What do you do with your newborn when he/she is awake?

New mom question!

DD is 9 days old and sleeps most of the time, so i want to take advantage of the time she is awake. What do you do to stimulate them? I sit her in my lap and shake a rattle but is there something else that i should be doing with her?

Thanks!

Re: What do you do with your newborn when he/she is awake?

I would do the following with my DS... put him on his activity mat and rattle toys in front of him, read him a book, I put ELMO in pandora and would dance around with him to children's music. I put him in his bouncy chair/seat thing and talk to him.

I think I started tummy time early on too.... just maybe in 30 second increments.

Re: What do you do with your newborn when he/she is awake?

def. a playmat
reading a book or 10!
playing with various age appropriate toys
cuddling!

Re: What do you do with your newborn when he/she is awake?

We play all kinds of music, DD loves anything upbeat (her favorite is Call Me Maybe ). She is also in love with the playmat. We sit her in the bouncy and play with her- showing her different stuffed animals and toys and singing to her. Read books, sit her in our laps and make faces.

At 9 days, she's still learning to even look at things. We would hold up big pictures of faces in a magazine. Hold a rattle and move it slowly from one side to the other to see if she could follow it.

I bought the book Your Baby's First Year Week by Week and it had play ideas for each week.

Re: What do you do with your newborn when he/she is awake?

Posted by MrsT809

We play all kinds of music, DD loves anything upbeat (her favorite is Call Me Maybe ). .

Re: What do you do with your newborn when he/she is awake?

Lots of walks too. DD was born in Feb so I would bundle her up and go for walks at the local park. You could sit in the shade and read a book or play with a toy. The weather is so nice-enjoy it!

Message edited 6/15/2012 4:43:59 PM.