Babies just want to be involved...

So in the very early weeks of having baby E I found myself scurrying around any and all coffee mummy mornings, baby groups and NCT cake afternoons I could find. The support you find is great, the tips, advice and experiences you hear are useful and for someone like me who misses their university rabble who have since dispersed all over the country it's an awesome way to make friends.

However a couple of months in it started to concern me that I was doing baby E some kind of disservice just dragging her around my newly chocca social calendar! (Thoughts I understand, only a first time mum with enough time and energy to think such a thought, could have.) So I picked some days in my week to stay in and spend one to one time with her. The result? A fussy and irritable baby! How was this? How come my baby is so laid back and contented when we are out but when I dedicate my day to HER she is unsettled and grumpy?

This line of thinking had kind of gone out of my mind since she has become more interactive and I have become busier with general "Mumming". Then I started reading Gill Rapley's "Baby Led Weaning" (fascinating so farm will review when I've finished) and it talks about how much babies love to be involved and apart of EVERYTHING. I suppose there must be some kind of survival method in that in a bond-with-the-herd-for-safety kind of way. But how lovely? Your baby just LOVES to be involved!

As a result baby E is now sitting up the table with me/us for all meals, not because she is weaning yet but because she should be a part of meal times. She is now also being sat on my lap or at the very least being sat up in the buggy when I go for coffee. I get a real kick out of thinking she FEELS part of what  we're doing and where we're going and who we're with. I guess she's learning too with all that observing, mimicking, listening, smelling and touching too. All good baby stuff.

Lesson:

Get your baby involved. Get them up the table, out the pram, on your knee, in the conversation and seeing what you're seeing. They love it! I mean after all babies aren't a different species... they're just wee peeps! :D

Getting involved at breakfast time :D