What to do all day

[catty1]

Sorry if this is a stupid question but my OH has gone back to work full time today and I have no idea how I'm going to fill the days.

What does everyone do with there babies all day? When he's a bit older we can go swimming and to some of the music/signing/play groups but right now he's a bit young for them. I play with him a bit but he's not really old enough to stay interested for long.

Other than the weekly breastfeeding group the week seems like a very long empty void at the moment.I don't have any friends with babies (yet - I'm working on it) or that don't work 9-5 and my family is not local.

Help please. I can't take any more daytime telly

x

 

[pinkymum]

I'm feeling a bit the same so can't really answer your question but will be interested in replys!

 

[Zazu]

At the beginning I struggled to get out but if you have the time go for walks, you can still join baby groups if your LO is still young, then you can meet other mums as well, have a look at your local childrens centre. I'm pretty sure you can go swimming straight away too. Your LO will start getting more interested in things soon as well, so playing will take up a bigger part of your day. Can't think of anything else right now x

 

[catty1]

Thanks Zazu.

Luckily I live within 5 minutes walk of the town centre and 3 different parks so walks are not a problem. I'm just getting sick of them.

My local children's centre has a few groups that are 0-5yrs but I wasn't going to take him until he was big enough to react in some way to them. Maybe I will just go for it, he has been showing signs of being more aware of what's going on around him so maybe he will enjoy it.

Pinkymum - I'm glad it's not just me. I feel like I should be living in a world of baby just staring at him all day long but in reality I'm just desperate for something to do!

 

[pinkymum]

Me too! Since I've started to feel better physically I've wanted to do more. We have a thing called PEEPs group here http://www.peep.org.uk/section.asp?id=5 There's a PEEPs group specifically for babies. Not sure if you have one near you, I'm planning to take Emily soon,although the nearest one is a bus journey away.

Today is a write off though, I'm knackered!

x

 

[don-don]

hey ladies,
I was exactly the same in the beginning. But as they get older and start to sleep alot less your day will vanish lol. I normally go into town, to see friends and family or go into work to see all my friends and my old ladies (Im a HCA). Im lucky cos my family are on my doorstep and my cousin is on mat leave, also i have a couple of friends that have recently had babies. But if this wasn't the case i would def join up with some groups to get out and about. xxxxxxxxxx

 

[catty1]

I just need to make some Mummy friends. I'm not very good at making friends though. It's the breastfeeding group tomorrow and I met some lovely people there last week so I will make an effort to get to know them better when I go.

pinky - I've never heard of PEEPS but I looked on the website and it looks good. I'm guessing there won't be one here though. Canterbury is not exactly a hotbed of activity.

 

[Piglet10]

i started swimming with madison from 6 weeks we go twice a week

i done toddler groups from she was bout 1/2 months lol and then just walked and visited family and friends

im back at work now and i miss the old days!! xx

 

[pinkymum]

Good luck tomorrow catty! I'm quite good at making new friends but I know I'll be really nervous when I go to the group for the first time. Apparently peeps is really good, pity there wasn't one near you!
Piglet, (always go to call you by your real name lol) do you go swimming with Madison on your own?

 

[Rayoflight]

Hi ladies I felt like this too in the early weeks! Unfortunately when my baby was tiny it was when we had all that bad snow just before Xmas so I was housebound for 3 weeks. It was horrible. Couldn't even go onto the drive without fear of falling on the ice. Deffo got cabin fever!

I started baby sensory classes with Blake when he was 4 weeks old. It was the best thing ever! Even though he didn't understand or react, it gave me ideas, songs and fun stuff to do with him at home. It really really helped and also made him really alert a lot quicker than some of my friends babies (not that I'm being competitive but it was really nice to get those reactions from him early on). In addition to learning what to do with him I made lots of lovely friends and we now all go for lunch every week after class. Its a lovely group and I will be devastated when I go back to work and we can't go any more.

Singing to your baby is great too. You might have a voice like a toad but it doesn't matter! Your baby will love it. I used to sing the whole back catalogue of Disney songs to Blake and play the real thing off YouTube clips. It was really lovely watching him react.

I would say, if I had my time over again with him, I would try sleep more when he does in these early weeks. The housework can wait, your rest is important. Also enjoy those wonderful moments when baby snoozes on your chest, I don't know about the other mummies and their babies on here but mine doesn't do this anymore and I miss it so!!!

 

[Little Rose]

Hi Everyone - I felt like this as well for the first couple of weeks. Jessica is 6 weeks old now and today we went to a baby massage class. We have "Sure Start" here so the class was free. I had some craic, you have to sing songs to your baby, they were really silly but it was fun at the same time. Jessica loved it. There are 3 more classes and then we are signed up for baby yoga.

Jessica is sleeping a lot less during the day now especially if we stay in the house. If we go out in the car or I take her in the pram she falls asleep.

 

[PinkPanther]

Like Little Rose we have a sure start too, I've enrolled for Baby Massage and also they do days out which includes Teddy Bear picnics too. Definitely worth a look in your area to see if there are any local to you.

 

[catty1]

We go to breastfeeding group at the surestart place and they also do 'sign and rhyme' and 'music group' so I might try them.

Breastfeeding group was food again today, everyone is really friendly. I am fine talking to people at things like this but I never know how to progress from friends at the group to seeing people outside of that hour a week.

 

[Piglet10]

when you get chatting the girls you could just say ur friends dont have as much in common etc now u have bubs and wud anyone be interested in meeting for swimming or for coffee even?? xx

 

[PinkPanther]

You could say do you fancy a coffee? A walk round a park? And take it from there. It's quite difficult isn't it at first but you'll get there eventually. It's a shame we don't live nearer cos I'd meet up with you

 

[riotfox]

I signed up to a Mumsnet group on Facebook for my town. They organise meetings every week and I plan on going to them when he is a little bit older. I am hoping I will be able to make friends xx

 

[pinkymum]

I called up about the peeps group today (its a bit like baby sensory) but they're not running any till end of august. Same with baby massage!

I'm just having to get out the house as much as possible since she's settled while sleeping and she sleeps in the pram.

I'm getting lonely though. Mum comes which is nice.

I hate colic

 

[catty1]

Thanks everyone x

It's day 3 of being on my own all day now and so far so good. It's actually surprising how quickly the days go. By the time we are up and Owen has been fed, changed and cuddled it's mid morning. We have been to town on Monday, breastfeeding group on Tuesday and today we went up to see Daddy at work for lunch. By the time we get home it's mid afternoon and time for more feeding, changing and cuddles before Daddy gets home. Tomorrow we are going to go and get a picture framed for fathers day and on friday we will go to ASDA. Then i will have survived the first week!

Next week I will make a big effort to try and arrange to meet up with some people outside of the breastfeeding group. I'm nervous already!

I just looked on mumsnet but no groups for my town unfortunatly. I love Canterbury but I used to live in Nottingham and I do sometimes miss the amount that was going on in a big city. Having said that, if I lived in a big city I wouldn't be living 2 minutes walk from both the town centre and 3 lovely parks like I do now.

 

[isobel84]

I started go to babygroup when Noa was 6 weeks n still go everyweek. We also go to the library 3 times a week for rhyme time. Even if you think Lo is too young, its good to have somewhere to go so ut not stuck home. Also its nice for Lo to watch other kids.
On saturdays its a daddy group going here, as my partner simetimes works saturdays me n Noa go n sing with the daddys.

 

[pinkymum]

Glad you're doing good catty! It is surprising how fast the day goes!