busy or entertained? What do your kids do all day? How do you let them not get bored. I mean I read that you should talk to them, but how long can I keep a monologue going without myself getting bored?
I fear showing him too many cartoons etc coz that might get him glued to the TV as he grows up. Just an occasional video of some rhyme or cartoon is what I have been doing. Otherwise whatever he finds he keeps in his mouth and that is what he does pretty much all day - crawling, and putting things in his mouth. Including his toys. He plays with his toys for a day - maybe 2 hours, and then its back to searching for new things to keep in his mouth..lol.

I feel I am not doing enough for keeping his day enriching and entertaining. Any ideas?

I think what you're doing is perfectly right!

Your son needs to discover the world: allowing him to spend plenty of time on the floor in a safe place is ideal! He's discovering the world through the mouth (taste, texture, etc.), and that's perfectly normal. Just as long as he's not munching on anything dangerous (wires, plants, etc.) that's great.

Don't worry too much about germs, he's acquiring antibodies.

Over stimulating a child is actually not a good idea, as this usually leads to an over exhausted crying banshee.

Playing with toys, kitchen utensils, empty bottles and so on will allow him to develop his fine motor skills. Letting him play on the floor will develop his gross motor skills. A few walks outside to see the world, and that's perfect!

I constantly feel that I am negecting our youngest and not providing him with the right stimulation and care (now just 4 but still at home) but one thing that really helped me was to break the day up so that we had a structure with play times and "down times" when it was perfectly ok for me to get on with jobs etc.

So there would be breakfast and fun getting dressed (all really interactive, lots of counting games, round and round the garden games, where's your foot etc as getting dressed). Then I would allow myself 30 mins .. to tidy up the breakfast, get dressed myself etc. During this time, it's fine to let baby roam about (safely of course) and to discover his little world himself. Have a cupboard in the bathroom with empty bottles and boxes that he can pull out and chew to his hearts content.

Then perhaps an hour .. until snack time (or sleep time depending what schedule you are on). Here you can have a walk (face baby to you so you two can chat .. easier for you to chat about things you are seeing out and about then stuck in at home). Or play at home .. jumping up and down, singing nursery rhymes with actions (ring a ring a roses great!! but you have to bounce baby obviously!)

Snack time, (lots of chatting about the chewy biscuit and milk at the table) then maybe a bit of down time with cuddles and few books to read/chew, then 30 mins/45 mins for you . to prepare lunch (whilst baby again discovers the kitchen world ... )

At that age, mine would sleep after lunch, then going into the afternoon, I would break it up in a similar way, with play before snack, snack time, play and down time (for tea preparation etc) then into teatime, bedtime hour and bed. Phew!

To be honest, breaking it up was the only way I could survive a day at home ..as a full day stretched out seems endless and this way I knew I'd "earned" the time that I needed to get things ready/tidying/having a cup of coffee and you know you have been a fun interactive playmate to little one as well.

Try nursery rhyme CDs, mine loved them at this age. Shape sorters, pop up animals and knocking pegs into a peg board (or eggs into the hen coop as we had) are great interactive toys at the moment .. they cannot do them without your help, so save these sorts of toys for when you can sit down and help, meaning something new and fun.

Of course this is for the odd day you are home alone all day. You have to do the shopping, run errands etc and even have a social life(!!!) and these can all be really lovely parts of your day with baby ...

Mélusine is right .. you sound like you are doing everything just right. But you don't think you are .. which is par for the course really! Welcome (belatedly) to the guilt-ridden world that is parenthood/motherhood!

Have another one. As toddlers ours played with each other all day long. 14 years later they still keep each other entertained all day.

Yes, I know, easy for me to say, I didn't have to have them growing inside me for 9 months and then deliver them.

Very detailed ecb! I second opinions above and would like to add that at 10 months my daughter had great fun with the paper recycling... Emptying the box, filling it up, tearing, also another thing she liked was playing with fruit. Soft fruits so you're not worried about choking (this is recommended with a wipe clean floor surface), she'd eat some, squish some, then eat it... it would keep her entertained for ages!

Other things I can recall were corks off wine bottles, she used to have loads of fun putting them in a shoe box, then emptying it and the little cubes you can stack up, or put inside one another (like russian dolls).

Hope this helps a bit!

My sisters took their kids to playdates, that way the babies got used to seeing other babies and children and when later on they were very confident to walk into a room with other children.

Meeting other mums with similar aged children is also very enriching for both you & your child. You can do so in a coffee shop or in a play area. Perhaps there are some Mums meetup groups near you. See meetup.com for your area.

Baby swimming is another great activity.

Enjoy.

I just had a feeling I should not have put this... I always was with my daughter when she played with corks, but maybe they're not the best idea due to their size. She never actually put any in her mouth, guess she wasn't much of a red wine fan, but if your baby is still exploring everything by taste, then perhaps this isn't a good idea. Sorry.

I was rubbish at talking to my eldest so don't worry about it as he is the most chatty of all my four.

