How are mamas with other kids getting breaks while pregnant?

The only breaks for me with my 2.5 year old is tv and grandma's house 🥲

Thankfully my husband has been spending lots of time with our oldest son while I nest or attempt to relax but he does still get a good bit of screen time. I feel like it balances out though for us because he attends daycare where he gets zero screen time during the day

I was just telling my friend about this guilt today. I feel terrible because I am always to tired so don’t play with her as much. Then once the baby comes I’ll be busy with the baby. It’s a lot of guilt to grapple with but it makes me feel better knowing this is natural and I’m sure something they need to adapt to at some point in life anyways. I’m still giving my first as much love and attention I can. If I need to throw the tv on to get a break then so be it.

When I was pregnant with my second my oldest was 1 1/2 and I relied pretty heavily on screen time as she wasn't great about independent play either. I just made a point to try to curate shows that had a more educational or social-emotional learning theme. Ms. Rachel is on Netflix now. Nick Jr and PBSkids shows are good. Give yourself a break, it's temporary. Just don't cave to YouTube drivel, it's the worst. I let them start watching it some when they got older and it's worse than Cocomelon for getting them hooked and sucked in. We've had to set hard boundaries and really lock down their profiles or all they would do is sit and watch YT all day long. Now my youngest (4) is at daycare 2 days/wk and plays well alone, but 2 is a rough age. An easel with *washable* crayons/markers usually entertains for a while. Play restaurant and let him serve you tea and whatever while you lay down on the couch.

If a tablet is in budget, I'm less familiar w/ Amazon and iPad, but ones that use Google FamilyLink lets you set their profile to only apps that don't have ads or in-game purchases if you want to incorporate some learning games that require engagement v. passive watching.

I have a wild 16 month old. It can be hard at times. We have a pretty strict 30 min a day screen time and I only do that when I’m desperate and need her out of my way for a few min. She plays independently very well, but is in the extremely clingy phase too. we read a lot, play outside, go to mommy meet ups/play dates, I just go about my normal day, cooking, cleaning, etc while simultaneously engaging with her. Pregnancy definitely makes it exhausting some days. Im also 35 so that doesn’t help 😅 but as far as ideas for cutting down screen time, I’ve been told to simply just not turn it on and kids will find things to do and ways to play. All my friends who have cut down or eliminated screen time with their toddlers and older kids say it’s they’re so glad they did!

I'm stay home mom We do play dates Membership at the children's museum 💕 3 days a week It's pretty cool because it's a safe place to talk to mothers but also keep an eye on your children and the 2 days we r home It's kind of a freeplay and cuddle time with books And we do a lot of music in our house And if you ever get a hold of a Plastic pool great for playdoh it's gold in our house He will play for hours Get you a Sensory table as well Also put in the middle of the pool Easy clean up 😏 Daddy time on the weekends Only thing that plays on our TV is number blocks And storybots

@Megan I definitely get that but what do you do when they only want to play with you? Like he isn’t just going to go wander to his toy room and start playing. I have to set up stuff for him or be playing with him at like all times and it’s just exhausting mentally and physically. Like if I just tried to have him go play he would just sit by me and cry and be super sad. So what do I do with that? Like how do I get him to go play with any of his toys? What kind of changes do they see with their kids after they get rid of screen time? I used to be so strict with it so I think that’s why I’m feeling extra guilty with it since I got pregnant I feel like I have been using it more and more.

@Ashley I’m always exhausted to take him out much to 😩 I feel like I’m just failing all the way around. We have membership to the aquarium and our children’s museum as well but it just has seemed like to much the last like month or so so we end up staying in. What do you do for music? Also what do you do exactly with the plastic pool and play dough to get him to play for a long time? Or do you mean the sensory table is what he plays with for hours?

@Audrey ooo I might have to get that to! Thank you for the suggestion 💜

I feel like when we go out it's kind of like my break the house stays clean With the pool It keeps the floor from getting dirty and I can easily pick up the Playdoh pieces and the sensory table Has 3 containers and sometimes I put bubbles with water so if there's any water coming out of the buckets will go into the pool also keep the floor from getting wet I do Cheerios in the blinder to make sand I hide things in there underneath it like dinosaurs and different toys that you'll find it I have hided m&m in there as well Those are 2 things we play with all time I have put in the sensory table the rainbow Puff balls And tell him he has to separate the colors into Clear plastic cups that I will draw a circle with different colors on each cup And give him a wooden big spoon And you can't touch it with Your hands😏 And that is hours and he love it plus he learns colors You can do a lot with just 2 items I swear But I used to do a tarp on the carpet but I find the plastic pool is a game changer 😉