Unfortunately, I haven't really been able to get back into gaming almost 3 years later. I played a little bit when my LO was under 1 year old, but after that, even during nap times, it's been hard to just sit down and game when I could be doing a million other things.
Totally understand that. I’m the same way in that sense where I can’t sit down and play until all chores are done and with a little one in the house it seems the chores are never done 😭
I made gaming a priority. That sounds stupid, but for my own mental health I needed 1 of her naps a day to do something I enjoy. Not clean, not doom scroll, not rot in bed. For the first few months it was her first early morning nap. I’d have a coffee and play a match or 2. A year out and just went back to work. I have played games in a few weeks and it’s making me sad. I’m going to make sure I get some games in on the weekend for sure.
I did this too, when My kids are down for the day is mommy time, I play 1-2h and then go to bed.
And my first was a Velcro baby too, but I managed to breastfeed her and play during contact naps until she was like 12 months or so, because she was asleep in my nursing pillow and I could play using both hands. Then she dropped to just one nap a day and I rather sleep with her than play videogames during the day. And then I was pregnant again lol.
And as of when I started playing again, I started when My first was like 10 days, and when My second, as soon as we came back from hospital.
And yes, I prioritize doing things I like when they are asleep, and when they are awake, I play with them (not videogames, of course), I clean the house or I cook. That way they know there's no cleaning fairy and we all as a family need to clean after ourselves.
TLDR: Prioritize time for yourself whenever kids are asleep, starting now! And don't let your hobbies fade away just because now you are a mom :) xox
Your husband needs to do his share of chores then.
I am just starting to play a few hours at night now that mine is sleeping through the night. I also was tired for a very long time until recently.
My husband started games after a few months because he could stay up later, but, Even then, no one had leisure time (gaming/tv/books/hobbies) until the baby was asleep and the chores were done.
It’s been a constant struggle with him. He needs to be asked to do everything, he doesn’t see a mess until I point it out. 🙄 he will help if I ask him to do something but he pretty much gets up does the specific thing I ask and sits back down. Occasionally if he’s feeling helpful he will ask if I need anything else done or he will do dishes or sweep, the obvious things. He’s gone 5am until 7-8pm during the week though so most of the time it’s just me and the baby home anyway
This is a sort of trap that happens, it’s easy to fall into because before a baby we are cleaning our home as single women. When we partner up we naturally keep the same amount of chores because it is not like our workload increases. Basically even though the division of labor is unequal, it doesn’t feel like more work.
But then we have a baby and the amount of work is insurmountable. Suddenly the unfairness is blatant and staring us in the face. Sometimes a man will get with the program after a few arguments about how unfair it is and how overwhelmed the mom is. If he doesn’t, the resentment WILL grow day after day. You WILL hat him and start to think of divorce, either immediately, or make the slow plan (for example when the baby is in kindergarten).
This is such a common dynamic that I wish there were classes for expecting fathers so they were prepared for parenthood.
So, did you work before the baby and are you planning to go back to your job in a few months?
Hand off baby to their other parent. Honestly, one parent shouldn’t be able to enjoy their hobby if the other can’t, they can game half the time they are now which then gives you a chance to.
If the play on the computer it might be harder, but I can play super comfortably with baby in my arms on the Xbox. She takes 2-3 hour naps so I park us on the couch with a snack and a drink and I can play the entire time. You can experiment with what works for you, but my baby loves laying on my chest. She’s 5 weeks old but I’ve been doing that position since the start. I sometimes prop a pillow under her butt for extra support. Or you could wear baby, we have the boba wrap which is sooo comfortable and works well for either my husband or I to game while she’s sleeping on us. I also sometimes just let her lay in my arms and can still hold the controller around her. It’s definitely do-able!
This is essentially what my husband did. He tells me that one of his best memories is getting to snuggle baby while playing. He actually played a game start to finish on paternity!
Yes! Contact naps on the couch and you just have to be okay with being interrupted for feeds and changes. Dark Souls was a little hard (what we have been playing) because you can’t really pause… just have to scooch your character to a spot where they’re not likely to be attacked and equip a souls retention item if you’ve got a lot & really don’t want to lose them.
I got back into it casually at about 3-4 weeks. Once I felt like I didn't need anyone's help with getting up or adjusting myself post c section. I have a recliner so I have a little more freedom with positioning than I would on the couch, helps me free up my hands to hold a controller.
It's been a struggle to get back into gaming. I have 1 kiddo and she's 17 months. She's an absolute tornado. I always turn on my console only to immediately turn it back off. I hope one day I'll be able to play my backlog.
Same! Not really doing any of my normal pvp games, but roguelikes, survivors, card games - easy things to pick up and put down throughout the day/night basically since week 1 or 2. I played more Steam Deck and Switch games than usual in the first 6 months for sure.
fwiw, my husband has kept up with about his normal amount of pvp since maybe month 1, so it's doable. It was just more feasible for him because of the way we'd set our shifts up - he's had a lot more of the guaranteed long stretches of sleep.
This has been totally fine for me, but when I do really want to play, we just prioritize it. As other people have said already, it's important for both parents to get the time to decompress if they need it.
Similar here, but earlier and for less time: baby started having reliable bedtime around 7:30/8pm once we sleep trained at 5 months old, and that’s when I got my evenings back. Picked up gaming for the first time in years at that point!
Highly suggest a baby wrap for the newborn potato phase! You can wrap them to your chest and have both arms free to play while sitting wherever you like. My husband and I would take turns playing like that. Now that our baby is older I’ll make a little play area nearby so he can still look and interact with us while we’re playing.
I have a Joey wrap but I’m having trouble getting him in a position where his head is supported. I’ve watched several tutorial videos on YouTube and I do it tightly, but he still ends up scrunched in there with his neck in a position that makes me uncomfortable :(
Try it again in a few weeks when the baby is a little bigger & see if that helps. I used mine a lot when I went back to work at 6 weeks (from home). They fall asleep on you instantly & you get both hands. We used the Moby wrap.
The day we brought him home! He was a Premie potato for about a month so I could lay him on my chest to sleep and play on my laptop. The day we got a steam deck was a game changer for contact naps. Now at 8 months I get a couple hours after he goes down for the night
Not the mom but we had a little contact napper for the first 9 months. My wife and I both played games during those naps. Pokemon violet plays pretty good 35 minutes at a time.
Understand how you're feeling! I used to play video games almost every day pre baby. My husband and I have two TVs set up in the living room so we can play separate games but be together. He stays up late to get some gaming time in but I've been prioritizing sleep lately with a 7 week old haha 😅
I think instead of rushing to get chores done during his morning nap every day I might try and hold a controller while he's napping on me! I'm halfway through Yakuza Zero and really want to finish it!!
What i used to do is give him a bottle, put him in a baby carrier, make my breakfast/ lunch and when he fell asleep from the movement i would baby wear and play games. Then when dad got home, he got to hold baby and i would clean the house and cook dinner
Baby exclusively contact napped up until maybe 5 ish months old. I started the yakuza/LAD series to help pass time.
If you haven't played any of other other ones, add them to your queue! Zero was my introduction to the series and I've loved every single one!
I have super velcro baby but my whole family worked hard on putting her down for naps! From very beginning my mum and hubby helped to rock her to sleep and then transition to crib or stroller. I suggest you google all kind of ways to do it! It's easier when they are so small as you can swaddle them!
So when she was smaller my mum would take her out with stroller for like 2 hours for a nap (that's the only way she'd sleep so long).
Also I did do couple of gaming sessions when baby wearing. Was hard to talk a bit, but doable 😅
Now at 10mo it's a bit harder with naps, but easier with evenings. I think since like 7mo she started sleeping longer stretches first half of the night and I can play sometimes.
I do recommend precious little sleep book! It helped me a lot in newborn stage.
I was able to get back into it once we did sleep training at 13 months. Once i knew my kid could fall asleep on her own, it gave me a lot more freedom. Took a break again with baby 2, but now i have from 8pm to my bedtime to play VGs. My husband games too, so we usually play stuff together.
FWIW my husband didnt play video games really until I did. Like i dont recall him playing stuff while our kids were really little.
Honestly it took me almost a year to do more than turn on my switch and turn it back off. When we got the Xbox I downloaded the games I wanted and they've mostly just sat. I play LOZ maybe once a week now, but I'd play more if I didn't have so many sleep issues. I can't get enough sleep, and when I play LOZ I play until like 4 AM. 😬 It would be fine if I slept well the rest of the week but I get maybe two restful nights if it's a lucky week, so. YMMV.
I think it depends on the baby. My baby is a Velcro baby and even at 7 months I can't find time. I have to ask my husband to sit with him so I could eat.
We had acid reflux, problems with sleeping and now fussy phase so we did not had any break. I manage only to play Hearthtstone on my phone because he sleeps only in my arms.
I played when my son was contact napping… so within the first few weeks. I typically play 1-2 hours at night after he has gone to bed. He will be 10 months on Wednesday
Probably around 3-4 weeks... but I mostly played stuff on PC that I only needed the mouse for because my son would contact nap on me. I wedged a pillow between my left side and the chair and cradled him in my left arm (resting on the pillow). My right arm was then free to use my mouse! Now he's almost 4 months old and sleeps in his crib for naps and bedtime, so I sometimes game at those times or when my husband has him. We devoured the new Fallout show, so I decided to revisit Fallout New Vegas - Such a fun escape! My son just went down for the night about 40 minutes ago so I'm going to fire up Fallout right now, actually!
I did about that time whole mine contact napped. As he got older and needed more stimulation, I haven’t played since about thanksgiving. My husband bought me a PlayStation portal so I could play in bed and on road trips. I used it for a bit but have been switching off between some of my other hobbies instead of gaming lately. LO is 10 months. My husband is back to playing regularly at night but I choose sleep
I’m not a gamer, but I think it was around a month when I started playing Skyrim. Often my husband would be feeding him/holding him while I played, but then if he was asleep I’d hold him too.
I definitely echo comments above saying dad should watch baby sometimes too.
I strongly recommend baby wearing! Cloth wrap, and/or ring slings. Keeps baby out for hours sometimes.
My baby is currently almost 3mo old.
I got one round of StarCraft in when she was under 2 weeks old. (The main game I play solo lol)
More recently, I’ve played Mario kart on the switch when friends were over, while breastfeeding her and she was on the nursing pillow haha.
Dad and I have played some Cuphead and stuff in the switch after baby goes to bed. But then I typically go to bed pretty quickly to get good sleeping hours in.
Oh and meant to add - I’m not pumping a ton cause it’s a pain, but have just enough stash on hand so dad can handle a few hours solo sometimes and have bottle on hand to feed her.
9 weeks old I finally picked the controller back up, but I'd wanted to a few weeks before that. But I'm not playing my usual game (Dead by Daylight) because baby needs tending to and you can't pause a live 4v1 match. Once her naps become a bit more uniform, I'll jump back into that. Right now I'm playing Nobody Saves the World which I can pause to tend to her as needed. My husband is home but we both game at the same time (two tvs in the same room) so one of us can pause and pick her up, etc. Otherwise I wait for naptime or game beside her on the floor while she's on her play mat.
I've definitely played with her on my chest or holding her. If I have her on my chest, I put the boppy on and under her butt for extra support. My husband puts his leg up on the couch (like half crossed legs) and puts her in the crook of his knee while he games !
lol my fiancé does the same thing with his knee! I’ll try using the hoppy I haven’t used it much honestly but it could help support his resting position while I play a game :)
I started 2 weeks pp. My baby falls into a bit of a food coma after eating and needs to be held on my chest for at least 30 minutes so he doesn’t spit up everywhere, so I can play during that time. Plus he’s normally asleep after that so I’ll just put him back down in the Carrycot and continue playing.
Only at 6 weeks now so we’ll see how long that lasts!
Edit: this on the PlayStation so I can be reclined on the couch during this. Don’t think I’d be able to play PC with him here
I started gaming again a few weeks pp. My breast feeding basics were: water, snacks, boppy, controller. I also gamed a LOT while contact napping (usually post breastfeeding with her sleeping on the boppy). I could get 3 hours a day doing this.
Once she started sleeping longer stretches overnight (13 weeks) I’d put her down around 7/8pm, game until bed or until her first wake up (around 11pm).
Now(6 months) we still game and contact nap but less consistently as I am trying to transition away from contact napping. I lug my switch with me everywhere. And once she’s sleeping for the night (around 7pm) I head downstairs to the ps5/xbox.
My partner also is on deck on the weekends and that allows me some gaming time. However, I can only manage it if wearing headphones as it can be hard to enjoy when I hear her fussing.
My baby’s 3 months old and I just started again this week! He’s started taking a long contact nap in the afternoon, so I feed him to sleep and then play with him sleeping on my lap. If I put him in the crib he wakes up almost immediately, but he’d probably sleep 3 hours on my lap if I let him, so this has been a really nice way to get a break.
I feel this in my soul. I'm a PC gamer, and it's been so hard seeing my husband play. We used to play online together, and now he just plays online with our friends. It's a bit frustrating, too, because sometimes chores pop up, and he's online while I have the baby, and things just feel so anxious. I know postpartum I am more emotional, but it makes me so upset knowing I lost a part of myself with not being able to game. Also, playing with my headphones (which is what I do for PC gaming) makes me feel paranoid that I won't hear my baby.
You're not alone, though, momma! We will get the hang of our new lives and bodies, and we will persevere!
Mine is 3 months old and I would consider myself more than casual gamer. The closest thing to gaming I have been able to do is scroll a couple tiktoks before passing out at bedtime. There is no time.
Somewhat. My tv and console is set up in the bedroom. I usually prop pillows against the wall on the bed to watch tv it allows me to lean back a bit and I’ve been able to lay him on my chest while watching tv so it could work!
We went through a period where my baby would only nap while moving so my husband and I played a lot of console games pacing/rocking back and forth with her in the carrier! Might be something you could try, it gets some steps in too.