Letting them do there own thing as you are already doing is far better than packing in stimulation and creating a child who will constantly moan about being "bored " when for whatever reason has to be left to their own devices.

I am with Karl and yes I did have to do the 9 months and labour arggh! !4 months between my eldest two and two years between the youngest. meant I got lots of time to spend doing my favourite thing, reading. It also meant I was able to renovate three houses whilst being a home mother.

Unfortunately once the older two found themselves in the same class at school and the eldest became an early teenager we had to re-configure the top floor just so they could have their own bedrooms and escape each other.

Some good advice already given. Babies need to explore, feel, touch and taste. Just make sure that anything that could possibly be choked on, (those wine corks) or wrongly ingested ( detergents, etc) are out of reach.

I'm not so sure about the cafe idea - that's pretty passive quite quickly for babies and toddlers - great for meeting friends, but be prepared for having to get up to amuse the little ones a lot whilst doing it.

Well, you were blessed with a baby who wasn't discovering the world through the mouth! This is hugely practical, you're lucky!

Mine juste puts everything in her mouth. And I mean everything. Last week she was crawling on the floor while I was reading on the sofa. I turned my head, and there she was, happily sucking the dog's chewy bone...

Mine only ever went for edible stuff ..... bar one incident with a slug. Okay perhaps that could count as edible

My boy tries to suck my toes!!!

What lovely advice from all of you... I thought my almost 10 month old was a weirdo.. She hates her toys and loves to play with spoons, bottles and all the sundries.. At times feel i buy her toys because i love them so much..

One of the things with which i keep my girl busy is by giving her her toiletry pouch.. She loves opening the zip , emptying all its contents and then closing the zip again.. Atleast she keeps busy with it for all of 10 mins... Though she is getting dangerous now .. she has learnt to open the bottle caps and today if i would not have caught her in the nick of time, there would have been a whole blob of cream down her throat

Nil you are lucky ur lil one is just sucking your toes.. mine has some teeth now and she bites my fingers and toes ..ouch and that hurts a lot

Well, mine has teeth too and I'm still breastfeeding... Ouchie...

My 3rd child is 11months now. We have a small box of toys in the lounge with most toys in the kids bedroom (all 3 in one room).

I move her from one room to the next as I move about the house.

When I am cleaning the living/kitchen area she roams around with certain areas blocked off (eg the stairs, and the kitchen - aka home of the cat biscuit bowl).
When I move upstairs to clean bathrooms/bedrooms she plays in her room (there is a safety gate on the door) but I do a quick recon to make sure any small toys are not on the floor. Her big sister (4yo) has a little kitchenette with little cups, plates and fabric food. Everything goes in the mouth.
When I go to the laundry she crawls on the floor and she loves watching the maschine go around - that gives me time to hang the clothes up.

My rule of thumb - kids have short attention spans so keep changing it up, but don't let them rely on you for all their playtime (did that with my 1st and it has taken a long time for him to have nice quiet self-play time)

I'm a huge fan of play pens. Not all day long, of course, but they're ideal for when I have to cook, go to the bathroom or the laundry, or simply clean the place.

At least when she's in her play pen I know my daughter is safe. She's been spending time in there since she was born, so she enjoys it in there.

With my son we used it until he was 2-2.5. Really useful, not to say essential!

why must a kid be entertained at all times?

I find it terrible how moms play the entertainer for their kid all day long, isn't it important for a kid to feel bored and learn how they can invent games to overcome their boredom?

I have a now 14 month old and a 35 month old and the two always make up new games, chase each other etc, I do play with them but refuse this to become all I do.

Ok, a 10 month old is probably a little different but give them a box with duplos, toys, let them go through your purse and they'll be busy.

Wow! The reason I love EF! So much good advice. Thanks all. And keep them coming

About leaving him in a room while he plays - you know I cant even go to the bathroom for a minute in peace ..haha. The moment he finds out he is alone in the room, he starts crying and running..I mean crawling looking for mum. I guess all kids are like that. I usually tip toe my way out of the room and hope he doesnt turn around !

When babies get to a certain age they go through this phase. (something to do with attachment theory or some such) . I believe the perceived wisdom is not to creep away but to let the baby know you are going. Let him cry a little and come back. Once they know you will be coming back they no longer feel the need to follow you all the time.

The game peek=a-boo is a fun way of getting them used to you going off. I used to play this with my children anyway most people do and my children were always fine about me leaving them.

I actually mean "enriching". I feel bad that he just keeps crawling from one end of the room to another putting things in his mouth. Thats all. Whereas at a daycare that I happened to pass by, they said they teach children things - like colours, nursery rhymes, and when to sleep etc. And they give toys that help develop fine motor skills. So I feel like my child is missing out by being at home all day with a lazy mom who hardly plays/chats with her baby. He keeps himself busy with things, but I dont want his development to be slow coz he is at home
The above posts have given me ideas and some peace of mind now. Thanks for that. As for another child - huh..just seems too much to think of at the moment. I can't! Maybe thats for another thread.