My baby is bored with me!

[Anonymous]

I think that Jackson is bored with me. I am really the only person that he sees all day and he is very quiet when it is just he and I. I am constantly trying to engage him- reading to him, trying to be silly and talking to him. He smiles and acts happy, but is quiet and often unimpressed. I took him to my parents house, however, and he was a different baby- cooing, giggling a lot and so excited. My parents live 3 hours away and my husband works all day. So, my question is, have any other stay at home moms felt like their babies were bored with them? If so, what did you do about it? He is not really at an age where I can take him out much since he naps a lot and gets fussy if we are out for too long. Would love to hear of others experiences.

[Anonymous]

Take him to the library– you are never too young for that and if he’s fussy just get up and leave. Our library story time is full of up and down and moving around and fussy younger siblings (mine included).

Go to the park, there are lots of SAHM groups if you are in a decent sized city or we did Kindermusik although it’s a little more pricey if buget is an issue. We go to the mall and hang out at the kiddie area and my 4 yr old gets energy out and I get a little peace time. Then once in awhile we will eat there. There are plenty of free things to do I have found– getting involved with the library pointed out a lot of things that I would not have looked in the paper for etc.

I have found that there are the same moms in a lot of places I go and you at least have other moms to talk to. We live in a town of about 300,000 so not huge. I didn’t go out trying to make close friends this way, but there is usually fun “mommy” conversation and I feel tired and more alive both when I get home and the kids usually take a better nap in the afternoon if I get them out just to somewhere!

[Anonymous]

Did you also feel like you were not enough for your baby when your baby was 5 months old. In the past, he hated to go out anywhere and he seemed perfectly content at home all day, everday (of course, I was going strir crazy). But, now he seems to enjoy an outing every now and then. Was this about the age that any of you noticed this?

[Anonymous]

I was always concerned that Griffin my oldest was “bored”, but it sounds like you are really interacting a lot with him and that’s what’s most important.

By the time the second one comes around, you really don’t worry as much about boredom b/c there is always something going on. My kids both were in daycare and still are 3 days a week and we live in a cold weather state, so when we can’t get out, it does help going to daycare to get rid of some of the energy and boredom. I think you’re doing all the right things.

At 5 mo, it is common for them to start to recognize familiar people, so he may just get excited to see grandma/grandpa b/c he realizes they are “fun”. I wouldn’t get to concerned about it.

We went through a phase when my oldest was about 2 where he would throw the biggest fits when we would leave my parents b/c we just weren’t “fun” enough at home. It really upset my dad. It was just a phase and now he gets a little teary when we are leaving him with a babysitter or our parents– he likes to guilt us that we’re going to have fun without him.

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