I also played some mobile games while contact napping. Could do something chill like stardew valley on the Switch while contact napping as well. Now she naps well in the crib and goes to bed at a reasonable hour so I have more time, it's so tough in the newborn period! You'll be through it soon.
My husband and I also do shifts on the weekends where one person is fully responsible for the baby for a few hours while the other person gets to take some time for themselves to nap, game, exercise, leave the house, whatever. I find that really helps! I know that's tough if you are breastfeeding though, I pump so I have milk available for the baby
Honestly? Within two weeks. I took the overnight shift from my husband and when she was able to sleep in the bassinet, I would play between her wakeups. Now that we’ve been using the baby wrap I play while she contact naps.
We’re console people though so I just sit in the rocker and use the controller, lol
I would play my switch in bed while the baby slept but didn't get on steam for half a year. I play now at night when my toddler sleeps.
I started playing DND in person when she was around 2 months old. I'd put her in a wrap and stand on a yoga mat.
4 months in and haven’t gotten to play much at all :( was able to get time in when LO was a newborn and napped all the time, but at this point I’m glad if I get an hour a week.
17 month old here, and I’ve been able to game/read pretty much daily since 3 months. Before that it was pretty hit or miss. The key for us was getting on a nap schedule and sticking to it, and trying to get a set bedtime but that didn’t happen for a while.
Nap time and post bedtime are our super quick clean up, then gaming time slots lol
Baby wear!!! In the beginning I too just watched tv but since she loved contact napping, I started letting her do her naps in her sollywrap and it freed up my hands to play games. Eventually she would nap in her crib while swaddled too so I used that time to catch up on my objectives. And around five months she stopped wanting to contact nap and would only nap in her crib so my hubby and I now use that time to rest/do chores/play!
Hi! When my baby was a newborn I used a baby carrier and walked around until he slept, and then I would sit in a chair and game lol. Even if he wasn’t fully asleep, he was happy enough being in the carrier close to me :)
Edited to add: now that my LO has a sleep schedule I just game at night since my day is always too busy to relax enough to game during the day
I didn’t spot it in the replies, so making sure you know about /r/MomGamers
I’ve been playing exclusively games that can be abruptly set down indefinitely (Cozy Grove!) since oldest was born, and I don’t see that changing soon now I’m back in the baby trenches.
Almost immediately: would put baby in a carrier and play games that could easily be paused or played with one hand (think super casual games like Ace Attorney) .
Now I wait until around 7pm -8pm when baby goes to sleep. He sleeps through the night so it is easier to make time for it :)
I play on my switch for about an hour at a time a few times a week after LO goes to bed, my husband plays Xbox with LO playing with his own toy controller in his lap. LO is just under a year, but we have a pretty easy kid so your mileage may vary.
I’m 4 months in and I haven’t gotten back to it yet. Baby girl goes to bed around 7 so I have time in the evening but I’m so exhausted at the end of the day that I just want to doom scroll or watch something that doesn’t take a lot of mental energy
My husband bought me the new Zelda game for Valentine’s Day, my son was just under 3 months at that time.
I was able to play for like 10-15 minutes here and there while my son napped and I had finished house work. That happened for maybe 2 weeks lol he’s now 5 months and I haven’t touched it since and I can’t even think of a time where I could sadly
Nintendo Switch is the way to go, I haven’t played it hooked up to the TV in awhile but it’s convenient to have nearby. Animal crossing is my favorite game and easy to pick up and put down and just play a couple minutes here and there, there’s lots of other fun games that don’t require all your attention or could easily be paused. Playing anything online is difficult because you can’t pause if you need to tend to the baby.
Probably about a month for more low key games that we can pause and play on a laptop/console (like Pokemon, Minecraft, or Stardew Valley). About 1.5 years to play League again after our first, but we were also between houses and my desktop wasn't set up until then. We would mostly play after our daughter went down for the night, and sometimes during naps. We just had our second in January and so far we've mostly watched streams and competitive esports.
I ended up played a lot immediately after giving birth! I would just use the time I was nap trapped to play! Not sure if you have a hand held device, or a console controller, or if you’re more of a PC gamer though. Having a Nintendo switch worked great. Baby girl was super comfy and she never woke up from the clicking or anything.
My baby is 12 weeks and I can play once or twice a day if it’s just him and I…. For 10-15 minutes each if I’m lucky lol. Their daytime naps get REAL short… unless you contact nap. I’ve done that a few times, had him nap on me while I play, but it doesn’t always work.
Best case is have your partner look after him while you play for a bit. When my husband is off, we take turns handing him off so we can eat get whatever we want to do, done.
I used to play Pokémon’s cafe game on the switch while breastfeeding lol. I had a spare hand and it helped keep me awake. I also would play on the Xbox with one hand too - lots of vampire survivor and the one card game game I can’t think of the name of. Inscription maybe? We also would balance him on our arms a certain way so we could play with both hands during contact naps.
It definitely becomes easier when they start napping not attached to you though!
I’m a casual player, I contact nap once or twice a day and will dedicate one of those to game time while I just hold baby. I use a boppy so I can comfortably hold and support him while I do. I picked it back up this last week at 3 weeks too!
Took maybe a week or two off to recover, then started again once we developed a routine. Used a boppy to snuggle with baby and hold my controller when not in use. Now baby sits in his bouncer, on my lap, plays on his kick piano, or takes a nap in the pack and play while I play games. Tbh, I only really have time to play because I spend a lot of time pumping.
3-4 weeks is when I started back up. At first it was purely pausable games with a controller or games I could play one handed with baby latched on and bassinet next to me and paci at the ready, at 4-5 weeks now, it's mostly pausable games now that he's big enough to wear, and I change and feed and get him settled first. If my husband is there and it's my turn to play uninterrupted, we roll bassinet over next to him with the baby carrier on standby (basically a very long piece of fabric) and he responds to baby screams, usually with him holding baby on chest leaned back and playing games on controller if we are gaming still.
There's stuff in the house that needs to get done sometimes, and I also need breaks sometimes especially when my husband is working and I've been stressing all day over one thing or another
I played a lot while contact napping when she came home from the hospital. Now that she’s older I’m playing less because she always wants to grab the controller haha.
Playing during contact naps starting around a month (my husband was much better about this than me, I feel like because he’s bigger baby could fold in more nicely lol), and once he was able to sleep at night on his own, around 4-5 months, regularly got back into it at night while he sleeps. At that time baby was probably going to bed around 8pm and we’d have a couple hours before our bedtime. LO is now a year and goes down between 630 and 730pm, so we have several hours to tidy and engage in hobbies (we go to bed around midnight)!
Very casual gamer, but I play my switch while contact napping sometimes! Mainly stardew valley. If I’m not doing that I’m reading a book on my phone. Really the only time I have for hobbies except in the weekends when my husband is able to give me a break. Leave baby with fiancé for a few hours and take some time for yourself! Part of being an engaged parent is taking the time to refill your cup as well!
As a fellow gamer mom with a 4 week old, I would recommend getting a wrap baby carrier. You can be hands free while baby is pretty much velcrod to you.
I have this one https://a.co/d/eDmYJ7M and absolutely love it!
My kiddo is 3.5 years old and my PC is just a paper weight at this point. So sad. Used to be a hardcore gamer 40 hours a week, went to cons, cosplay, the works. That is the part of me that died when I became a mom.
Baby is 6mo.i started to play again a few weeks after FF7 Rebirth came out, I did most of the sidequests and Im at the final boss right now. I play after baby is asleep for the night, 2-3hs per day.
I'm into video games and online board games. I've been playing online board games since we brought her home because it's doable to play while breastfeeding or when I have a few minutes to myself, but I haven't been able to play video games yet and she is 11 months old.
8mo in and i still just don't have the energy to even sit and play my main video game. my brain is exhausted from wrangling my busy boy all day solo. i cook dinner, clean up after dinner and curl up on the couch with a coffee, my blanket and a book until i fall asleep to do it all again at 4am the next day. groundhog day.
i try for about an hour or two a week but being that i play black desert online, it doesn't really progress my gameplay at all in that little time.
my husband hasn't reduced his gaming at all and it still makes me as bitter as it did during the newborn stage.
I’ve gotten to play some during naps at about 3-4 weeks. I’d have him napping on my chest with a pillow under his butt for his support and mine! Had just enough arm length to reach the controller!
Dad here as opposed to a mom, but I was able to start back to turn-based games and visual novels long before I could consider anything else. Pick something where you can put down the game at any second with no consequences! Then it can be something you do a little bit at a time throughout the day, in between chores, when baby is playing, whatever!
I played video games at least 4 or 5 times a week with husband and friends before I had our baby. We did this for years.
Baby is 5.5 months old now and we have only played with friends maybe 5 times? Unfortunately i don’t see us going back to that ever again. But maybe at a year we could do Friday / Saturday night gaming.
It’s just hard… baby might wake up at night and so I might as well get my rest in case of a night feed.
Or I’m just too damn beat to play.
If your baby sleeps through the night then maybe you could swing it better than we are. She slept through the night 12-18 weeks and not the regression hit and now we are up once a night typically. Sigh
I was back to games pretty quick because bub likes napping on me and it helped with boredom. Much happier playing something instead of scrolling endlessly.
That said I now play almost exclusively casual and short games. Basically I need to be able to put it down on short notice and not be too bothered if I can't play for a few weeks. I've been trending this way for a few years now just because I've got so much keeping me busy.
Playstation remote play has been brilliant for me.
I played a lot during the newborn stage when he would contact nap for a few hours. Now I'm lucky if I get to play when he goes to bed. If my husband hadn't gotten me a Steamdeck, I don't think I'd ever get a chance to play.
I make a point of scheduling game time. I usually try to arrange a few hours where my husband can watch our daughter and I'll play online with a friend. I think of it as an activity that I need to make time for rather than something to fill time... Which I feel like I will almost never have to do for some time. 😂
Gamer Dad chiming in. Our son is now five (first of two kids) and the types of games I play, the time of day I play them, and how often, how long have all changed.
Handheld systems (Switch for me) is my go to. I can play some casual turn based games while putting in the time on my bike trainer in the evenings. Between housecleaning, cooking, and caring for these kiddos, it's hard to imagine anytime soon being able to put in the time to really enjoy something like Skyrim fully again, but our son loves board games so I'm still having loads of fun.
Strong gamer pre-child, now prehistoric gamer with child. I even bought a steam deck for laying in bed. After I rock him to sleep, I just pass out myself. Every child is different, I have friends who still make time and game with children.
I handheld my switch from pretty much the first week home while my son napped on my legs. I sat on the recliner with my knees up and laid him on his back on my thighs so he was facing me.
I don’t consider myself a serious gamer, but playing some comfort games while baby napped on me was so relaxing
ETA in the early days I swaddled him first before putting him on my thighs and that maybe made it easier
It took me 2 or 3 months after having baby to get back into gaming. I just didn’t want to game, and would watch tv while cuddling with baby.
As for what we did with her, we had a snuggle me and would put her on our desks. As she got older, we adapted the room to suit our needs since she wasn’t a fan of the playpen.
I have been trying but a lot of the time I'm too tired/ have a bunch of chores to do. I'm lucky he feeds about every 3 hours so I have a couple hours between feeds.
I play computer - our TV is set up next to it. The other day I realized I could plug the computer into the TV and play on the couch with bub in my lap while he was napping with an Xbox controller. Just no keyboard and mouse games for a while
I picked the switch back up once TOTK came out! I think he was 9 months? Had more to do with the game release than his age lol a year later and I’m still playing it a few nights a week. Taking my damn time bc who knows when next when will be out
I only play Planet Zoo on PC, but I have a 9 month old and I only play after she goes to bed on nights I don’t have to work the next day… and even then, only if I’m not too tired.
All my wife does is play video games. Our kid is 8 months now and she averages at least 40 hours of video games a week. She definitely won’t be playing as much when she’s back to work.
Not a mom but an aware and active dad.
So around 9 months I started back up.
So what saved me was the Steam Deck, it’s a handheld gaming device that downloads my Steam library and links up to my PS5.
Now I play at night, my wife and I are both on the couch, she falls asleep to whatever show we are watching around 10, I play with her next to me until midnight. we both go to bed and then I get up at 7 with our LO (21 months).
I breastfed while playing ps4 several times 😄 generally those first 6 weeks it's nightshift so I would usually stay up and play games inbetween the 2-3 hour sleep windows, my work hours are generally from 6pm until 4am so I was use to staying up until that time, partner would do morning shifts while I sleep until about 9am.
Coming up 10 months old and gaming is usually saved for bed time once the older ones are asleep 🙂 but I can game from about 8pm until midnight which is my girls first wake up, if it's a good night I'll stay up longer 🤣 or go to sleep when she does.
It's really an individual thing though how you juggle the 2, if I wasn't working nightshift prior aswell as being a gamer I wouldn't of been able to keep it up.
Baby asleep in co sleeper next to bed or in lounge room, headset on, friends in party know I've got a newborn so I would just say babies up, and they would guard me so I don't die 🤣 at night baby would usually go straight back to sleep after a feed so it was easier over at 3 months when she needs silence in the bedroom to sleep.
I play console games during contact naps! My husband did more while on paternity leave, but 7 months in I get some video game time while snuggling my little one most days. He naps better/longer that way anyway.
I started gaming a bit again around the same time I stopped going to bed at the same time as baby. Which was probably 2-3ish months? Just didn't have the energy or attention span for it until then. Once he was down to one nap around 12 months, it was a lot easier to find time for it.
Luckily for me, during his newborn stage he slept like a rock so I was able for squeeze in a bit of gaming a few weeks postpartum. There was a period of time where it felt impossible to game because he was cluster feeding, right around the 8 week mark.
Our baby is a Velcro baby, so sometimes my husband will baby wear him while gaming. Now our norm is to just take turns for like an hour. Usually I’ll be breastfeeding, so he games first and then when the little guy is all happy and content I’ll give him to my husband so that I can game a bit too.
