Activities for Velcro Baby
Show your support
@Tara I feel you on getting nothing done. It drives me nuts. I've gotten really good and power chores. I do, like, the bare minimum as fast as I can once she goes down for the night before I go to bed. We have a Graco bouncer that you have to manually bounce too. It's the one in her picture. Even bouncing it, she gets bored. And as a short person, whenever I baby wear her, I'm limited in the tasks I can do. Her feet and butt are at counter height, which means all tasks that are at chest and waist level for me, I have to turn sideways to do. And forget all the bending over tasks - which is most of the stuff I do in a day bc I have animals too. Oh, and did I mention I can't sit with her either? I MUST be standing. So, I can't even baby wear and fold laundry sitting down. 😭 I love her more than anything, but I feel like such a failure bc my house is SOOO messy. I know they say "the laundry and dishes can wait," but only until you literally run out of things to wear and cook on.
@Tara haha! I think they even look a little alike!
Oh no! I can't imagine how much worse it would be if I had to be standing all the time too. Rough! Hopefully somebody has some good ideas for us 🤞
My little boy will be 4 months next week and I’m in the same boat! He doesn’t sleep at all during the day unless he is on me and at night wakes up every 2-3 hrs. He hates the rocker/graco swing. He hates the car seat so much that I’ve only gone a couple places with him in the 4 months we’ve had him. We don’t do any TV at all yet 😬 one thing i got him that keeps him entertained for a few mins is a helium balloon from dollar store. I lay him down and tie it to his hand and he just loves staring at it and tugging on it. Baby bjorn seat and another fisher price seat is the only thing he will sit in. Fisher price piano play gym sometimes he can tolerate it for 10 mins sometimes not at all. Also running out of ideas!
My baby is like yours. She doesn't nap much during the day but sleeps all night. She will sleep for a while if we do a contact nap, but that means I get nothing done. I think babies just have shorter attention spans. I'm ecstatic when she lets me put her down for 15 minutes. I usually power clean, shower, or eat. Lol. One of my favorite things to do with her is lay on the bed and talk. I lay next to her and have my face close to hers. We just sit and chat. She'll touch my face, and I tell her what each thing is. She also likes to sit up in her boopy pillow and look around/play with her toys. She also enjoys watching me make her bottle, do the dishes, etc. I think she's just taking in the world. But she only lasts about 15 minutes, and it's on to the next things until she's tired or hungry again. By the end of the day, I'm exhausted.
Have you tried wearing a carrier with her?
Sensory stuff? Water bag or fish sensory, painting in a bag, tapioca pearls, wrapping paper or other cool baby safe textures? Look into activities for this age on google?
Omg that sound like my 4 months baby boy . I am exhausted
@Megan I've tried some of those. She doesn't really interact with them. Partly because most require her to be on her belly and she HATES tummy time. If I hold her to try and do those things, she just wants to crane her neck to look at me for the sensory input OR she thrashes and refuses to be in a sitting position, even on my lap.
@Heather I have tried this, but the problem is I'm really short. Most of the tasks I have to do require bending, so the poor thing is constantly going up and down, up and down, up and down, and then she gets frustrated. Tasks that have me standing are usually things at my counter, where her legs and belly are at. So, that means I have to do those tasks standing sideways so she doesn't get squished against the counter. My arms just aren't long enough. I also MUST be standing with her 90% of the time I'm holding her. She HATES being held while sitting. So, even baby wearing her while folding laundry must be done standing. Things like vacuuming, sweeping and mopping, are super hard to do because of having to hold those objects so far out in front of me - again, I'm short so I have really short arms. And then today I was rinsing silverware off while wearing her to load in the dishwasher, and it was like I was running a blender next to her. She was suddenly scared of the water. She LOVES water most of the time
It sounds like you really have tried it all 😅 one thing I can think of is placing her in the bouncer in front of the washing machine, they like to watch it spin
Try a walk outside in a carrier where the baby can see stuff! Ours loves looking at trees and cars and everything. Then she can snuggle up and fall asleep when she gets tired.
My son is also 3.5 months and is the exact same way. I usually put him in a carrier and try to get things done around the house. He naps every 2 hrs but wakes up 2-3 times at night. What did you guys do differently to get your baby to sleep through the night if they aren’t taking naps during the day?
@Suji She does still nap during the day too, just not for very long periods. Honestly, we didn't do anything. We are SUPER lucky that our LO is actually a really great baby. She started sleeping through the night on her own somewhere around 6-8 weeks. And I can count on 1 hand the number of times she's woken up in the middle of the night since then. She sleeps an average of 12 hours at night. I have tried waking her up one last time before we go to bed, and it's an absolute nightmare. It completely throws her off. She's awful to get back down, and then she's awake every 2 hours. So, our doctor said to just let her sleep. She wakes up happy, and is hitting all her growth milestones. She's a smidgen behind on rolling over, but she's great otherwise. But, I think her sleeping all night is a contributing factor to her needing so much interaction and stimulation during the day.
My baby is the male version of your baby 😅 I've tried all the same things except TV. He likes music if I sing and dance but only for like 10 minutes, max. He hates the playmat. He LOATHES the swing. He doesn't like tummy time at all. I bought that stupid dancing cactus - nope. Mirrors work for maybe 5 minutes here and there while I am making him a bottle. Otherwise he needs to be on my chest or hip 24/7. He's awake almost all day except quick 20min naps on my chest but he sleeps 9-12hrs most nights. Everybody keeps telling me how lucky I am and I get that...the night sleep is amazing, no doubt. But I get nothing done in the day and yes it is exhausting. I am following this thread for answers. The ONE AND ONLY thing I have found that works...is the Baby Bjorn Bouncer. He loves that...but I have to keep it bouncing consistently with my foot or hand while I am cooking or cleaning or whatever. You could try one of those but they can't be used once they reach 20lbs 🥲