Three Month Old Baby

Baby Einstein play mat works for us she loves the star. Now that she is a little bigger the rain forest jumper works.

Congrats on your baby girl!

My son is 3 mos and we just started doing patty cake which he loves! I also started reading to him. Granted, he doesn't really follow along, but he likes to slap at the book and I think the colors hold his attention for about, oh, 30 seconds! I think the most important thing is for her to hear your voice and feel your touch right now. And, when you have to cook or doing laundrey, a bouncy is a life saver! A friend gave me hers and its from leap frog. It has a mirror on it, that he loves to look at! It can vibrate, but we haven't needed to put the batteries in, yet! Hope this helps!

Hi N.,

I would look into getting a play activity mat from Target or Walmart. They are these great mats for the floor with toys hanging down from the top of it (kind of like a swing set of toys). You can buy ones for on their backs or tummies.

Best of luck!

C. Roeschen
The Trinity Group
Keller Williams
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At 3 months, I think the best thing you can do for her developmentally is to spend some quality time with her. You can hold her (it won't spoil her I swear!), carry her around or in a sling/carrier and just talk and show her things like around your house, board books, etc. Believe it or not, this is probably the most "educational" and bonding thing you can do with her at this point. I would put my son in his bouncey seat in the kitchen and show him what I was making, let him smell things and tell him what I was doing. It seems really lame when you're doing it, but anything that engages multiple senses (touch, smell, hearing, etc) is going to develop the brain far better than any video can (and chances are her vision at this point would prohibit her from actually seeing anything on a tv clearly).

If you're looking for things to help tummy time become more bearable for her, we found some blocks and balls (i think they were Fisher price) that were clear and had things inside them like balls, little animals and other things. My son loved those. The simpler the better (ie no batteries are necessary to keep their attention). Also, keep in mind they have really short attention spans at this point.

Congratulations on your baby! Enjoy her. These days are so short!

I used these Baby Bumblebee videos with my son from when he was probably around 6 months, but they recommend starting at 4 months. I really think they helped develop his language and vocabulary skills early and he loved to watch them. Here's the URL...http://www.beesmartbaby.com/I_landings/Birth_to_1.cfm. Oh, and you can find them cheaper on Ebay, of course.

N.,
THE BEST thing that ever helped me was the Baby Einstein videos. They are wonderful with great music and beautiful colors. The babies LOVE them. Also Baby Bumblee videos. There is NOTHING wrong with letting your baby watch these and you get some time to yourself. take care of yourself ALWAYS!
Good Luck, L.

My son loved the Baby Einstein movies, my daughter not so much!!! She loved the mirror!!!!They have several options available now, I don't remember the brand but I got one that went in the crib with a "mirror" (soft) on one side and a place for the family picture on the other. A friend of mine made 3x5 laminated cards of all the family memebers and our pets, both children loved to look at these also.
Other fun toys that worked: Crib fisher price waterfall soother, I think it was a fisher price toy that they could kick, it had a butterfly and a flower that hung down and when the baby kicked it she was rewarded with music and lights, soft caterpillar.
I taught aerobics for years and so I came up with stations to keep me sane!!!
We did baby aerobics, I would move her arms and legs and sing to her.
we had play time with the toys,and kicker
reading time
tummy time works great with the mirror
we went for walks
My daughter just turned one, I remember going from station to station that I created to stimulate her and find things to do. I also remember holding her and thinking I won't always be able to do this so I better enjoy! To cook dinner, I used the bouncy seat, I placed her so she could watch me cook and watch the bubbly fish on her bouncer.
Hang in their MOMMY, I hope this helps :)

I am a single mother as well and was from the time I was 16 wks preg so I know how hard all those challenges are. I will keep you and your daughter in my prayers.

I held my son a lot and put him in his bouncy, swing which he loved also he loved and still does baby einstein they are short which makes them great. Just enough time to start a load of laundry:)

Good Luck and I hope this helps.

Hey N., My sons LOVED those vibrating bouncy seats.... I know they are a lot more fancy now and have toy bars across the top to give them something to look at and grab at.. I just had the plan one, but they still loved it. The vibrating motion really calmed them down. I also got one of the heartbeat things, that is supposed to make the same sounds they heard in the womb, I played that whenever I put them to bed.... Good LUCK!!
D.
Mom to 3 great boys, ages 18, 15 and 11 :)

Baby Einstein movies are the best at that age. I used to put the swing up close to the TV and walla...perfect! You can probably find a lot of them on ebay. Good Luck! They are still so tiny then... :)~

Hi N., you have received some great suggestions. My son actually has most of them, but the one thing that keeps his attention even as he gets older (8 mo. now) is the educational DVD / stuffed animal called MagIQ (0-12 mo. and 12-36 mo. DVDs). It is made by Tiny Love. My son and his friends love it. It allows us moms to have 30-40 minutes to get other things done. I believe it is better than Baby Einstein. If you are interested, head up to Baby's R Us because there were some on clearance. Tiny Love has repackage the toy, so Baby's R Us is trying to clear out the old packaging. Note, I negotiated for a price of $36.71 ($49.99 to $39.99 minus 15% coupon, then tax) because their clearance price was the same cost as the new package. Take care!

I read that at this age, her favorite toy is You! I thought my daughter (now 5 months) would want toys at that age but she really didn't start taking interest in any of them until recently. The one thing she really liked was one of those mirrors you attach to the crib and she can look at herself when she's going to sleep. I think Sassy makes them. My daughter's favorite toys are the ones that Sassy makes; you can find A LOT of them at Babies R Us and they're reasonably priced.

I used the Fisher Price Ocean Wonders swing with mine, and he loved it. He would look up at the lights and eventually go to sleep. It gave me time to shower, etc. It was given to me by a friend, and I passed it on to another, and it worked for all of us. Good luck!

First off, congratulations on the new baby, N.!

We had two lifesavers. One was a bouncy seat that had a bar that went over it. When she hit or grabbed the objects, lights and music would play. You could also take the bar off. I would do that when I needed some free hands but where she could still be near and watch me. I think it was Fisher Price, but there are all kinds that do the same thing. Go to Kid to Kid and you can usually find one that is a lot cheaper than buying brand new. The second thing was Baby Einstein videos. I really felt guilty about her watching tv, but with those videos they do get a lot of visual stimulation and the music is soothing. They are only about 30 minutes long, which was perfect for me. They used to have a pack of 6 of them at Sam's Club, and it was a lot cheaper than buying them individually. I did use a Baby Bjorn when I vacuumed, which she liked alot. When she got a little older we got her an exersaucers. It really helped helped her build up her leg and neck muscles, and she loved playing with all the little toys.

Hope that helps some. Good luck with everything!!

Baby enstein might give you about 5 min.