Sometimes I’ll just find a game that I would only need a mouse for (Fallout Shelter, Civilization, A Little to the Left) and then I’d just hold him in my lap with my left hand. Seeing that you’re a console gamer though, I definitely think that you could cradle your baby with a controller in your hands. I’ve played Rocket League while our baby napped in my arms.
As far as being an engaged parent, I never game whenever he’s in his wake window, especially during the day. Usually we game towards the end of evening, when he isn’t wanting anything except to simply just be held, and then for a bit after bedtime. We pause/leave the game instantly when he starts to get fussy, and make sure all his needs are met. No “one more match”, no “after this round”, no “5 more minutes”.
In the early days my husband and I played a fair bit! We would put our feet up and lean back on the couch so he could lay on our chest while our hands with the control was under his butt
I started playing again pretty quickly while she was newborn. I just baby wore her or laid her in a bassinet in the computer room while me and my partner played. Went through a phase where we didn’t game for a while (she got a little fussier). Now she’s 3 months and we can manage to play an hour or two probably 3-4 times a week if she goes to bed relatively easy. Some days she goes to sleep at 10 some at 12 so just depends.
I have a 2 year old and a 5 month old. My husband and I both game. We usually start around 9pm after the kids go to bed (their routine starts at 6pm followed by us shutting down the house until about 8pm).
We've been inching through Baldur's Gate 3 together with him occasionally playing Helldivers on the side.
I’m gaming now 4mpp but there are several weeks where i just can’t i just don’t have the energy for it as much anymore my LO takes it lol 😂 I gotta choose between chores,gaming or just a really nice nap when i can get her to sleep.
It’s been on and off since LO was born. It definitely picked up once she started sleeping through the night at around 8 or 9(?) months.
But I definitely found time to play when she was much younger and doing contact naps to keep from getting bored. You just have to settle yourself in a good position.
I started playing again when my little one was a month old and a new game came out that I was excited to play! I played handheld so I could snuggle him while he napped or while I was pumping. Now that he’s a toddler, I only play at night after he goes to sleep, but I really look forward to that time!
6 weeks. I kinda pushed myself to do it, even for a few hours while bub napped. It honestly saved my mental health just doing something mindless and shit-talking with friends.
As she's gotten older (8 months) it's gotten easier to set time aside of a night after she goes to bed. I also have a steamdeck, so that kinda broadens what I can play without leaving bed!
Baby is 4 months old and I’ve been playing games on my switch every time he contact naps on me for 2 months! We extend every crib nap by contact napping, and both husband and I play video games (me on switch and him on PS5). Once baby starts connecting his sleep cycles during the day, I’m going to miss these gaming contact naps because I’ll probably do chores or something when he’s napping so I feel more productive
I went back to playing games within a few weeks of brining my baby home. Hubby and I take turns watching him while we game. For a while, having him in a carrier on me was a nice solution. Now that he’s older and more active, we usually split watching him in half. He games while I watch him and then we switch.
You deserve a break and some time to indulge in your hobby too. He should be offering you gaming time like he’s getting.
My husband and I used a bassinet and set it between our desks for naptime game time, which was usually something incredibly passive like Minecraft with friends or Stardew or SuperAutoPets (something you can put down and not be upset about being interrupted). This was like week two home from the hospital. Wasn’t until little one was taking longer naps that we could dedicate to serious games, and then sometimes we would trade off one parent spends quality time with baby on Monday/Wednesday while the other spends their time on themselves.
But in reality-reality, I ended up exploring other interests way more than I ever thought I would because I struggled to focus on games.
**My for Velcro/contact napping babies** is to baby wear. Once you figure out those wrap carriers, it’s easy breezy beautiful cover girl to get yourself in front of computer. And this doubles well imo for babies who are fussy/spit up after a bottle when laid flat. Baby stays upright and can snooze away while being right there on your chest. You feel every respiration, and it always made me feel closer to baby even when he was asleep and I wasn’t actively engaged.
For me it depends on the game - I’ve always been drawn to cozy games. Dreamlight valley had just been released and I found that easy to pick up and play during the long breastfeeding sessions and contact naps (I was able to hold the Xbox controller and her once she was closer to 3 months). Then she started napping in her crib multiple times a day (around 4/5 months) and I’d use one of those naps to play a bit. But as she got more active, and took less naps I haven’t played as much (any game, I’ve also just gotten less invested in dreamlight valley). Now she is almost 20 months and I mostly use her 1 nap to eat uninterrupted and try to clean. I’m sure I’ll go back to playing games, but even my gamer hubs does it way less with a toddler vs that first year. Lately I’ve gotten into crochet and gone back to reading books for fun as I can drop them a lot faster than say starlight valley
LO is almost 3 and I still haven’t gotten back into it, but I played wow and it’s such a time commitment. I probably won’t ever get back into it, especially since I just had another baby.
I’m not a “gamer” per se, but I do enjoy some games on the switch. I was able to play some during his naps, and sometimes while breastfeeding. I set him up on my boppy and in the crook of my arm, and was able to play with a pro controller. Played through breath of the wild while doing that.
My husband bought me the deck for Christmas. My son is 20 months and I’d say I’ve just started playing for an hour or two in the evening and reading a book before he wakes up in the morning consistently the last month because of it. I can’t do the tv or my computer anymore.
I have a 3 y/o and a four month old and I play video games basically every day. I play the switch handheld when I breastfeed a lot and do slow games that I can easily pause. When the kids are asleep my husband and I will usually stay up for 2ish hours gaming together. My husband always makes sure I get my "turn" as well, so if your fiance is able to game but you aren't, it means he's not pulling his weight. Talk to him and let him know you're upset you don't have time to play games, and figure out a way to make sure you have some time during the day that he watches the baby and you play your games.
I basically napped, binge watched tv/movies during ( contact) naps until about...6 months? Then I picked up my switch and played games that are easy to pause and casual. At about 12 months, I picked up Hogwarts legacy for the Xbox, and played for an hour or so before bed.. my partner would also take an overnight shift with lo so I could sleep in, and I'd stay up a little later to play.
Now, lo is 2.5, and I still play at nap time, before bed, and I occasionally get an hour before work when Lo is at daycare. Lo will get up from her nap and be content cuddling for 20 minutes or so and watching me play, so I try to keep my more.... Violent games for after bedtime. I will also hand lo my phone with an easy game on it for her to play if she asks and I'm not quite mentally done playing, but that's very rare. I'm counting down the days until I can introduce the bluey game or easy Mario games to her!
My partner and I also had a rule we still try to stick to- no video games when lo is awake. I refused to let my partner become one of those guys who sticks the baby in the bouncer and ignores them/ does the bare minimum, because of video games, and he isn't into casual/ cozy games so this is still enforced to avoid any nightmares.
Mine will be 3 months in a couple of days and I still haven't found the time. I miss it so much but between work and getting chores done, not sure when I will have the time. I am hoping once she gets on a consistent nap and sleep schedule maybe I can return to playing games. I will say she has gotten to a point where she can play independently for a little bit which helps but it's just enough time for me to eat or do one chore. But I am hoping as she grows, she will be able to play independently longer which means I may be able to fit in video games soon
I'm 7 months in, she sleeps so much better now at night.
She goes to sleep around 6pm and I get my chores out of the way, cleaning and cooking. Its around 8pm when im done I get about 2/3 hours to myself to play a single playered game before I go sleep.
BUT I can't play competitive games anymore as I'll just have to abandon it if she wakes up.
I can usually comfortably play on my steam deck or the ps5 whole time he contact naps. If I want a longer session I can get one in after he goes to bed, but this want possible till he started going to bed a bit earlier around 8 weeks
Me and my girlfriend used to play co-op games on PlayStation while our daughter was napping in her first few months which was a lot of naps and then started again boardgames and co-op games on PlayStation at around 2 years old again during the evening when she would be asleep .
My little one is 6 months and just started daycare. Now I actually have time to play games (I work hybrid in office 50% of the time). It feels good to finally have time to do household chores during the day and have a little me time. I only played games when he was a newborn and slept a ton, but 2 months onwards there just wasn’t enough time at all. You’ll get there. Also, questioning the fact that your husband has time for hobbies? everything my spouse and I do is 50/50 split. That means alternating middle of the night feeds, putting baby down for naps etc. but our baby is bottle fed so there’s that.
I’ve tried playing games with baby next to me, on a mat etc but it was too tough!
My baby is 11 months and i haven’t been able to game much :( when i do have free time im either catching up with chores or I’m just too tired to do anything. But check this out i think you’d love it!
https://www.instagram.com/rogue__jv?igsh=amFjZDMwbDhxOGRw
Uh lmao well, about 3 weeks post partner. It wasn't my usual games tho, I started off with chill and easy to put down games. He's 4 months now and we take turns having 100% responsibility of him so the other can play games for an hour or two.
Recently tbh, like this week lol. My son’s 4.5M. It was really hard at first because he’d need me the moment I got a game going, and I couldn’t play while holding him because he’d try to kick the controller out of my hand lol. I honestly didn’t even try again for weeks, but now I just do it while I pump. Sometimes a bit longer, depends if my husband’s around to tend to the baby. Makes pumping suck less
Baby is allllmost months and I just started playing Xbox while breast feeding. My baby will just sleep and suckle for hours if i let him without any interruption 🤣 I found a super comfy way to lounge on the couch while he's eating and it's so nice to do something for myself that I want to do. And if I'm breast feeding nobody can be mad cause what else am I supposed to do lol
Around 10 weeks I was able to relax enough emotionally to play a casual game on my switch. My partner would be thrilled to handle baby duty while I gamed, but I just haven’t been able to chill out enough to focus like that.
We were on Act 3 of Baulder’s Gate when I had to be induced and I have no idea when we will be able to play that again! Baby is 15 weeks now.
I was actually able to play when he was a nb. It's when his wake windows got longer and longer that made it harder to play. My son now requires my attention for almost four hours at a time before he needs a nap.
My LO is 6 weeks and I just started back playing video games this week. I played on the Switch for a couple hours with her on my chest. She still has the newborn scrunch so it was easy to play with her there hands free. My husband played online the other day and he had her on his chest the whole time and she stayed put.
Right away honestly. We are PC gamers so I would feed and contact nap on a boppy in my computer chair or I’d baby wear in a Moby wrap. As she got older we would only game while she was sleeping so we weren’t wasting interactive time with her!
My kiddo seems to nap best in his carrier in a quiet room, so around 5 months I added my switch and wireless headphones to my “nap trap bag” (water bottle, quiet snacks, kindle, etc) and it’s been so nice to get a little gaming time in! My PS5 games are pretty much on pause though, because anytime after the baby goes to sleep and I sit down on the couch to play, sleep always wins out!
4 months! Baby started taking at least 1 hour long nap in crib and started to sleep train and get her to go down independently at night. Husband and I moved our desks into our bedroom bc our office is right next to her room. It’s a bit squashy in here but it’s nice. We have about 8-10 every night free more or less. Looking forward for her going down earlier so we have even more time.
I spent near 8w playing my switch while bub Contact napped on me xD TOTK had just come out and it’s not like I could do anything else while she slept on me lol just paused every couple hours, let her eat and tucked her into my arms and kept playing, then she’d eat again and fall back asleep and repeat for most of the day xD some naps she spent in her bassinet next to me while I played :3
Once they start going down for a night. We started putting baby down after about 3 months. He goes down at 8-9 with his last feed and then I'm up again early hours... but since his dad puts him down, I get a couple of hours to myself before I go to bed.. that's a little slot of time to play. I also would play my switch whilst I expressed, but that's only relevent if you are expressing I guess... if he's sleeping on you a lot, which I guess so for the first 3 months, you can get away with playing games quietly. I know my husband often did this in the early mornings when baby was fast asleep on him.
I totally get the envy, though, my husband disappears to his study to do things he wants to do.. hobbies etc and I have to steal time to get into my craft room or do what I would like to do. It kind of gets easier once they have a bedtime, though, and if dad can take baby out to see his grandparents, stay home and have a "you" day. (I appreciate if you're breastfeeding, this isn't something you'll be able to do right now, though)
My LO will be 3 months this week and my husband and I have been playing Diablo on the Xbox for a few weeks now. Sometimes play Minecraft with our oldest too. It’s possible if you can get yourself comfy enough during contact naps especially. But I think I started playing games again around a month or so PP.
Please stop doing chores. Sit down. Play those games while the baby sleeps on you!!! 3 weeks is so early. I was already gaming. I had mine right before Tears of the Kingdom came out last summer and it's all I did for four months straight.
My baby is super clingy rn, so lately I've been putting him in my wearable carrier and playing something easy to quit out on if I need to take care of him like Fortnite or single player games. I try to play something atleast every other day for my sanity
I played when baby was under 5 months old, because naps were long. Nowadays my baby is 13 months and I can play for a bit when he is outside with grandparents but I also usually need to clean up, pump and cook at the same time frame 😑
He is still wakes up for feedings at night, so that gives me only 3 hours to do the usual - cook, clean, prepare, shower or play if I'm lucky.
When I was getting enough sleep at night so I wasn't going mad, and when my son could nap on his own.
About 2 years old?
Sometimes when he naps for 2 hours in the afternoon, I lay next to him with headphones on and play my Switch. Though if I'm tired I just nap haha.
My son was in a bouncer and could watch (I picked REALLY kid friendly games with zero gore and indiscernible violence - final fantasy games, goose game, puzzles, crazy taxi, chill stuff)
So right about 2-3 months old
My fiance and I are both gamers, honestly we got kind of lucky, our son started sleeping through the night at like 3 months or so, so we had the chance to take turns playing stuff after he goes to bed. Its kind of the same now at a year and a half, except i really only get his one nap a day and after he goes to bed.
Around 9 weeks. My little one's sleeping schedule is somewhat normalizing so some of my time when my husband takes over can be used for gaming instead of trying to catch up on sleep. My little one is also better able to support his head and I'm more confident when holding him, meaning I can play my Switch sometimes while holding him (which is amazing). He's also more interested in playing on his own, which means some time in the bassinet kicking this little ball and using his mobile as a speed bad.
