Fun Ways to Entertain Your Newborn

At some point, after a few crazy weeks with your newborn, your baby will all of the sudden stop sleeping every moment they aren’t eating.  If you’re like me, you may find yourself thinking, uh-oh…. What do we do now? Read on to get some ideas of fun ways to entertain your newborn.

Babies grow so quickly… The minute you think you have a routine, or are in a good flow, BAM- they change.  I think this happened around 3-4 weeks for Evvy. I did a quick google search that probably said,

“what to do with newborn when awake”,

And I got what I thought were some pretty lame ideas, honestly.  “Smile at them”, “stare at them”, “talk to them”. I mean, these were all happening already, awake or asleep, and they don’t exactly take up much time.  I was struggling! Like, what if she’s bored? I’d hate to make her mad and have a crying baby that could have easily been avoided. 

What I found out is this:  It is kind of boring right now.  At least for me it was. There aren’t many ways you can really “play” with or even “entertain” them at this age.  At least it didn’t seem like it to me. There was no magic formula. No magic baby device I was missing. 

So I started focusing on slowing down and dragging out the daily things that were happening anyway.  Talking her through everything. Keep reading for some fun ways to entertain and play with your newborn. 

Exaggerate Your Morning Routine

We had a whole morning routine, that we basically still do exactly the same.  That is, whenever she wakes and it’s actually a decent enough hour to classify as “morning”, we walk around the room and open the curtains together.  Then we head to the closet, and look through her clothes and we (I) pick something for her to wear. We spend a good bit of time on her changing table.  My best friend picked up an adorable puzzle-style, wooden wall decoration that I hung above Evvy’s changing pad. Not because I thought she’d look at it. Because I thought it looked cute there.  Turns out she looooooooved looking at it from day 1!! So, she’ll lay there and stare at that for awhile. Then I’ll chat a little about who knows what, change her into an elaborate outfit consisting of not just a onesie, but also pants, socks, and a bow.  

Stick Your Tongue Out

This one sounded weird to me, but apparently babies are able to recognize and control the movement of their tongues earlier than other body parts.  I gave it a go and wow! She actually stuck her tongue out back at me!! This was pretty fun. 

Read Them a Story

This one is great for taking up time.  It also helped me get to know the books that she was given. Why are so many baby/ kid books so long?? Parents have to read these things!! I like the ones with only a few words per page.  But, at this age since we had loooooots of time to kill, I’d pick a long one. Usually when I could tell she was already getting tired. I’d take her in the nursery and sit her on my lap and speed read what felt like a 20 page chapter book. 

Play Music/ Sing Songs

For us, it was the ABC’s.  I’d sing it every day. Original, I know. Or, sometimes I’d just throw on some classical music in the background. 

Lay Them on a Playmat

I probably could have plopped her under here sooner, but I had this weird notion that baby play mats were useless.  I don’t know why or where this came from. It just seemed gimmicky to me and I had never had to entertain a young baby all day who can literally do nothing but lay on their back. I bet a baby only a few weeks old would enjoy this!  My poor little one never got the opportunity until a little later when I wised up.

Had I known this thing would be used daily and live in the middle of our family room for months, I would have spent the moola on a better looking one than we currently have. I like this one below ‘cause it’s cute.

Skip Hop Cloud Baby Play Mat

Crinkly Toys of All Sorts

You know those baby toys that also sound like some dog toys that have like a piece of plastic inside the fabric that makes it sound crunchy or crinkly?  Well, my baby loved those from the start. They fascinated her from the very beginning, and still do. Get you some of those and thank me later.

You.Cannot.Have.Too.Many!

~While you’re here, check out my list of Diaper Bag Essentials!~

Go for a Walk

Honestly, this is partly for you. Babies rarely cry when being pushed in a stroller.  They won’t care much about their surroundings for awhile, but it’s nice to break up the day and give you and your little one a change of scenery and some fresh air.  If it’s cold out- bundle up! You have time. Or if it’s snowing, maybe just take a stroll around the house. Evvy just turned 4 months and is just now really starting to look up at the trees when we stroll around the hood.

We have this stroller and are IN LOVE! Soooo smooth.  Sooooo sturdy. Sooooo pretty.

UPPAbaby Cruz Stroller

Conclusion

Lucky for you, at this point there are still a lot of diapers to change, so that can take up a lot of the baby’s awake time. Mix in some accidents while changing that require a full wardrobe change and you’ve killed 10 minutes without thinking about it. Before you know it, your baby will start to really look at you intentionally (instead of through you, unintentionally) and the “play time” will begin to happen more naturally as your baby begins to come alive. It just gets more and more fun and gone will be the days of asking google how to play with your child.

You’re a natural.  And they’ve never done this before so you can’t disappoint. 

I hope these ideas of fun ways to play with your newborn have helped!  Let me know in the comments some other fun ways you’ve entertained your baby.

XO,

Abby





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