But what do you DO all day on maternity leave?? I’ve been asked this question directly and indirectly, and for sure wondered it myself before having a baby. So to shed light on what I do during my days alone at home with my 15-week (3.5 months) old baby girl, I’m kicking off a series of blog posts. No week has been the same but there is definitely a lot of repetition with a small baby (who still mainly feeds, sleeps and poops). I try to create variety to our days while trying to stick (even loosely) to a routine which my baby needs, to keep us both sane.
Monday
5.00am – Maia wakes up for the first time since her dream feed last night (6h sleep) and I pick her up from her bed and feed her for 10 minutes. She falls back asleep and I put her back to her Moses basket.
5.30am – Maia wakes up again, very chipper and wants to start the day. I don’t want to get up just yet (it’s still dark outside!!) so I take her next to me and feed her a bit lying down on my bed and we both fall asleep.
7.00am – Maia is awake and coos next to me and kicks her legs and waves her arms, it’s very cute but I’m still sleepy. Maia’s daddy comes to give her a kiss before he heads off to work. Maia and I cuddle on the bed for a bit more. This is the best time of the day with her – she is so happy!
7.30am – I get up and change Maia’s nappy and swap her pyjamas to daytime clothes. I put her on her rocking chair to play with her toys while I make coffee and porridge for myself.
8.45am – Maia is getting hungry and tired again but won’t settle to feed on the sofa so I go back to the bedroom, put her into her sleeping bag (indication of nap time) and feed her on my bed for 10-15 minutes and she falls asleep. I put her into her Moses basket and she sleeps for 1h 15 minutes. During this time I tidied up the kitchen and have a shower and get ready myself. Getting ready today (and most days) means yoga leggings & nursing top, BB cream & mascara, and of course, a blast of dry shampoo.
10.15am – Maia wakes up and I put her on her playmat after a quick selfie for this post (still no paparazzis lol). I pack the nappy bag and have another cup of coffee and a banana. I offer the boob but Maia is not interested (despite her short feeds so far today…).
11.00am – I change her nappy and get her dressed and packed into the pram and we walk to our yoga class. It’s freezing cold outside!
11.30am – 12.45pm – Mums & Babies yoga at the Life Centre. The class dangerously coincides with Maia’s midday nap (12pm-2pm) and she still has not had a proper feed. I wouldn’t be doing much yoga today… Instead I ended up playing with Maia for half an hour and then feeding her for 20-minutes. She fell asleep on my lap but woke up cranky as another baby started crying. After the class we were offered herbal tea which I drank while changing Maia’s nappy. She had a sneaky wee during this process and got her clothes wet so I had to change them too. I also discovered the backup onesie I had in the nappy bag was now too small for her. I squeezed her into it anyway as it was better than the wet alternative and packed her into the pram again. Not so much yoga today then but at least the sun had come out for our walk back! Maia had a 10-minute snooze in the pram.
13.15pm – We got back home. I put Maia in her sleeping bag and fed her for another 10-minutes before putting her into her Moses basket for a delayed midday nap. I managed to make myself a half decent omelette with tomatoes, feta cheese and chorizo for lunch and Greek yoghurt with berries and honey for desert. Maia’s dad had come back to work from home as it was his turn to be sick, poor guy. Probably caught it from me last week…
2.20pm – Maia wakes up having slept only for an hour instead of two as I had hoped. And she was cranky. I change her out of that too small onesie to the outfit number three of the day. I spend the following two hours playing with her and trying to feed her but she still wouldn’t settle down for a proper feed, just 5-minutes here and there. She is clearly still tired but fights sleep. Let’s just say these were a challenging few hours.
4.30pm I finally resort to an old trick and put Maia in the wrap sling. I start folding laundry and packing the dishwasher and sure enough, Maia falls asleep and has a 30-minute nap. Unfortunately she doesn’t wake up on a better mood but she has more energy and so we spend another hour playing and singing on her play mat.
6.30pm Maia finally calms down for a nice long feed. After 45-minutes she is falling asleep and so I decide to skip bath tonight and just change her nappy and dress her in pyjamas. Meanwhile daddy is preparing dinner.
7.30pm Maia is asleep. Time for mummy and daddy to have our dinner and a little relaxed time. Oh and to hang up the wet laundry and pack our bag for swimming tomorrow morning. And to write this post of course. ☺️
Around 10pm I will go and pick Maia up for her dream feed (not waking her up) just before going to bed myself.
That’s it for today! Not the ideal Monday with little miss cranky pants but hey ho. We still had nice moments too!
To be continued tomorrow. 😊
xoxoxo,
Sini