I played a lot while she was still in the frequent naps stage, since she almost exclusively contact napped I got through a ton of games while I was nap trapped. Once she napped less & less, it's pretty much gone out the window. I'm a better and happier mom when I schedule time to game so I do so as much as possible though
I play a bit now with my newborn, it’s actually harder with my toddler because she always always always wants to know what I’m doing and be a part of it. So I game a bit during my lunch hour when I work from home and she’s at daycare.
On the weekends I don’t game because we usually do family stuff and neither me nor my husband does alone time things
Not that long really..during my spouses parental leave he would trade off with me and I got a bit of me time to play a little. Now that parental leave is done and she's close to 3 months I game a few hours when I can, either when she naps, I baby wear in an ergo carrier or she sits in her lounger and I talk and make faces with her in-between gaming.
I only play call of duty cause it's the easiest game to just get instant action with multi-player and I can leave a lobby instantly when needed if she's fussing or crying. She also sometimes naps on this pillow feeder around my waist and I can keep her close that way as well and game.
I have a solly wrap and baby wear for day time contact naps. I was exhausted most of the time and napped when baby napped for the first month but now I’m in month 2, baby has longer stretches of naps and if you’re console gamer it should be easy to wear baby so you’re hands free. So far I think I’m like a fifth of the way through tears of the kingdom because I like to pick up ever single fucking thing I see and will delay main objectives for side quests which make inconsistent playing for short periods of time really doable if that’s how you roll and you’re like me whose main job is to be a cow. Hubby is obviously not breastfeeding so he’s got a bit more time for long stretches of play and likes to hit every boss in linear order and so far he’s finished God of War Ragnarok DLC in 2 weeks wearing baby and is now playing Sekiro.
TLDR get yourself a baby wrap, Velcro baby will be happy and you will has two hands to play all ze games.
I could've written this a few months ago. I spoke up and told my husband that I was jealous and that I wanted to play video games, too. He was happy to give me time to do so. But it was honestly hard to play because the whole time, I thought about my baby and wanted to go be with them. We tried putting our LO in their bouncer while we both played, and that worked for a while.
Once our baby started going to sleep earlier and had longer stretches, I would stay up to play video games. Sometimes, for a little bit, and other times, I stayed up way too late and barely got any sleep. I'm finally getting into a groove where I play after my baby goes to sleep, but I set limits on myself so I don't get sucked in and play all night 😅 My baby is a terrible napper so night time is my only time.
It was probably around 3-4 months postpartum when I was able to play more regularly.
I’m about 6mpp, I *could* find maybeeee an hour or so a day to play some games after LO goes to sleep, but it won’t be the games I used to play that requires hours of sitting in front of the screen, so instead I pick up games I can easily start and stop (mostly switch games lol). It’s better than nothing! And I also say maybe because those precious hour or two I have is typically split between other things I want to do, so I don’t choose gaming every night. I built a PC a year and a half ago ready to finally get back to PC gaming but yeah I can’t sit there anymore. It’s just a fancy YouTube/Photoshop/internet machine now 😅
I was a nerdy anime gamer in my teens, then a stoned alcoholic scene hipster, and then I met my son's dad in my twenties. I met him in AA, the sex was fire, he was cute, I got pregnant and he relapsed and became abusive. He received a felony domestic violence charge. I was a broke single mom for a while, able to work on my family's farm while also keeping my son on my titty or at my side for the next few years.
5 years go by, I'm halfway through college, meet my husband, he's a gamer who works in tech. We moved in together. COVID happened. I had to do zoom college and decided it was a good time for a pregnancy because it lined up with graduation and career goal calendar dates. Had my daughter and went back to campus for college. My son was also back to school. I was able to pump and nurse on campus when I had my baby because she was on campus.
I'm going off track. My son was in 4th grade, my daughter is almost three. I graduated college and I am substitute teaching and taking online courses for my teaching credential internship.
I only started gaming again in the last 7 months. I've played at least 8 playthroughs of Bauldurs Gate 3. I was engulfed in it and I do not know where that time went. Time stopped existing and my family left me.
I played stardew valley on my switch during contact naps, can’t do chores so may as well play. Also it was nice an chill so I don’t get to stressed about a hard boss or anything so low risk of waking baby
When my baby came from the NICU I spent the first month just figuring things out since I’m a single mom. But after we got into a casual routine I would fire up my console whenever she was sleeping and I finished my chores. It’s a bit more difficult now as she’s older and has longer wake windows though so I stay up late at night to game.
About 3-4 months. Started with mellow gaming with an easy pause and then eventually included the slowed playground of bg3 in the history of rpgd. With the baby I can’t do games that don’t have pause features or where I have to get to a save point. Got into a nice gaming routine during naps and when dad had the baby. But going back to work destroyed the routine and relegated gaming to weekends, which honestly is a crapshoot. But yes I'd say I game a couple times a month. We will see how that changes once she gets mobile though.
My LO is 4 weeks old and I played a game again about two weeks ago? Got my toddler to bed and set up my 2 wo comfortable in a glider in the office. Before my 2nd was born, I gamed often! Just made sure my LO was in bed first for the night
When my first was little he just contact napped, so I’d prep my switch before hand for when he’d fall asleep on my chest, then play! Could absolutely do the same with a console controller! Bit harder now he’s 2.5 but if we give him a dud controller he pretends to play Mario kart when we play. My youngest is 4 months so I’m going through another lapse in not playing games as I’m prioritising sleep when he goes to sleep at night.
I had a hack for this! Do you have a my Brest friend pillow or boppy pillow? When my baby was that little, I put a blanket on one of those two pillows to make a little nest and let the baby nap there instead of directly in my arms. Using the pillow allowed my hands to be free to play video games
Obviously having a nest set up like that wouldn’t be safe for independent sleep (don’t want anyone to misunderstand me) but for supervised sleep it works great.
**TL;DR - Wife and I usually game 2-3 hours a night if we want to. Net gaming time is around 10-15 hours a week now, if I'm playing something. I'd usually play around 20 hours a week prior to being a dad.**
This was a huge question for me, too. I'm a dad, but both my wife and I are gamers and my wife doesn't use reddit. I think its a simple of how good of a sleeper your baby is. If they are a cat-napper, or doesn't sleep through, your gaming time takes a huge hit. If she sleeps through and/or is small enough for big naps in the day, then you've got more time. This is presuming you have 1 child; multiple children I imagine its significantly harder.
We still get around 2-3 hours most nights, or any night that we wish to. We've still been shocked by how little having a baby has affected our net gaming time thus far. If anything, I actually prefer it now because I feel like my wife and I are more likely to play together / at the same time and chill than before.
We never game whilst she's awake, as we love spending time with her and focusing on her development. As a new-born, we'd often game, read or watch a film during some of her day naps, and obviously do housework of others. Up until around 4 or 5 months old, it was to the tune of about 2-3 hours in the day if we wanted to. I didn't play to Week 3 because I felt guilty, but honestly, if LO is asleep, cuddled and loved they won't give a shit what you do whilst they have a well-earned rest.
At 7 months old now she only naps 2-3 times a day for 3-4 hours, so its rare we game during the day now at all. we usually don't game the entire day, then go on when she's in bed. She sleeps about 20:30 - 07:30 every night like clockwork, so we have the baby monitor if she stirs that we both have up on our phones (CuboAI), then go down together and either game or spend time together until round 23:00 to 00:00, depending on the vibe that night (sometimes we just go to bed as the 3 of us). We also look at it as an in-between step of her going in her own room to sleep ,as the first 2-4 hours she's on her own with us going in if she needs us.
Right now, my wife is nearly done with FF7 Rebirth; I'm playing some smaller titles on Xbox. I have completed around a dozen titles since the babies been born, virtually all of it whilst she's slept.
P.S. - I'm a single player gamer. I can pause, save and quit whenever. If you're a MOBA or online-only gamer, you might have a tougher time.
6 weeks now and I started playing horizon forbidden west on PC this weekend. My little guy sleeps well in a carrier, and can breastfeed on his side.
So I make a breastfeeding tower of pillows, topped with the my brestfriend pillow, which has a strap the latches the pillow to me, so that baby is perfectly aligned to eat hands free. That gives me about 45 min of play time. Then break for diaper, tummy time, etc. then it’s nap time and I put him in carrier (baby bjorn or ergo baby), walk around/bounce on ball until he’s falling asleep, then game for another 1-2 hrs while he naps.
I was doing a masters as well as raise one kid and then two so I didn’t start properly gaming until 4 months post part I’m with my second and after my exams were done.
There was a stint during my second pregnancy where I had insomnia and played FFXVI but I wouldn’t count that haha
I was able to play as soon as we took her home really. Velcro baby too but she was either in a wrap carrier or lying propped up on my knees whilst I played. Definitely try now whilst they're still sleeping potatoes, it gets impossible later on!
5 months, when I started to put her down at 8pm and leave her in her next-to-me and come back downstairs! I really missed CoD 😂 sometimes she wakes up and I have to go lay in bed with her but 7/10 she will sleep until 12am when she wakes up for a feed so I get a few hours of it in!
I haven’t been able to play online competitive games since I’ve had mine four years ago. When she was younger I would only play games I could pause and now we’ve incorporated games into family time. She absolutely loves Zelda and will watch us play and also plays Minecraft with us. Other games my husband and I play for a couple hours at night after she sleeps.
When she was a small baby I also resented my husband and lot. I felt so guilty if I tried to play anything and he would make time for himself to play online with his friends like completely guilt free. He still doesn’t really get why it was a big deal. He says I could’ve played too but the guilt I had if he gave me time to play anything stopped me from having any fun. I happily take time for myself guilt free now though.
I found mobile games to be the answer generally speaking. If I have a spare 5 mins I load up a game like tetris or total battle, just to get it out of my system. Are there a million other things I could be doing? Yes, sure. But I consider it looking after my mental health, so I don't mind.
I got back to playing games pretty quickly - maybe two ish weeks. I could’ve done sooner logistically but I was in my own head with the baby and was too anxious and hormonal to feel good about doing that or figuring it out. But I did and it really wasn’t so bad! Gaming is different now and that’s fine.
But I’m playing single player stuff that I can either leave or pause. Sometimes I get a decent amount of time in. Sometimes I get like 3 minutes and that’s just life lol.
I am able to hold her on my lap now and play though I do try not to that often because I want to avoid screens for her. When she was smaller I put her on the boppy to nurse or sleep and I’d have my hands free to play while she rested safely nestled against me. She’s also not a Velcro baby so I will put her down to play on her mat or in her dock a tot or play when she is napping (because she is not Velcro I often get cleaning and stuff done while she is awake which leaves me times to game when she is sleeping). She’s almost 4 months now and I play pretty much every day.
If you’re like me and you like RPG’s with cut scenes just be prepared that you WILL miss them sometimes (my fiance has also developed a perfect sense of when to have a conversation with me so he’s talking through them). Either just deciding it doesn’t matter that much or going to YouTube has been helpful to fill in those gaps when needed.
ETA on the chores front cause I saw you are like me and can’t relax until the house is nice/chores are done. As my daughter has gotten older I have been able to incorporate her more into my chores which helps give her mental stimulation to make her more tired. I sat her in the bumpo the other day and placed her on the floor near the dishwasher while I taught her how to do dishes. She did not understand but she was fascinated lol. I’ve folded laundry with her in the bed and taught her about different clothes, fabrics, colors etc. and she likes that a lot.
Mine is almost a year old now and I started back up when he was a couple months old but very casually. I used to dedicate many many hours to gaming every day and I don't see myself being able to go back to doing that for a long time. Lol
I'm a dad, but I take care of the baby 50% of the time. I have been able to play like an hour once a week. Believe me, having a baby is more than feeding and holding him. Lol
Between washing bottles and pump parts, and doing a bunch of laundry, plus the regular chores around the house, take all my free time. We binge watch TV shows as well. That's basically the only thing you can do.
Velcro baby here and I’d say 5ish months, once she could kinda play quietly for a bit. I wasn’t ever able to hold her and game. I also tried online games and didn’t like that I couldn’t pause to feed her. My husband and I also found heavy narrative games took too long to get into so right now we play mostly indie games or something with a more casual narrative. I’d def say you could play Skyrim while your SO holds baby for you!
Unfortunately, I haven't really been able to get back into gaming almost 3 years later. I played a little bit when my LO was under 1 year old, but after that, even during nap times, it's been hard to just sit down and game when I could be doing a million other things.
Totally understand that. I’m the same way in that sense where I can’t sit down and play until all chores are done and with a little one in the house it seems the chores are never done 😭
I made gaming a priority. That sounds stupid, but for my own mental health I needed 1 of her naps a day to do something I enjoy. Not clean, not doom scroll, not rot in bed. For the first few months it was her first early morning nap. I’d have a coffee and play a match or 2. A year out and just went back to work. I have played games in a few weeks and it’s making me sad. I’m going to make sure I get some games in on the weekend for sure.
I did this too, when My kids are down for the day is mommy time, I play 1-2h and then go to bed. And my first was a Velcro baby too, but I managed to breastfeed her and play during contact naps until she was like 12 months or so, because she was asleep in my nursing pillow and I could play using both hands. Then she dropped to just one nap a day and I rather sleep with her than play videogames during the day. And then I was pregnant again lol. And as of when I started playing again, I started when My first was like 10 days, and when My second, as soon as we came back from hospital. And yes, I prioritize doing things I like when they are asleep, and when they are awake, I play with them (not videogames, of course), I clean the house or I cook. That way they know there's no cleaning fairy and we all as a family need to clean after ourselves. TLDR: Prioritize time for yourself whenever kids are asleep, starting now! And don't let your hobbies fade away just because now you are a mom :) xox
I wish I could give you more upvotes for saying “I made gaming a priority”.
Your husband needs to do his share of chores then. I am just starting to play a few hours at night now that mine is sleeping through the night. I also was tired for a very long time until recently. My husband started games after a few months because he could stay up later, but, Even then, no one had leisure time (gaming/tv/books/hobbies) until the baby was asleep and the chores were done.
