needs to be busy and wants to do things on her own but can't... so, guess who gets to do it for her?! Mommy!!! Try helping her learn to crawl or squirm or whatever she tries to do. Put a toy right in front of her, just far enough out of reach that she has to move just a little to get it. You'll have to spend awhile with her until she picks it up, but, I bet she will soon enough and like me, you won't remember how hard it was until you read a post that reminds you :) Good luck. It WILL get easier!!! You'll be glad that she's a busy bee soon... |
| posted by Lauren on 12/21/2007 07:15 PM
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| Well I'm really hoping that you are right and it will get better. I think she'll be much happier when she can move around on her own. When she Used to play on her play mat she would have fun making circles on the floor. But she Still Hates being on her tummy (she always has). I honestly think that she is going to skip crawling (she wants nothing to do with it) and go right to walking. She walks really well if I'm holding her fingers and I"m trying to teach her she can grab on to the couch or something and hold herself up and walk that way. I think shes just so frustrated that she can't move on her own so I"m really hoping that she will be happy once she moves all on her own. I know that will make things more challenging and hard to keep an eye on her all the time but as long as she is happy I don't mind. All I want is for my little one to be happy..I will have to check out that book even though she isn't quite a toddler yet, sounds like it will have good ideas in it-Thanks! |
| posted by Elizabeth on 12/22/2007 07:00 PM
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Hi Elizabeth. Mackenzie just turned 9 months and also wants nothing to do with crawling! When I have "chores" to do I bring into each room with me. That way it changes up scenary. If we are putting away laundry Mackenzie loves to hand me hangers and play with the basket, when the basket is empty I pull her around in it, if we are in the kitchen she likes to play with the tupperwear (putting smaller containers into larger ones, using it as a drum or just chewing on it!) also an empty pop bottle is loads of fun, banging it on her high chair, cupboard, or anything she can reach! If I'm cleaning or dusting I sing the clean up song and explain what we are doing (squirt squirt wipe wipe...etc)
She loves to read books, do bubbles, play with strands of beads and wrapping paper (as long as Im in the room with her) We joined gymboree a few months ago and it is great. It gets us out of the house and she gets to socialize with other babies (and me with other parents!). |
| posted by Amanda on 12/22/2007 11:06 PM
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| My son was the same way. He was sick of all the toys he had. My mom told me to give him some kitchen utensils to play with, and he loved them. |
| posted by kristi on 12/28/2007 11:13 PM
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