I have had some questions recently about what life looks like now that I have Emma and specifically I’ve gotten some requests for “a day in the life” type of post.  Well, if you have a baby you probably know that no two days are the same, so for the purposes of this post I am going to do my best to give a sum of what most days look like in general for us.  Know that every baby is different so just because this is what a day looks like for us doesn’t mean it has to look that way for you!  Additionally I’ve had questions about how breastfeeding is going and my experience so far, so I’ll touch on that as well!

A Day in the Life with a Newborn

7:30am-8:30am: Wake Up.  We generally wake up around the time Craig is getting up and getting ready to leave for work but the exact time just depends on when her last nighttime feeding was.  For example of an outlier, one morning she had a 5:30am feeding and I put her back down and she slept until 10:30.  And sometimes she wakes up earlier.  If she has an early morning feed anytime after about 5am I usually just stay awake and lately have been trying to get a workout in during that time, shower, make some coffee and answer emails/knock out whatever work I can until she wakes up again.

8:30-9am: Change diaper then nurse. She usually stays pretty sleepy in the morning and goes right back down for a nap within 15 minutes of finishing eating.

9:30am-12:30pm: Nap time.  She usually sleeps about 3 hours in the morning.  I’ll do some work at the computer and if I didn’t workout in the early morning, this is when I try to get in a workout if it’s not a cardio day (usually Tuesday-Thursday I try to run, so if I don’t do it first thing in the morning when Craig is still home, I have to wait until he gets home from work and do it in the evening) but if I’m doing a circuit or strength workout, I do those at home.  I shower while she’s down and try to make some lunch, usually just in time for her to wake up.

12:30-1pm: Change diaper and nurse.

1-1:30pm:  After she eats this time she is a bit more awake, so we will have some “awake time” and she can do tummy time or just play with mommy for a little 🙂  Sometimes this only lasts 15 minutes and sometimes she is more awake for 45 minutes before she starts showing me sleepy cues again, and then I will put her back down for her afternoon nap.

1:30-3:30/4pm: Nap time.  Her afternoon naps used to also be 3-4 hours long but they have been getting shorter and shorter.  They are usually about 2.5 hours now but she sometimes still hits 3.  If I am in need of a nap (which I am usually every other day but sometimes every day!) I take a nap during this time with her maybe for an hour or so.

4pm:  Change diaper and nurse.

4:30pm-7:30pm: Awake time and getting into the witching hours 😉 Earlier she would just go back down to sleep for another 3 hour stretch but now she’s more alert and waking up more.  Now she’s a bit fussier and during this time there really is no schedule.  She will nurse some, doze off to sleep in my arms some, hang in her swing, fuss some, repeat!  Craig gets home around this time and can help with the snuggles.  We have been giving her a bath every other day (she really likes it and it seems to relax her) so if it’s a bath day we give her a bath during this time.

7:30-10:30pm: Sometimes she will go back down at 7:30 for a 3 hour stretch of sleep, but sometimes she just wants to hang out with mom and dad and if so we just keep her out in the living room with us while we watch TV or hang out.  If she is asleep, I generally have to wake her up to do a “dream feed” before we go to bed in an attempt to sync up our longest stretch of sleep with hers.  She will eat around 10:30, we will change her diaper, and be back down by 10:45/11pm.  If she was out in the living room with us and finished nursing at 9:30 and fell asleep, I don’t wake her up to eat again.  We just put her down when we go to bed.

11pm: Craig & I get in bed.  I would really like to try to start going to bed earlier but for now this is just how it has been playing out.  Pre-baby we pretty consistently were in bed by 10:30 so I think the dream feed/diaper change around that time has just pushed us back some.

Nighttime feeding:  Emma usually only wakes up once for a nighttime feeding but it just depends on her hunger level and when she fell asleep.  She generally does a 4-6 hour long stretch first, so if she’s going back down at 10:30, she usually wakes up between 2:30-4:30 to nurse.  I change her diaper, feed her, then put her back down.  Occasionally she will do a 7 hour stretch (which sadly I have yet to line up with my longest stretch of sleep, I think the most I’ve gotten is about 5 or 6 hours which I’m definitely not complaining about with a 6 week old) and then some nights she does wake up twice.  Sometimes she’s up at 1am to eat then again at 6am.  Those are the mornings I stay awake to workout/get work done.

So there ya have it…my general outline of a day in the life with a newborn!  For those wondering, I did purchase the Taking Cara Babies online newborn sleep course and it really helped me understand what to expect and gave me a general outline to “follow”.  I really loved her approach because it aims to give you a flexible routine not a rigid, strict schedule that you will have trouble following because newborns just don’t work that way!  I definitely recommend it.  We also have the SNOO bassinet, which I also think has really helped us get more sleep.  It’s an investment, but to be honest nothing is more important to my physical, mental, and emotional health than sleep is, so it was worth it in my opinion.

PS: I wrote this post yesterday and then last night Emma was just all over the place and did NOT want to go to sleep. She fussed from 8pm until I got her down until 2am and then she was up again at 6am.  So, just know there are definitely those hard days/nights too!

How Breastfeeding is Going

I had a few questions about how breastfeeding is going for me so I wanted to give a little update on that as well.  Just for a little background, Craig & I did take the breastfeeding class that the hospital offered and I found it really helpful.  Immediately after Emma was born she latched on and was a great little breastfeeder, despite her tongue-tie, which the pediatrician noticed on day 3 of her life and she had the frenotomy on day 4.  So once that was taken care of she was more efficient at eating and didn’t kill my nipples anymore.  Those first few days hurt and I definitely had the creases and bleeding but after the tongue tie was taken care of the issue went away.

The first probably 4 weeks (yes just now starting to “level out” I suppose) my boobs were so full all the time and I was leaking constantly it felt like.  Seeing the lactation consultant a couple of times at our pediatrician’s office was SO helpful.  She really helped give me tips for how to best feed Emma (positioning) and also gave me tips for helping pump off some of my milk in the morning after she eats, which has helped me build up a nice stash in the freezer for bottles and also it has helped balance my supply out.  I do feed Emma on demand…whenever she seems hungry I let her nurse.  So all in all, breastfeeding has been going well.  She has taken a bottle with pumped breastmilk a couple of times so Craig has been able to feed her.  We are still working on that 😉 She won’t take a pacifier and I think she hates the plastic nipples on the bottles, but when she figures out milk is coming out, she seems to tolerate it if she’s in a good mood.  If she’s agitated, she likely won’t take a bottle.

So that’s really it, I think!  If you have any questions let me know.  I can certainly answer about my experience but remember I have only been a mom for 6 weeks so in no way do I think I am some kind of expert 🙂 This is just what life has looked like for us so far!

Thanks for reading!

xo,

Bess