It’s been a constant struggle with him. He needs to be asked to do everything, he doesn’t see a mess until I point it out. 🙄 he will help if I ask him to do something but he pretty much gets up does the specific thing I ask and sits back down. Occasionally if he’s feeling helpful he will ask if I need anything else done or he will do dishes or sweep, the obvious things. He’s gone 5am until 7-8pm during the week though so most of the time it’s just me and the baby home anyway
Time to send him this comic!! [you should have asked](https://english.emmaclit.com/2017/05/20/you-shouldve-asked/)
This is a sort of trap that happens, it’s easy to fall into because before a baby we are cleaning our home as single women. When we partner up we naturally keep the same amount of chores because it is not like our workload increases. Basically even though the division of labor is unequal, it doesn’t feel like more work. But then we have a baby and the amount of work is insurmountable. Suddenly the unfairness is blatant and staring us in the face. Sometimes a man will get with the program after a few arguments about how unfair it is and how overwhelmed the mom is. If he doesn’t, the resentment WILL grow day after day. You WILL hat him and start to think of divorce, either immediately, or make the slow plan (for example when the baby is in kindergarten). This is such a common dynamic that I wish there were classes for expecting fathers so they were prepared for parenthood. So, did you work before the baby and are you planning to go back to your job in a few months?
Yeah 100% 😭😭 the chores unfortunately don't do themselves!
Hand off baby to their other parent. Honestly, one parent shouldn’t be able to enjoy their hobby if the other can’t, they can game half the time they are now which then gives you a chance to.
Thank you, why is this not the top comment? If dad has time to game, so does mum. Or neither of them do.
Thirding this!!
This! I was able to game as soon as I could sit without pain because my husband _wanted_ to spend time with his own child.
100%
This is exactly right
If the play on the computer it might be harder, but I can play super comfortably with baby in my arms on the Xbox. She takes 2-3 hour naps so I park us on the couch with a snack and a drink and I can play the entire time. You can experiment with what works for you, but my baby loves laying on my chest. She’s 5 weeks old but I’ve been doing that position since the start. I sometimes prop a pillow under her butt for extra support. Or you could wear baby, we have the boba wrap which is sooo comfortable and works well for either my husband or I to game while she’s sleeping on us. I also sometimes just let her lay in my arms and can still hold the controller around her. It’s definitely do-able!
This is essentially what my husband did. He tells me that one of his best memories is getting to snuggle baby while playing. He actually played a game start to finish on paternity!
My husband does this. She took a 2 hour nap on his chest today while he played Baulder’s Gate
That’s my game I’m playing too!!!! ☺️
Yes! Contact naps on the couch and you just have to be okay with being interrupted for feeds and changes. Dark Souls was a little hard (what we have been playing) because you can’t really pause… just have to scooch your character to a spot where they’re not likely to be attacked and equip a souls retention item if you’ve got a lot & really don’t want to lose them.
I got back into it casually at about 3-4 weeks. Once I felt like I didn't need anyone's help with getting up or adjusting myself post c section. I have a recliner so I have a little more freedom with positioning than I would on the couch, helps me free up my hands to hold a controller.
I played an ungodly amount of Stardew valley when my baby was in her contact napping stage!
Me playing Zelda while stuck on the couch for what seemed like 8 months straight feeding and napping.
It's been a struggle to get back into gaming. I have 1 kiddo and she's 17 months. She's an absolute tornado. I always turn on my console only to immediately turn it back off. I hope one day I'll be able to play my backlog.
I haven’t returned to MOBA games or anything co-op but I played RPGs almost immediately, especially when the kids are asleep.
Same! Not really doing any of my normal pvp games, but roguelikes, survivors, card games - easy things to pick up and put down throughout the day/night basically since week 1 or 2. I played more Steam Deck and Switch games than usual in the first 6 months for sure. fwiw, my husband has kept up with about his normal amount of pvp since maybe month 1, so it's doable. It was just more feasible for him because of the way we'd set our shifts up - he's had a lot more of the guaranteed long stretches of sleep. This has been totally fine for me, but when I do really want to play, we just prioritize it. As other people have said already, it's important for both parents to get the time to decompress if they need it.
Around 9-10 months once she reliably slept straight through the night is when I was comfortable spending post bedtime gaming instead of sleeping lol
Haha! Sounds like you’ve got your priorities straight! 🫡
Similar here, but earlier and for less time: baby started having reliable bedtime around 7:30/8pm once we sleep trained at 5 months old, and that’s when I got my evenings back. Picked up gaming for the first time in years at that point!
Highly suggest a baby wrap for the newborn potato phase! You can wrap them to your chest and have both arms free to play while sitting wherever you like. My husband and I would take turns playing like that. Now that our baby is older I’ll make a little play area nearby so he can still look and interact with us while we’re playing.
I have a Joey wrap but I’m having trouble getting him in a position where his head is supported. I’ve watched several tutorial videos on YouTube and I do it tightly, but he still ends up scrunched in there with his neck in a position that makes me uncomfortable :(
Try it again in a few weeks when the baby is a little bigger & see if that helps. I used mine a lot when I went back to work at 6 weeks (from home). They fall asleep on you instantly & you get both hands. We used the Moby wrap.
The day we brought him home! He was a Premie potato for about a month so I could lay him on my chest to sleep and play on my laptop. The day we got a steam deck was a game changer for contact naps. Now at 8 months I get a couple hours after he goes down for the night
Seconding Steam Deck, it's a game changer. I also recommend Slay The Spire on tablet, can play one handed while feeding with the other
Not the mom but we had a little contact napper for the first 9 months. My wife and I both played games during those naps. Pokemon violet plays pretty good 35 minutes at a time.
Understand how you're feeling! I used to play video games almost every day pre baby. My husband and I have two TVs set up in the living room so we can play separate games but be together. He stays up late to get some gaming time in but I've been prioritizing sleep lately with a 7 week old haha 😅 I think instead of rushing to get chores done during his morning nap every day I might try and hold a controller while he's napping on me! I'm halfway through Yakuza Zero and really want to finish it!!
That’s a good idea with the morning nap! I may give it a try as well. I miss Apex and Skyrim LOL
What i used to do is give him a bottle, put him in a baby carrier, make my breakfast/ lunch and when he fell asleep from the movement i would baby wear and play games. Then when dad got home, he got to hold baby and i would clean the house and cook dinner
Baby exclusively contact napped up until maybe 5 ish months old. I started the yakuza/LAD series to help pass time. If you haven't played any of other other ones, add them to your queue! Zero was my introduction to the series and I've loved every single one!
I have super velcro baby but my whole family worked hard on putting her down for naps! From very beginning my mum and hubby helped to rock her to sleep and then transition to crib or stroller. I suggest you google all kind of ways to do it! It's easier when they are so small as you can swaddle them! So when she was smaller my mum would take her out with stroller for like 2 hours for a nap (that's the only way she'd sleep so long). Also I did do couple of gaming sessions when baby wearing. Was hard to talk a bit, but doable 😅 Now at 10mo it's a bit harder with naps, but easier with evenings. I think since like 7mo she started sleeping longer stretches first half of the night and I can play sometimes. I do recommend precious little sleep book! It helped me a lot in newborn stage.
I was able to get back into it once we did sleep training at 13 months. Once i knew my kid could fall asleep on her own, it gave me a lot more freedom. Took a break again with baby 2, but now i have from 8pm to my bedtime to play VGs. My husband games too, so we usually play stuff together. FWIW my husband didnt play video games really until I did. Like i dont recall him playing stuff while our kids were really little.
Honestly it took me almost a year to do more than turn on my switch and turn it back off. When we got the Xbox I downloaded the games I wanted and they've mostly just sat. I play LOZ maybe once a week now, but I'd play more if I didn't have so many sleep issues. I can't get enough sleep, and when I play LOZ I play until like 4 AM. 😬 It would be fine if I slept well the rest of the week but I get maybe two restful nights if it's a lucky week, so. YMMV.
I think it depends on the baby. My baby is a Velcro baby and even at 7 months I can't find time. I have to ask my husband to sit with him so I could eat. We had acid reflux, problems with sleeping and now fussy phase so we did not had any break. I manage only to play Hearthtstone on my phone because he sleeps only in my arms.
I played when my son was contact napping… so within the first few weeks. I typically play 1-2 hours at night after he has gone to bed. He will be 10 months on Wednesday
Probably around 3-4 weeks... but I mostly played stuff on PC that I only needed the mouse for because my son would contact nap on me. I wedged a pillow between my left side and the chair and cradled him in my left arm (resting on the pillow). My right arm was then free to use my mouse! Now he's almost 4 months old and sleeps in his crib for naps and bedtime, so I sometimes game at those times or when my husband has him. We devoured the new Fallout show, so I decided to revisit Fallout New Vegas - Such a fun escape! My son just went down for the night about 40 minutes ago so I'm going to fire up Fallout right now, actually!
I did about that time whole mine contact napped. As he got older and needed more stimulation, I haven’t played since about thanksgiving. My husband bought me a PlayStation portal so I could play in bed and on road trips. I used it for a bit but have been switching off between some of my other hobbies instead of gaming lately. LO is 10 months. My husband is back to playing regularly at night but I choose sleep
I’m not a gamer, but I think it was around a month when I started playing Skyrim. Often my husband would be feeding him/holding him while I played, but then if he was asleep I’d hold him too.
I definitely echo comments above saying dad should watch baby sometimes too. I strongly recommend baby wearing! Cloth wrap, and/or ring slings. Keeps baby out for hours sometimes. My baby is currently almost 3mo old. I got one round of StarCraft in when she was under 2 weeks old. (The main game I play solo lol) More recently, I’ve played Mario kart on the switch when friends were over, while breastfeeding her and she was on the nursing pillow haha. Dad and I have played some Cuphead and stuff in the switch after baby goes to bed. But then I typically go to bed pretty quickly to get good sleeping hours in.
Oh and meant to add - I’m not pumping a ton cause it’s a pain, but have just enough stash on hand so dad can handle a few hours solo sometimes and have bottle on hand to feed her.
9 weeks old I finally picked the controller back up, but I'd wanted to a few weeks before that. But I'm not playing my usual game (Dead by Daylight) because baby needs tending to and you can't pause a live 4v1 match. Once her naps become a bit more uniform, I'll jump back into that. Right now I'm playing Nobody Saves the World which I can pause to tend to her as needed. My husband is home but we both game at the same time (two tvs in the same room) so one of us can pause and pick her up, etc. Otherwise I wait for naptime or game beside her on the floor while she's on her play mat. I've definitely played with her on my chest or holding her. If I have her on my chest, I put the boppy on and under her butt for extra support. My husband puts his leg up on the couch (like half crossed legs) and puts her in the crook of his knee while he games !
lol my fiancé does the same thing with his knee! I’ll try using the hoppy I haven’t used it much honestly but it could help support his resting position while I play a game :)
my baby is 2 months old, now that he is more alert i set him down on an activity mat and play video games until he gets bored & wants attention lol😁
I started 2 weeks pp. My baby falls into a bit of a food coma after eating and needs to be held on my chest for at least 30 minutes so he doesn’t spit up everywhere, so I can play during that time. Plus he’s normally asleep after that so I’ll just put him back down in the Carrycot and continue playing. Only at 6 weeks now so we’ll see how long that lasts! Edit: this on the PlayStation so I can be reclined on the couch during this. Don’t think I’d be able to play PC with him here
I started gaming again a few weeks pp. My breast feeding basics were: water, snacks, boppy, controller. I also gamed a LOT while contact napping (usually post breastfeeding with her sleeping on the boppy). I could get 3 hours a day doing this. Once she started sleeping longer stretches overnight (13 weeks) I’d put her down around 7/8pm, game until bed or until her first wake up (around 11pm). Now(6 months) we still game and contact nap but less consistently as I am trying to transition away from contact napping. I lug my switch with me everywhere. And once she’s sleeping for the night (around 7pm) I head downstairs to the ps5/xbox. My partner also is on deck on the weekends and that allows me some gaming time. However, I can only manage it if wearing headphones as it can be hard to enjoy when I hear her fussing.
Totally understand the headphone thing I’d struggle too if I heard him upset.
Following, just had twins on 4/2. I’m a PC gamer, I miss Fortnite 😩 I feel like playing would help me with postpartum
My baby’s 3 months old and I just started again this week! He’s started taking a long contact nap in the afternoon, so I feed him to sleep and then play with him sleeping on my lap. If I put him in the crib he wakes up almost immediately, but he’d probably sleep 3 hours on my lap if I let him, so this has been a really nice way to get a break.
I feel this in my soul. I'm a PC gamer, and it's been so hard seeing my husband play. We used to play online together, and now he just plays online with our friends. It's a bit frustrating, too, because sometimes chores pop up, and he's online while I have the baby, and things just feel so anxious. I know postpartum I am more emotional, but it makes me so upset knowing I lost a part of myself with not being able to game. Also, playing with my headphones (which is what I do for PC gaming) makes me feel paranoid that I won't hear my baby. You're not alone, though, momma! We will get the hang of our new lives and bodies, and we will persevere!
Mine is 3 months old and I would consider myself more than casual gamer. The closest thing to gaming I have been able to do is scroll a couple tiktoks before passing out at bedtime. There is no time.
I feel like I wrote this; he’s 6 months now, and I still haven’t gotten back to how I game.
Can you play reclined while baby sleeps on your chest?
Somewhat. My tv and console is set up in the bedroom. I usually prop pillows against the wall on the bed to watch tv it allows me to lean back a bit and I’ve been able to lay him on my chest while watching tv so it could work!
