Just after some baby-amusement ideas here, as due to the various ailments floating around our house at the moment I need some time to get on with chores now and again.

Baby is about 5 months.

So, LO has a playmat gym thing (where you hang toys off the arches), which he'll play on from anywhere between 30 seconds and 20 minutes.

He also has a Graco swing, which so far he has protested at vociferously, so I don't risk its use too often.

He has a Bumbo, but as I've said before he doesn't sit very comfortably in it and he has a tendency to throw himself backwards in it, which I think looks really awful for his back.

He has a rocking crib in the kitchen, with a fab mobile above it, which he still likes to look at from time to time, but he is defo growing out of the crib and he can pretty much grab the mobile now so that's not very safe.

And then he has his good old bouncy chair, which TBH is the place that he seems happiest in, generally (rather bizarrely) with no toys at all but simply watching me or OH.

So what to do next? I do put him forwards facing in the sling sometimes, but he is too heavy and I am too small to do this for much more than an hour. As he is likely to grow very bored soon I think of lying on the playmat, that just about leaves us the bouncy chair, but again I think he will grow tired of that soon, as he's a bit too laid flat in it. He isn't sitting up yet, but really he is desperate to, so not sure how to deal with this.

Are there any other suggestions for amusing him while I cook dinner or do housework occasionally? Or are we past the stage now where we can just pop baby down and let him get on with things? Are we now at the point where we need to be entertaining baby ourselves for most of the awake hours?

(I don't want him watching telly, so that's most defo not an option. Only my opinion though, so don't take this as any kind of judgement against people who do watch telly!)

If he likes his bouncy seat, why not leave him in there and give him a toy he can play with in there? My LO has a soft tigger with bits to pull and chew on, and will happily sit fiddling with that for ages.

I wouldn't worry about entertaining him constantly - just watching you is probably plenty of stimulation some of the time.

Oh yes, I agree with you about not amusing him all the time. I'm just v aware that he is just about outgrowing his bouncy chair (both physically because of his size and mentally because he'd rather be sitting upright), so I'm trying to get ideas together before we hit the 'I hate this now' scenario. Also, he really doesn't like having the toys dangling over the bouncy chair. He'd rather no toys at all when he's in it, so I can't really increase the amusement stakes!

I think for this age its more that you jsut have to keep rotating what you have already. They do have short attention spans still

Once my LO was 6 months ish (sitting on own) i got her one of these leap frog dj stations, best thing i ever bought and well worth the money! its says can use from 4 months +

Alternating is how I keep Earl amused....just lol.

I work in 10 minute bursts as I know he will quite happily last 10 mins at most things. I too have a play arch, a chair with a dangly toy, a mobile over his cot, the floor, a door bouncer and his changing mat in the bathroom which has a toy next to it at all times now. I try to just think in those bursts and I can get a lot done in 10 mins now lol.

I also find that as long as in between he gets 'me' time, then I can sometimes push it to 15 mins, and his door bouncer is good for times like doing the ironing as he's in my eyeline etc.

Have you thought about getting an activity chair/jumperoo/bouncer for him to replace his bouncy chair when he grows out of his?

Do you have a highchair yet? I was just thinking that it would allow him to sit upright and he could have some toys on the tray to play with? A lot of them recline too if you don't want him sitting up all the time.

Looking at door bouncers on ebay right now :-) Prob with our house is because it's so old all the doorways are a couple of feet thick, so we will need to make some modifications to most bouncers. Fortunately 'modifiy' is OH's middle name LOL. (Mechanical engineer, can't keep anything in one bit for more than 5mins!)

Jumperoo ... they're just so huge. Used my friend's Leap Frog DJ thing at the weekend, and I have to say Monty did like it (for a bit anyway). Just don't know where we'd put it!

Now, what's an activity chair? Sounds like something I could investigate. Pls tell!

This is a great idea. We only said yesterday how we ought to start thinking about a high chair, so now you've said it as well, it's got me thinking along those lines. Anybody got any recommendations? We'd ideally like the sort that just kind of booster up on our normal wooden dining chairs - are they OK to use all the time?

Activity Chair - they're a bit like a baby walker or the Leap Frog station type things (oooh baby walker, there's another option....a lot of them fold down! ) The Summer Super Seat is the one I was eying up as it doubles up as a Bumbo style seat and booster seat when they're older. Usually arounf £45.

Also, I would recommend the Fisher Price Newborn to Toddler rocker (the portable one had knock down feet that stop the tipping issue that seems to give them bad reviews). Earl has found that if he shuffles his bum backwards he can sit upright all day long lol. It has a removable toy bar too so they don't have to have toys in their face all the time which Earl hates.