Is this a normal amount of independent play?

amother

↑ Crimson

Sat, Jul 06 2024, 11:29 pm

imaima wrote:

No it’s not

I’m going to trust our pediatrician who has been practicing for over 30 years on this one Smile

feel free to do differently for your own kids!

amother

↑ OP ↓

Sat, Jul 06 2024, 11:46 pm

amother Narcissus wrote:

Maybe she is bored, did you try rotating her toys every few days? You can also rotate through places to play whenever she's bored. Like she's bored of the floor, so try bouncer or a different position, facing a new direction with different toys. You shouldn't have to spend 3 hours straight interacting.
Something like this:
Floor play on tummy with toys ab+c until she gets bored
Pick her up and sing her a song
Put her in bouncer with toys de+f until she's bored
Hold her for ten min
Floor play on back in different location with toys g+h

You can also start off independently play interacting and then sneak away when she's engaged, instead of just putting her down with her toys and walking away. That could keep her engaged longer.

Thank you! I'm going to try these ideas

amother

Maroon

Sat, Jul 06 2024, 11:49 pm

amother OP wrote:

She naps 2x a day for one hour each. After 3 hours of holding/playing with her I really need to use naptime to sit on the couch and have a bit of a break.

I use the bouncer here and there, but she doesn't last too long in there either.

That doesn't sound like a lot of nap time.
I hv a 5 mth old too. We get 2-3 naps total sleep abt 4-5 hrs during day.

↑ imaima ↓

Sat, Jul 06 2024, 11:54 pm

amother OP wrote:

The drop to 2 naps is recent and because she started refusing her 3rd nap. I've experimented with giving her more sleep and it always results in being up in the middle of the night. She may be low sleep needs but I don't think she's overtired.

P.S. Total nap sleep can be up to 2.5 hours depending on the day but more than that and we have split nights.

So you expect her to sleep through the night at 5 months but also to play independently during the day while she is probably a little overtired from not having enough naps. Did I get this right?

amother

Cyclamen

Sat, Jul 06 2024, 11:54 pm

You asked about independent play - yes this is in the normal range

Naps - you didn't ask but again seems in the normal.
Each baby is different.

ora_43

Sun, Jul 07 2024, 2:09 am

Sounds pretty normal to me.

Quote:

And if it is howwwww does anyone get anything done??

They don't.

Or, to put it more optimistically, the extremely important thing they get done is raising a baby. If they're lucky they also get some laundry done while the baby naps, and can take the baby with for shopping and other errands without too much headache.

amother

↑ OP ↓

Sun, Jul 07 2024, 4:49 am

imaima wrote:

So you expect her to sleep through the night at 5 months but also to play independently during the day while she is probably a little overtired from not having enough naps. Did I get this right?

Wow, who hurt you? Confused

She doesn't STTN, she wakes up 2-3 times to nurse. When she gets too much nap sleep she'll be up for an hour or two in the middle of the night just... being up. Regardless, she dropped her 3rd nap, I would have been happy for her to keep it!

I didn't say I expect her to play independently during the day, I said I am playing with and holding her constantly and I am just wondering how typical that is at this age.

amother

↑ OP

Sun, Jul 07 2024, 4:52 am

ora_43 wrote:

Sounds pretty normal to me.

Quote:

And if it is howwwww does anyone get anything done??

I like how you put this and I agree! And my house is a disaster and by nighttime I'm too tired to do anything about it 😞

↑ imaima

Sun, Jul 07 2024, 5:55 am

amother OP wrote:

Wow, who hurt you? Confused

I was trying to get a full picture.
Everything you describe sounds normal

amother

Tomato

Sun, Jul 07 2024, 6:20 am

amother OP wrote:

I like how you put this and I agree! And my house is a disaster and by nighttime I'm too tired to do anything about it 😞

Yes this is the life of a SAHM, which most working moms don’t realize! It’s totally frustrating but I would say your baby falls in the normal range for 5 months.