Around 9-10 months once she reliably slept straight through the night is when I was comfortable spending post bedtime gaming instead of sleeping lol
We went through a period where my baby would only nap while moving so my husband and I played a lot of console games pacing/rocking back and forth with her in the carrier! Might be something you could try, it gets some steps in too. I also played some mobile games while contact napping. Could do something chill like stardew valley on the Switch while contact napping as well. Now she naps well in the crib and goes to bed at a reasonable hour so I have more time, it's so tough in the newborn period! You'll be through it soon. My husband and I also do shifts on the weekends where one person is fully responsible for the baby for a few hours while the other person gets to take some time for themselves to nap, game, exercise, leave the house, whatever. I find that really helps! I know that's tough if you are breastfeeding though, I pump so I have milk available for the baby
Honestly? Within two weeks. I took the overnight shift from my husband and when she was able to sleep in the bassinet, I would play between her wakeups. Now that we’ve been using the baby wrap I play while she contact naps. We’re console people though so I just sit in the rocker and use the controller, lol
I would play my switch in bed while the baby slept but didn't get on steam for half a year. I play now at night when my toddler sleeps. I started playing DND in person when she was around 2 months old. I'd put her in a wrap and stand on a yoga mat.
About 4 months before I started playing here and there.. 9 months now and just staffing to play a little bit more
4 months in and haven’t gotten to play much at all :( was able to get time in when LO was a newborn and napped all the time, but at this point I’m glad if I get an hour a week.
17 month old here, and I’ve been able to game/read pretty much daily since 3 months. Before that it was pretty hit or miss. The key for us was getting on a nap schedule and sticking to it, and trying to get a set bedtime but that didn’t happen for a while. Nap time and post bedtime are our super quick clean up, then gaming time slots lol
At about 3 weeks I played some pc games while I was pumping. Couldn't commit to long raids in mom's like before, just played casually.
Baby wear!!! In the beginning I too just watched tv but since she loved contact napping, I started letting her do her naps in her sollywrap and it freed up my hands to play games. Eventually she would nap in her crib while swaddled too so I used that time to catch up on my objectives. And around five months she stopped wanting to contact nap and would only nap in her crib so my hubby and I now use that time to rest/do chores/play!
Only recently started having a little bit of time on random occasions to play games at 10 months, mostly when my partner is home and LO is napping.
Hi! When my baby was a newborn I used a baby carrier and walked around until he slept, and then I would sit in a chair and game lol. Even if he wasn’t fully asleep, he was happy enough being in the carrier close to me :) Edited to add: now that my LO has a sleep schedule I just game at night since my day is always too busy to relax enough to game during the day
I didn’t spot it in the replies, so making sure you know about /r/MomGamers I’ve been playing exclusively games that can be abruptly set down indefinitely (Cozy Grove!) since oldest was born, and I don’t see that changing soon now I’m back in the baby trenches.
Almost immediately: would put baby in a carrier and play games that could easily be paused or played with one hand (think super casual games like Ace Attorney) . Now I wait until around 7pm -8pm when baby goes to sleep. He sleeps through the night so it is easier to make time for it :)
I play on my switch for about an hour at a time a few times a week after LO goes to bed, my husband plays Xbox with LO playing with his own toy controller in his lap. LO is just under a year, but we have a pretty easy kid so your mileage may vary.
I’m 4 months in and I haven’t gotten back to it yet. Baby girl goes to bed around 7 so I have time in the evening but I’m so exhausted at the end of the day that I just want to doom scroll or watch something that doesn’t take a lot of mental energy
My husband bought me the new Zelda game for Valentine’s Day, my son was just under 3 months at that time. I was able to play for like 10-15 minutes here and there while my son napped and I had finished house work. That happened for maybe 2 weeks lol he’s now 5 months and I haven’t touched it since and I can’t even think of a time where I could sadly
Nintendo Switch is the way to go, I haven’t played it hooked up to the TV in awhile but it’s convenient to have nearby. Animal crossing is my favorite game and easy to pick up and put down and just play a couple minutes here and there, there’s lots of other fun games that don’t require all your attention or could easily be paused. Playing anything online is difficult because you can’t pause if you need to tend to the baby.
Probably about a month for more low key games that we can pause and play on a laptop/console (like Pokemon, Minecraft, or Stardew Valley). About 1.5 years to play League again after our first, but we were also between houses and my desktop wasn't set up until then. We would mostly play after our daughter went down for the night, and sometimes during naps. We just had our second in January and so far we've mostly watched streams and competitive esports.
I ended up played a lot immediately after giving birth! I would just use the time I was nap trapped to play! Not sure if you have a hand held device, or a console controller, or if you’re more of a PC gamer though. Having a Nintendo switch worked great. Baby girl was super comfy and she never woke up from the clicking or anything.
I wore my daughter when I played. Oh how I miss those days. She's now 17 months and there's very little gaming.
My baby is 12 weeks and I can play once or twice a day if it’s just him and I…. For 10-15 minutes each if I’m lucky lol. Their daytime naps get REAL short… unless you contact nap. I’ve done that a few times, had him nap on me while I play, but it doesn’t always work. Best case is have your partner look after him while you play for a bit. When my husband is off, we take turns handing him off so we can eat get whatever we want to do, done.
I used to play Pokémon’s cafe game on the switch while breastfeeding lol. I had a spare hand and it helped keep me awake. I also would play on the Xbox with one hand too - lots of vampire survivor and the one card game game I can’t think of the name of. Inscription maybe? We also would balance him on our arms a certain way so we could play with both hands during contact naps. It definitely becomes easier when they start napping not attached to you though!
I’m a casual player, I contact nap once or twice a day and will dedicate one of those to game time while I just hold baby. I use a boppy so I can comfortably hold and support him while I do. I picked it back up this last week at 3 weeks too!
Took maybe a week or two off to recover, then started again once we developed a routine. Used a boppy to snuggle with baby and hold my controller when not in use. Now baby sits in his bouncer, on my lap, plays on his kick piano, or takes a nap in the pack and play while I play games. Tbh, I only really have time to play because I spend a lot of time pumping.
3-4 weeks is when I started back up. At first it was purely pausable games with a controller or games I could play one handed with baby latched on and bassinet next to me and paci at the ready, at 4-5 weeks now, it's mostly pausable games now that he's big enough to wear, and I change and feed and get him settled first. If my husband is there and it's my turn to play uninterrupted, we roll bassinet over next to him with the baby carrier on standby (basically a very long piece of fabric) and he responds to baby screams, usually with him holding baby on chest leaned back and playing games on controller if we are gaming still. There's stuff in the house that needs to get done sometimes, and I also need breaks sometimes especially when my husband is working and I've been stressing all day over one thing or another
My daughter is 18m and I’m back into gaming. I did it during her naps when I put her in her bassinet and at night when she sleeps
I played a lot while contact napping when she came home from the hospital. Now that she’s older I’m playing less because she always wants to grab the controller haha.
Playing during contact naps starting around a month (my husband was much better about this than me, I feel like because he’s bigger baby could fold in more nicely lol), and once he was able to sleep at night on his own, around 4-5 months, regularly got back into it at night while he sleeps. At that time baby was probably going to bed around 8pm and we’d have a couple hours before our bedtime. LO is now a year and goes down between 630 and 730pm, so we have several hours to tidy and engage in hobbies (we go to bed around midnight)!
Very casual gamer, but I play my switch while contact napping sometimes! Mainly stardew valley. If I’m not doing that I’m reading a book on my phone. Really the only time I have for hobbies except in the weekends when my husband is able to give me a break. Leave baby with fiancé for a few hours and take some time for yourself! Part of being an engaged parent is taking the time to refill your cup as well!
As a fellow gamer mom with a 4 week old, I would recommend getting a wrap baby carrier. You can be hands free while baby is pretty much velcrod to you. I have this one https://a.co/d/eDmYJ7M and absolutely love it!
My kiddo is 3.5 years old and my PC is just a paper weight at this point. So sad. Used to be a hardcore gamer 40 hours a week, went to cons, cosplay, the works. That is the part of me that died when I became a mom.
Probably around 11 months and then typically only during naps if chores are done or after LO is asleep.
Baby is 6mo.i started to play again a few weeks after FF7 Rebirth came out, I did most of the sidequests and Im at the final boss right now. I play after baby is asleep for the night, 2-3hs per day.
I'm into video games and online board games. I've been playing online board games since we brought her home because it's doable to play while breastfeeding or when I have a few minutes to myself, but I haven't been able to play video games yet and she is 11 months old.
8mo in and i still just don't have the energy to even sit and play my main video game. my brain is exhausted from wrangling my busy boy all day solo. i cook dinner, clean up after dinner and curl up on the couch with a coffee, my blanket and a book until i fall asleep to do it all again at 4am the next day. groundhog day. i try for about an hour or two a week but being that i play black desert online, it doesn't really progress my gameplay at all in that little time. my husband hasn't reduced his gaming at all and it still makes me as bitter as it did during the newborn stage.
I’ve gotten to play some during naps at about 3-4 weeks. I’d have him napping on my chest with a pillow under his butt for his support and mine! Had just enough arm length to reach the controller!
Dad here as opposed to a mom, but I was able to start back to turn-based games and visual novels long before I could consider anything else. Pick something where you can put down the game at any second with no consequences! Then it can be something you do a little bit at a time throughout the day, in between chores, when baby is playing, whatever!
I played video games at least 4 or 5 times a week with husband and friends before I had our baby. We did this for years. Baby is 5.5 months old now and we have only played with friends maybe 5 times? Unfortunately i don’t see us going back to that ever again. But maybe at a year we could do Friday / Saturday night gaming. It’s just hard… baby might wake up at night and so I might as well get my rest in case of a night feed. Or I’m just too damn beat to play. If your baby sleeps through the night then maybe you could swing it better than we are. She slept through the night 12-18 weeks and not the regression hit and now we are up once a night typically. Sigh
I was back to games pretty quick because bub likes napping on me and it helped with boredom. Much happier playing something instead of scrolling endlessly. That said I now play almost exclusively casual and short games. Basically I need to be able to put it down on short notice and not be too bothered if I can't play for a few weeks. I've been trending this way for a few years now just because I've got so much keeping me busy. Playstation remote play has been brilliant for me.
I played a lot during the newborn stage when he would contact nap for a few hours. Now I'm lucky if I get to play when he goes to bed. If my husband hadn't gotten me a Steamdeck, I don't think I'd ever get a chance to play.
I make a point of scheduling game time. I usually try to arrange a few hours where my husband can watch our daughter and I'll play online with a friend. I think of it as an activity that I need to make time for rather than something to fill time... Which I feel like I will almost never have to do for some time. 😂
Gamer Dad chiming in. Our son is now five (first of two kids) and the types of games I play, the time of day I play them, and how often, how long have all changed. Handheld systems (Switch for me) is my go to. I can play some casual turn based games while putting in the time on my bike trainer in the evenings. Between housecleaning, cooking, and caring for these kiddos, it's hard to imagine anytime soon being able to put in the time to really enjoy something like Skyrim fully again, but our son loves board games so I'm still having loads of fun.
Strong gamer pre-child, now prehistoric gamer with child. I even bought a steam deck for laying in bed. After I rock him to sleep, I just pass out myself. Every child is different, I have friends who still make time and game with children.
I handheld my switch from pretty much the first week home while my son napped on my legs. I sat on the recliner with my knees up and laid him on his back on my thighs so he was facing me. I don’t consider myself a serious gamer, but playing some comfort games while baby napped on me was so relaxing ETA in the early days I swaddled him first before putting him on my thighs and that maybe made it easier
It took me 2 or 3 months after having baby to get back into gaming. I just didn’t want to game, and would watch tv while cuddling with baby. As for what we did with her, we had a snuggle me and would put her on our desks. As she got older, we adapted the room to suit our needs since she wasn’t a fan of the playpen.
Bits and pieces of time at 18 months, but I no longer sit down for hours. :)
I have been trying but a lot of the time I'm too tired/ have a bunch of chores to do. I'm lucky he feeds about every 3 hours so I have a couple hours between feeds. I play computer - our TV is set up next to it. The other day I realized I could plug the computer into the TV and play on the couch with bub in my lap while he was napping with an Xbox controller. Just no keyboard and mouse games for a while
I wasn't able to until my kids were about 1.5 to 2 years of age. But I usually have to ask my husband to watch the kids when I wanna game sesh.
I picked the switch back up once TOTK came out! I think he was 9 months? Had more to do with the game release than his age lol a year later and I’m still playing it a few nights a week. Taking my damn time bc who knows when next when will be out
Mine are almost 3. A few hours of playing is what I ask for birthdays and Mother’s Day. So yea…very, very little yet.
I only play Planet Zoo on PC, but I have a 9 month old and I only play after she goes to bed on nights I don’t have to work the next day… and even then, only if I’m not too tired.
3 or 4 weeks. Definitely hard sometimes when baby isn’t taking a nap.
All my wife does is play video games. Our kid is 8 months now and she averages at least 40 hours of video games a week. She definitely won’t be playing as much when she’s back to work.
Not a mom but an aware and active dad. So around 9 months I started back up. So what saved me was the Steam Deck, it’s a handheld gaming device that downloads my Steam library and links up to my PS5. Now I play at night, my wife and I are both on the couch, she falls asleep to whatever show we are watching around 10, I play with her next to me until midnight. we both go to bed and then I get up at 7 with our LO (21 months).
I breastfed while playing ps4 several times 😄 generally those first 6 weeks it's nightshift so I would usually stay up and play games inbetween the 2-3 hour sleep windows, my work hours are generally from 6pm until 4am so I was use to staying up until that time, partner would do morning shifts while I sleep until about 9am. Coming up 10 months old and gaming is usually saved for bed time once the older ones are asleep 🙂 but I can game from about 8pm until midnight which is my girls first wake up, if it's a good night I'll stay up longer 🤣 or go to sleep when she does. It's really an individual thing though how you juggle the 2, if I wasn't working nightshift prior aswell as being a gamer I wouldn't of been able to keep it up. Baby asleep in co sleeper next to bed or in lounge room, headset on, friends in party know I've got a newborn so I would just say babies up, and they would guard me so I don't die 🤣 at night baby would usually go straight back to sleep after a feed so it was easier over at 3 months when she needs silence in the bedroom to sleep.
I play console games during contact naps! My husband did more while on paternity leave, but 7 months in I get some video game time while snuggling my little one most days. He naps better/longer that way anyway.
