[BookishOne]

My 5mo DD is starting to stay awake for longer stretches now & is a very quick feeder, leaving us lots of time to play when she is awake. Sometimes I feel we do the same things over and over and that she must be getting bored (I know I certainly am!) and I want to mix things up a bit. I also don't know how much she enjoys what we do, as I have to work pretty hard to get her to smile & giggle when we play (once daddy gets home though it is all giggles ). I know that I don't smile and laugh all day long and sometimes I am concentrating or just passively enjoying something, so it must be the same for her, but it is hard to tell if she is actually enjoying herself or just tolerating my silly games haha.

I sing her rhymes and silly songs with hand movements, read her stories - usually ones with touch-and feel bits or sounds etc. She loves tummy time, where although she can roll she chooses not to haha. She has rattles / teething things as well as some soft toys and squeaky things which she is only interested in to put in her mouth.

Typically when we are at home and she is awake for say an hour and a half, we might take 15 minutes to feed & change her, then we go on the mat for tummy time, read a story, walk around the house and show her herself in the mirror. Maybe blow some bubbles for her, back on the mat where we blow some raspberries / tickle her / 'this little piggy' etc. Then I might pop her on the playmat to organise lunch or go to the loo etc, take her outside for a few minutes, back on a mat for some songs...it just gets a bit repetitive!

She seems to be loosing interest in her play gym, and I like to keep that for when I need to be doing something else anyway so I can leave her for a few minutes. She also has a bouncer, but that seems to have turned into her 'toilet' chair as she always seems to fill her nappy when in it. I use it now when I think she needs to go rather than for fun haha.

We do go for walks and get out and about to the shops where I try and talk to her about what we are doing, where we are going etc. We go to babytime at the library (she is probably still a bit young for this but she likes watching the other kids) and mother's group once a week where she sees another group of babies. We also go visiting family so she has lots of cuddles etc.

Any ideas for what else we can do together, especially when at home, would be great....

[LovenFire]

Wow! Op, you sound like you're doing great with her!! Maybe give her some practice sitting supported or standing supported, but wow, you're giving her such a lot of fun interactive time. Well done

[KRT]

Other favourites at that age were looking out the window and watching the trees, "I'm eating your toes/ears/fingers", watching Mummy cook, sitting in the washing basket while I folded washing.

[lucky 2]

Just in case you didn't know it existed I'll link the EB Guide to Baby's First Year, it has lots of information and a few suggestions re games that are appropriate for each stage.
All the best.
http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/baby/first-year-guide

[BookishOne]

Wow! Op, you sound like you're doing great with her!! Maybe give her some practice sitting supported or standing supported, but wow, you're giving her such a lot of fun interactive time. Well done

Thanks LovenFire! Reading it back it does sound like a lot, but she is only interested in each thing for a few minutes haha, so as it is all of that may only take half an hour or so, then I am thinking, right...what now!?!

Thanks KRT there are some good ideas there and I will definitely check out the link Lucky 2!

[threetimesblesse...]

DS3 is 5 months old.

Some other things we do:
- Morning bath and splash about with bath toys
- I have a rocker for outside which stays on the deck and he can go in that and watch while I hang washing out, look up at the trees etc.
- Laying on the play mat next to him, practising rolling him over, seeing what he sees, changing the toys hanging on the play gym often.
- I often video/photograph him (making sure he isn't the forgotten 3rd child but also has a record of his baby years!)
- Playing music and dancing around

[Dylan's Mummy]

You don't have to spend al of her wake time entertaining her. In addition to playing with her, have you thought of putting her on the floor with a few toys so that she can entertain herself for a little while. At that age my bub liked to roll around and play with small toys he could easily hold onto and shake, put in his mouth or babble to. Change the toys around once a week so that she gets some variety.

[Moo point]

Sounds like you're doing great, OP! I was sort of wondering the same thing - is DS (5 months) getting bored with me? What I've discovered is that it is good for him to have time on his own to safely explore his environment, a particular toy or as PPs suggested looking out the window or at something new. They don't always need a playmate, and it's good for them to be able to entertain themselves.

DS often gets frustrated/bored with the playgym - he tries to pull the toys off, and he's rolling now so sometimes gets stuck on the frame I give him time just in the middle of the floor with one or two toys or a soft book, and move him into different rooms for a change of scenery. He's pretty good at playing on his own for ages now, not just for the couple of minutes I duck to the loo or grab a drink.

We often call family members on Skype too - allows them to see how DS is growing and help him remember them/keep them familiar

[Princess.cranky....]

Honestly you are doing enough!

Babies don't need constant entertainment and you don't need to be directly playing with her all the time.

You might think what you are doing with is boring but it won't be for DD. It is all about repetition because babies learn from repetition. They will often have one song or game they love and that's the thing they want you do over and over. With toddlers it can be a favorite story. We have been reading DD3 the same book every night for 2 months. She always ask for it and never gets sick of it but we do! lol

Also some time to entertain herself is good for for helping develop interdependent playing.

Put some new toys on the play gym to keep up the interest. Although I found my kids were over it when they started to roll/move around.

Lots of floor time. Put a mat down if your doing something like cooking and let your baby play on the floor. My kids loved anything that wasn't a toy- plastic lids, spoons, bottle shaker (bottle with rice), pegs..

[~ Lucy's Mum ~]

Yep, I agree with PP's. I did pretty much what you did when my DD was that age. She is now 9 months and we are practising standing (that is all she seems to want to do, no crawling yet).

I struggle very hard to get giggles from her too but it's all giggles when her daddy gets home .

At 5 months she was also happy to entertain herself but time was limited under her play gym so we moved on to an exersaucer which she still loves or try a jumperoo. But reading is great and I just generally talk to her about I'm doing and she joins in. Oh she also loves going to the supermarket in the trolley. She started sitting from 6 months I think and loves sitting the trolley.

Sounds like you're doing great OP