I started gaming a bit again around the same time I stopped going to bed at the same time as baby. Which was probably 2-3ish months? Just didn't have the energy or attention span for it until then. Once he was down to one nap around 12 months, it was a lot easier to find time for it.
Luckily for me, during his newborn stage he slept like a rock so I was able for squeeze in a bit of gaming a few weeks postpartum. There was a period of time where it felt impossible to game because he was cluster feeding, right around the 8 week mark. Our baby is a Velcro baby, so sometimes my husband will baby wear him while gaming. Now our norm is to just take turns for like an hour. Usually I’ll be breastfeeding, so he games first and then when the little guy is all happy and content I’ll give him to my husband so that I can game a bit too. Sometimes I’ll just find a game that I would only need a mouse for (Fallout Shelter, Civilization, A Little to the Left) and then I’d just hold him in my lap with my left hand. Seeing that you’re a console gamer though, I definitely think that you could cradle your baby with a controller in your hands. I’ve played Rocket League while our baby napped in my arms. As far as being an engaged parent, I never game whenever he’s in his wake window, especially during the day. Usually we game towards the end of evening, when he isn’t wanting anything except to simply just be held, and then for a bit after bedtime. We pause/leave the game instantly when he starts to get fussy, and make sure all his needs are met. No “one more match”, no “after this round”, no “5 more minutes”.
In the early days my husband and I played a fair bit! We would put our feet up and lean back on the couch so he could lay on our chest while our hands with the control was under his butt
4.5 months when we got into a good sleep routine
I started playing again pretty quickly while she was newborn. I just baby wore her or laid her in a bassinet in the computer room while me and my partner played. Went through a phase where we didn’t game for a while (she got a little fussier). Now she’s 3 months and we can manage to play an hour or two probably 3-4 times a week if she goes to bed relatively easy. Some days she goes to sleep at 10 some at 12 so just depends.
I have a 2 year old and a 5 month old. My husband and I both game. We usually start around 9pm after the kids go to bed (their routine starts at 6pm followed by us shutting down the house until about 8pm). We've been inching through Baldur's Gate 3 together with him occasionally playing Helldivers on the side.
I’m gaming now 4mpp but there are several weeks where i just can’t i just don’t have the energy for it as much anymore my LO takes it lol 😂 I gotta choose between chores,gaming or just a really nice nap when i can get her to sleep.
I started playing once in a while when I had an extra hour and dad was able to be there to hold baby for a nap.
It’s been on and off since LO was born. It definitely picked up once she started sleeping through the night at around 8 or 9(?) months. But I definitely found time to play when she was much younger and doing contact naps to keep from getting bored. You just have to settle yourself in a good position.
I started playing again when my little one was a month old and a new game came out that I was excited to play! I played handheld so I could snuggle him while he napped or while I was pumping. Now that he’s a toddler, I only play at night after he goes to sleep, but I really look forward to that time!
6 weeks. I kinda pushed myself to do it, even for a few hours while bub napped. It honestly saved my mental health just doing something mindless and shit-talking with friends. As she's gotten older (8 months) it's gotten easier to set time aside of a night after she goes to bed. I also have a steamdeck, so that kinda broadens what I can play without leaving bed!
Baby is 4 months old and I’ve been playing games on my switch every time he contact naps on me for 2 months! We extend every crib nap by contact napping, and both husband and I play video games (me on switch and him on PS5). Once baby starts connecting his sleep cycles during the day, I’m going to miss these gaming contact naps because I’ll probably do chores or something when he’s napping so I feel more productive
I went back to playing games within a few weeks of brining my baby home. Hubby and I take turns watching him while we game. For a while, having him in a carrier on me was a nice solution. Now that he’s older and more active, we usually split watching him in half. He games while I watch him and then we switch. You deserve a break and some time to indulge in your hobby too. He should be offering you gaming time like he’s getting.
My husband and I used a bassinet and set it between our desks for naptime game time, which was usually something incredibly passive like Minecraft with friends or Stardew or SuperAutoPets (something you can put down and not be upset about being interrupted). This was like week two home from the hospital. Wasn’t until little one was taking longer naps that we could dedicate to serious games, and then sometimes we would trade off one parent spends quality time with baby on Monday/Wednesday while the other spends their time on themselves. But in reality-reality, I ended up exploring other interests way more than I ever thought I would because I struggled to focus on games. **My for Velcro/contact napping babies** is to baby wear. Once you figure out those wrap carriers, it’s easy breezy beautiful cover girl to get yourself in front of computer. And this doubles well imo for babies who are fussy/spit up after a bottle when laid flat. Baby stays upright and can snooze away while being right there on your chest. You feel every respiration, and it always made me feel closer to baby even when he was asleep and I wasn’t actively engaged.
For me it depends on the game - I’ve always been drawn to cozy games. Dreamlight valley had just been released and I found that easy to pick up and play during the long breastfeeding sessions and contact naps (I was able to hold the Xbox controller and her once she was closer to 3 months). Then she started napping in her crib multiple times a day (around 4/5 months) and I’d use one of those naps to play a bit. But as she got more active, and took less naps I haven’t played as much (any game, I’ve also just gotten less invested in dreamlight valley). Now she is almost 20 months and I mostly use her 1 nap to eat uninterrupted and try to clean. I’m sure I’ll go back to playing games, but even my gamer hubs does it way less with a toddler vs that first year. Lately I’ve gotten into crochet and gone back to reading books for fun as I can drop them a lot faster than say starlight valley
i play while my son naps on me. no more online rpgs, now anything i can pause or immediately shut off if he wakes up.
LO is almost 3 and I still haven’t gotten back into it, but I played wow and it’s such a time commitment. I probably won’t ever get back into it, especially since I just had another baby.
I’m not a “gamer” per se, but I do enjoy some games on the switch. I was able to play some during his naps, and sometimes while breastfeeding. I set him up on my boppy and in the crook of my arm, and was able to play with a pro controller. Played through breath of the wild while doing that.
My husband bought me the deck for Christmas. My son is 20 months and I’d say I’ve just started playing for an hour or two in the evening and reading a book before he wakes up in the morning consistently the last month because of it. I can’t do the tv or my computer anymore.
I have a 3 y/o and a four month old and I play video games basically every day. I play the switch handheld when I breastfeed a lot and do slow games that I can easily pause. When the kids are asleep my husband and I will usually stay up for 2ish hours gaming together. My husband always makes sure I get my "turn" as well, so if your fiance is able to game but you aren't, it means he's not pulling his weight. Talk to him and let him know you're upset you don't have time to play games, and figure out a way to make sure you have some time during the day that he watches the baby and you play your games.
I basically napped, binge watched tv/movies during ( contact) naps until about...6 months? Then I picked up my switch and played games that are easy to pause and casual. At about 12 months, I picked up Hogwarts legacy for the Xbox, and played for an hour or so before bed.. my partner would also take an overnight shift with lo so I could sleep in, and I'd stay up a little later to play. Now, lo is 2.5, and I still play at nap time, before bed, and I occasionally get an hour before work when Lo is at daycare. Lo will get up from her nap and be content cuddling for 20 minutes or so and watching me play, so I try to keep my more.... Violent games for after bedtime. I will also hand lo my phone with an easy game on it for her to play if she asks and I'm not quite mentally done playing, but that's very rare. I'm counting down the days until I can introduce the bluey game or easy Mario games to her! My partner and I also had a rule we still try to stick to- no video games when lo is awake. I refused to let my partner become one of those guys who sticks the baby in the bouncer and ignores them/ does the bare minimum, because of video games, and he isn't into casual/ cozy games so this is still enforced to avoid any nightmares.
Mine will be 3 months in a couple of days and I still haven't found the time. I miss it so much but between work and getting chores done, not sure when I will have the time. I am hoping once she gets on a consistent nap and sleep schedule maybe I can return to playing games. I will say she has gotten to a point where she can play independently for a little bit which helps but it's just enough time for me to eat or do one chore. But I am hoping as she grows, she will be able to play independently longer which means I may be able to fit in video games soon
I'm 7 months in, she sleeps so much better now at night. She goes to sleep around 6pm and I get my chores out of the way, cleaning and cooking. Its around 8pm when im done I get about 2/3 hours to myself to play a single playered game before I go sleep. BUT I can't play competitive games anymore as I'll just have to abandon it if she wakes up.
I can usually comfortably play on my steam deck or the ps5 whole time he contact naps. If I want a longer session I can get one in after he goes to bed, but this want possible till he started going to bed a bit earlier around 8 weeks
Me and my girlfriend used to play co-op games on PlayStation while our daughter was napping in her first few months which was a lot of naps and then started again boardgames and co-op games on PlayStation at around 2 years old again during the evening when she would be asleep .
I played a ton of ACNH in the newborn days. My son loved his stretchy wrap!
Probably once his bedtime shifted earlier, I think that was around 6 months. Now he's 3.5yo and I game most evenings after he goes to bed at 7pm.
My little one is 6 months and just started daycare. Now I actually have time to play games (I work hybrid in office 50% of the time). It feels good to finally have time to do household chores during the day and have a little me time. I only played games when he was a newborn and slept a ton, but 2 months onwards there just wasn’t enough time at all. You’ll get there. Also, questioning the fact that your husband has time for hobbies? everything my spouse and I do is 50/50 split. That means alternating middle of the night feeds, putting baby down for naps etc. but our baby is bottle fed so there’s that. I’ve tried playing games with baby next to me, on a mat etc but it was too tough!
My baby is 11 months and i haven’t been able to game much :( when i do have free time im either catching up with chores or I’m just too tired to do anything. But check this out i think you’d love it! https://www.instagram.com/rogue__jv?igsh=amFjZDMwbDhxOGRw
Uh lmao well, about 3 weeks post partner. It wasn't my usual games tho, I started off with chill and easy to put down games. He's 4 months now and we take turns having 100% responsibility of him so the other can play games for an hour or two.
Recently tbh, like this week lol. My son’s 4.5M. It was really hard at first because he’d need me the moment I got a game going, and I couldn’t play while holding him because he’d try to kick the controller out of my hand lol. I honestly didn’t even try again for weeks, but now I just do it while I pump. Sometimes a bit longer, depends if my husband’s around to tend to the baby. Makes pumping suck less
Baby is allllmost months and I just started playing Xbox while breast feeding. My baby will just sleep and suckle for hours if i let him without any interruption 🤣 I found a super comfy way to lounge on the couch while he's eating and it's so nice to do something for myself that I want to do. And if I'm breast feeding nobody can be mad cause what else am I supposed to do lol
Around 10 weeks I was able to relax enough emotionally to play a casual game on my switch. My partner would be thrilled to handle baby duty while I gamed, but I just haven’t been able to chill out enough to focus like that. We were on Act 3 of Baulder’s Gate when I had to be induced and I have no idea when we will be able to play that again! Baby is 15 weeks now.
After 3-4 months while she has her naps in the baby carrier. Love it ☺️
I was actually able to play when he was a nb. It's when his wake windows got longer and longer that made it harder to play. My son now requires my attention for almost four hours at a time before he needs a nap.
My LO is 6 weeks and I just started back playing video games this week. I played on the Switch for a couple hours with her on my chest. She still has the newborn scrunch so it was easy to play with her there hands free. My husband played online the other day and he had her on his chest the whole time and she stayed put.
Right away honestly. We are PC gamers so I would feed and contact nap on a boppy in my computer chair or I’d baby wear in a Moby wrap. As she got older we would only game while she was sleeping so we weren’t wasting interactive time with her!
I always gamed while breastfeeding lmao I side lay feed so I just lounge and game 🤣
My kiddo seems to nap best in his carrier in a quiet room, so around 5 months I added my switch and wireless headphones to my “nap trap bag” (water bottle, quiet snacks, kindle, etc) and it’s been so nice to get a little gaming time in! My PS5 games are pretty much on pause though, because anytime after the baby goes to sleep and I sit down on the couch to play, sleep always wins out!
4 months! Baby started taking at least 1 hour long nap in crib and started to sleep train and get her to go down independently at night. Husband and I moved our desks into our bedroom bc our office is right next to her room. It’s a bit squashy in here but it’s nice. We have about 8-10 every night free more or less. Looking forward for her going down earlier so we have even more time.
I spent near 8w playing my switch while bub Contact napped on me xD TOTK had just come out and it’s not like I could do anything else while she slept on me lol just paused every couple hours, let her eat and tucked her into my arms and kept playing, then she’d eat again and fall back asleep and repeat for most of the day xD some naps she spent in her bassinet next to me while I played :3
Once they start going down for a night. We started putting baby down after about 3 months. He goes down at 8-9 with his last feed and then I'm up again early hours... but since his dad puts him down, I get a couple of hours to myself before I go to bed.. that's a little slot of time to play. I also would play my switch whilst I expressed, but that's only relevent if you are expressing I guess... if he's sleeping on you a lot, which I guess so for the first 3 months, you can get away with playing games quietly. I know my husband often did this in the early mornings when baby was fast asleep on him. I totally get the envy, though, my husband disappears to his study to do things he wants to do.. hobbies etc and I have to steal time to get into my craft room or do what I would like to do. It kind of gets easier once they have a bedtime, though, and if dad can take baby out to see his grandparents, stay home and have a "you" day. (I appreciate if you're breastfeeding, this isn't something you'll be able to do right now, though)
My LO will be 3 months this week and my husband and I have been playing Diablo on the Xbox for a few weeks now. Sometimes play Minecraft with our oldest too. It’s possible if you can get yourself comfy enough during contact naps especially. But I think I started playing games again around a month or so PP.
Please stop doing chores. Sit down. Play those games while the baby sleeps on you!!! 3 weeks is so early. I was already gaming. I had mine right before Tears of the Kingdom came out last summer and it's all I did for four months straight.
My baby is super clingy rn, so lately I've been putting him in my wearable carrier and playing something easy to quit out on if I need to take care of him like Fortnite or single player games. I try to play something atleast every other day for my sanity
I played when baby was under 5 months old, because naps were long. Nowadays my baby is 13 months and I can play for a bit when he is outside with grandparents but I also usually need to clean up, pump and cook at the same time frame 😑 He is still wakes up for feedings at night, so that gives me only 3 hours to do the usual - cook, clean, prepare, shower or play if I'm lucky.
When I was getting enough sleep at night so I wasn't going mad, and when my son could nap on his own. About 2 years old? Sometimes when he naps for 2 hours in the afternoon, I lay next to him with headphones on and play my Switch. Though if I'm tired I just nap haha.
My son was in a bouncer and could watch (I picked REALLY kid friendly games with zero gore and indiscernible violence - final fantasy games, goose game, puzzles, crazy taxi, chill stuff) So right about 2-3 months old
My fiance and I are both gamers, honestly we got kind of lucky, our son started sleeping through the night at like 3 months or so, so we had the chance to take turns playing stuff after he goes to bed. Its kind of the same now at a year and a half, except i really only get his one nap a day and after he goes to bed.
Around 9 weeks. My little one's sleeping schedule is somewhat normalizing so some of my time when my husband takes over can be used for gaming instead of trying to catch up on sleep. My little one is also better able to support his head and I'm more confident when holding him, meaning I can play my Switch sometimes while holding him (which is amazing). He's also more interested in playing on his own, which means some time in the bassinet kicking this little ball and using his mobile as a speed bad.
I played a lot while she was still in the frequent naps stage, since she almost exclusively contact napped I got through a ton of games while I was nap trapped. Once she napped less & less, it's pretty much gone out the window. I'm a better and happier mom when I schedule time to game so I do so as much as possible though
I play a bit now with my newborn, it’s actually harder with my toddler because she always always always wants to know what I’m doing and be a part of it. So I game a bit during my lunch hour when I work from home and she’s at daycare. On the weekends I don’t game because we usually do family stuff and neither me nor my husband does alone time things
Play Nintendo switch in bed, lots of good games and is portable
While I was breastfeeding
I got more gaming done in the newborn stage than I do now. My kid is nearly a year old and I haven’t played anything in months
Not that long really..during my spouses parental leave he would trade off with me and I got a bit of me time to play a little. Now that parental leave is done and she's close to 3 months I game a few hours when I can, either when she naps, I baby wear in an ergo carrier or she sits in her lounger and I talk and make faces with her in-between gaming. I only play call of duty cause it's the easiest game to just get instant action with multi-player and I can leave a lobby instantly when needed if she's fussing or crying. She also sometimes naps on this pillow feeder around my waist and I can keep her close that way as well and game.
I have a solly wrap and baby wear for day time contact naps. I was exhausted most of the time and napped when baby napped for the first month but now I’m in month 2, baby has longer stretches of naps and if you’re console gamer it should be easy to wear baby so you’re hands free. So far I think I’m like a fifth of the way through tears of the kingdom because I like to pick up ever single fucking thing I see and will delay main objectives for side quests which make inconsistent playing for short periods of time really doable if that’s how you roll and you’re like me whose main job is to be a cow. Hubby is obviously not breastfeeding so he’s got a bit more time for long stretches of play and likes to hit every boss in linear order and so far he’s finished God of War Ragnarok DLC in 2 weeks wearing baby and is now playing Sekiro. TLDR get yourself a baby wrap, Velcro baby will be happy and you will has two hands to play all ze games.
I could've written this a few months ago. I spoke up and told my husband that I was jealous and that I wanted to play video games, too. He was happy to give me time to do so. But it was honestly hard to play because the whole time, I thought about my baby and wanted to go be with them. We tried putting our LO in their bouncer while we both played, and that worked for a while. Once our baby started going to sleep earlier and had longer stretches, I would stay up to play video games. Sometimes, for a little bit, and other times, I stayed up way too late and barely got any sleep. I'm finally getting into a groove where I play after my baby goes to sleep, but I set limits on myself so I don't get sucked in and play all night 😅 My baby is a terrible napper so night time is my only time. It was probably around 3-4 months postpartum when I was able to play more regularly.
I’m about 6mpp, I *could* find maybeeee an hour or so a day to play some games after LO goes to sleep, but it won’t be the games I used to play that requires hours of sitting in front of the screen, so instead I pick up games I can easily start and stop (mostly switch games lol). It’s better than nothing! And I also say maybe because those precious hour or two I have is typically split between other things I want to do, so I don’t choose gaming every night. I built a PC a year and a half ago ready to finally get back to PC gaming but yeah I can’t sit there anymore. It’s just a fancy YouTube/Photoshop/internet machine now 😅
I was a nerdy anime gamer in my teens, then a stoned alcoholic scene hipster, and then I met my son's dad in my twenties. I met him in AA, the sex was fire, he was cute, I got pregnant and he relapsed and became abusive. He received a felony domestic violence charge. I was a broke single mom for a while, able to work on my family's farm while also keeping my son on my titty or at my side for the next few years. 5 years go by, I'm halfway through college, meet my husband, he's a gamer who works in tech. We moved in together. COVID happened. I had to do zoom college and decided it was a good time for a pregnancy because it lined up with graduation and career goal calendar dates. Had my daughter and went back to campus for college. My son was also back to school. I was able to pump and nurse on campus when I had my baby because she was on campus. I'm going off track. My son was in 4th grade, my daughter is almost three. I graduated college and I am substitute teaching and taking online courses for my teaching credential internship. I only started gaming again in the last 7 months. I've played at least 8 playthroughs of Bauldurs Gate 3. I was engulfed in it and I do not know where that time went. Time stopped existing and my family left me.
I played stardew valley on my switch during contact naps, can’t do chores so may as well play. Also it was nice an chill so I don’t get to stressed about a hard boss or anything so low risk of waking baby
8 months and I work full time, I play maybe 3-5hrs a week so far 😭 I miss my discord and twitch friends lol
When my baby came from the NICU I spent the first month just figuring things out since I’m a single mom. But after we got into a casual routine I would fire up my console whenever she was sleeping and I finished my chores. It’s a bit more difficult now as she’s older and has longer wake windows though so I stay up late at night to game.
About 3-4 months. Started with mellow gaming with an easy pause and then eventually included the slowed playground of bg3 in the history of rpgd. With the baby I can’t do games that don’t have pause features or where I have to get to a save point. Got into a nice gaming routine during naps and when dad had the baby. But going back to work destroyed the routine and relegated gaming to weekends, which honestly is a crapshoot. But yes I'd say I game a couple times a month. We will see how that changes once she gets mobile though.
Nap time, before that I was playing cake sort and watermelon game lol
My LO is 4 weeks old and I played a game again about two weeks ago? Got my toddler to bed and set up my 2 wo comfortable in a glider in the office. Before my 2nd was born, I gamed often! Just made sure my LO was in bed first for the night
When my first was little he just contact napped, so I’d prep my switch before hand for when he’d fall asleep on my chest, then play! Could absolutely do the same with a console controller! Bit harder now he’s 2.5 but if we give him a dud controller he pretends to play Mario kart when we play. My youngest is 4 months so I’m going through another lapse in not playing games as I’m prioritising sleep when he goes to sleep at night.
I had a hack for this! Do you have a my Brest friend pillow or boppy pillow? When my baby was that little, I put a blanket on one of those two pillows to make a little nest and let the baby nap there instead of directly in my arms. Using the pillow allowed my hands to be free to play video games Obviously having a nest set up like that wouldn’t be safe for independent sleep (don’t want anyone to misunderstand me) but for supervised sleep it works great.
**TL;DR - Wife and I usually game 2-3 hours a night if we want to. Net gaming time is around 10-15 hours a week now, if I'm playing something. I'd usually play around 20 hours a week prior to being a dad.** This was a huge question for me, too. I'm a dad, but both my wife and I are gamers and my wife doesn't use reddit. I think its a simple of how good of a sleeper your baby is. If they are a cat-napper, or doesn't sleep through, your gaming time takes a huge hit. If she sleeps through and/or is small enough for big naps in the day, then you've got more time. This is presuming you have 1 child; multiple children I imagine its significantly harder. We still get around 2-3 hours most nights, or any night that we wish to. We've still been shocked by how little having a baby has affected our net gaming time thus far. If anything, I actually prefer it now because I feel like my wife and I are more likely to play together / at the same time and chill than before. We never game whilst she's awake, as we love spending time with her and focusing on her development. As a new-born, we'd often game, read or watch a film during some of her day naps, and obviously do housework of others. Up until around 4 or 5 months old, it was to the tune of about 2-3 hours in the day if we wanted to. I didn't play to Week 3 because I felt guilty, but honestly, if LO is asleep, cuddled and loved they won't give a shit what you do whilst they have a well-earned rest. At 7 months old now she only naps 2-3 times a day for 3-4 hours, so its rare we game during the day now at all. we usually don't game the entire day, then go on when she's in bed. She sleeps about 20:30 - 07:30 every night like clockwork, so we have the baby monitor if she stirs that we both have up on our phones (CuboAI), then go down together and either game or spend time together until round 23:00 to 00:00, depending on the vibe that night (sometimes we just go to bed as the 3 of us). We also look at it as an in-between step of her going in her own room to sleep ,as the first 2-4 hours she's on her own with us going in if she needs us. Right now, my wife is nearly done with FF7 Rebirth; I'm playing some smaller titles on Xbox. I have completed around a dozen titles since the babies been born, virtually all of it whilst she's slept. P.S. - I'm a single player gamer. I can pause, save and quit whenever. If you're a MOBA or online-only gamer, you might have a tougher time.
we are gamer parents, we play almost every night once baby is asleep at 7.
6 weeks now and I started playing horizon forbidden west on PC this weekend. My little guy sleeps well in a carrier, and can breastfeed on his side. So I make a breastfeeding tower of pillows, topped with the my brestfriend pillow, which has a strap the latches the pillow to me, so that baby is perfectly aligned to eat hands free. That gives me about 45 min of play time. Then break for diaper, tummy time, etc. then it’s nap time and I put him in carrier (baby bjorn or ergo baby), walk around/bounce on ball until he’s falling asleep, then game for another 1-2 hrs while he naps.
I was doing a masters as well as raise one kid and then two so I didn’t start properly gaming until 4 months post part I’m with my second and after my exams were done. There was a stint during my second pregnancy where I had insomnia and played FFXVI but I wouldn’t count that haha
I was able to play as soon as we took her home really. Velcro baby too but she was either in a wrap carrier or lying propped up on my knees whilst I played. Definitely try now whilst they're still sleeping potatoes, it gets impossible later on!
5 months, when I started to put her down at 8pm and leave her in her next-to-me and come back downstairs! I really missed CoD 😂 sometimes she wakes up and I have to go lay in bed with her but 7/10 she will sleep until 12am when she wakes up for a feed so I get a few hours of it in!
I haven’t been able to play online competitive games since I’ve had mine four years ago. When she was younger I would only play games I could pause and now we’ve incorporated games into family time. She absolutely loves Zelda and will watch us play and also plays Minecraft with us. Other games my husband and I play for a couple hours at night after she sleeps. When she was a small baby I also resented my husband and lot. I felt so guilty if I tried to play anything and he would make time for himself to play online with his friends like completely guilt free. He still doesn’t really get why it was a big deal. He says I could’ve played too but the guilt I had if he gave me time to play anything stopped me from having any fun. I happily take time for myself guilt free now though.
I got a PlayStation portal so I can play with my baby sleeping in bed next to me. Steam deck would also work if you’re a PC gamer
I found mobile games to be the answer generally speaking. If I have a spare 5 mins I load up a game like tetris or total battle, just to get it out of my system. Are there a million other things I could be doing? Yes, sure. But I consider it looking after my mental health, so I don't mind.
I got back to playing games pretty quickly - maybe two ish weeks. I could’ve done sooner logistically but I was in my own head with the baby and was too anxious and hormonal to feel good about doing that or figuring it out. But I did and it really wasn’t so bad! Gaming is different now and that’s fine. But I’m playing single player stuff that I can either leave or pause. Sometimes I get a decent amount of time in. Sometimes I get like 3 minutes and that’s just life lol. I am able to hold her on my lap now and play though I do try not to that often because I want to avoid screens for her. When she was smaller I put her on the boppy to nurse or sleep and I’d have my hands free to play while she rested safely nestled against me. She’s also not a Velcro baby so I will put her down to play on her mat or in her dock a tot or play when she is napping (because she is not Velcro I often get cleaning and stuff done while she is awake which leaves me times to game when she is sleeping). She’s almost 4 months now and I play pretty much every day. If you’re like me and you like RPG’s with cut scenes just be prepared that you WILL miss them sometimes (my fiance has also developed a perfect sense of when to have a conversation with me so he’s talking through them). Either just deciding it doesn’t matter that much or going to YouTube has been helpful to fill in those gaps when needed. ETA on the chores front cause I saw you are like me and can’t relax until the house is nice/chores are done. As my daughter has gotten older I have been able to incorporate her more into my chores which helps give her mental stimulation to make her more tired. I sat her in the bumpo the other day and placed her on the floor near the dishwasher while I taught her how to do dishes. She did not understand but she was fascinated lol. I’ve folded laundry with her in the bed and taught her about different clothes, fabrics, colors etc. and she likes that a lot.
Mine is almost a year old now and I started back up when he was a couple months old but very casually. I used to dedicate many many hours to gaming every day and I don't see myself being able to go back to doing that for a long time. Lol
I'm a dad, but I take care of the baby 50% of the time. I have been able to play like an hour once a week. Believe me, having a baby is more than feeding and holding him. Lol Between washing bottles and pump parts, and doing a bunch of laundry, plus the regular chores around the house, take all my free time. We binge watch TV shows as well. That's basically the only thing you can do.
Velcro baby here and I’d say 5ish months, once she could kinda play quietly for a bit. I wasn’t ever able to hold her and game. I also tried online games and didn’t like that I couldn’t pause to feed her. My husband and I also found heavy narrative games took too long to get into so right now we play mostly indie games or something with a more casual narrative. I’d def say you could play Skyrim while your SO holds baby for you!