Hey! New Mommies! Are you missing days before pregnancy when you seem a workaholic and enjoying an organized life? Well, when a little life arrives, your clock is no longer scheduled. It now belongs to your cute cuddler. Your baby’s call decides when to cook, rest, nap, or go outside to do other chores. So, how to plan a routine around a baby? We list tips for new mothers to plan their day.
Unquestionably, the arrival of a baby brings a lot of happiness along with scheduling challenges. No wonder how well you organize or plan your day; if you’re not looking after your little one’s timing, things can go haywire. Through an understanding of hustles with a baby, we’ve bucketed some tips for homemakers for planning the day so that your day gets a little easier.
How to Plan Routine Around a Baby?
Being disciplined and productive is no longer a definition of your life when you have a baby. You seem tired, sleepless, and juggling to do routine tasks. Well, it is all about scheduling your day with a little munchkin to get rid of unorganized life and manage all things effortlessly. Here are quick tips you need to learn.
1. Understand Your Newborn’s Routine
Newborn babies generally sleep for at least 16 hours a day (1). In between, your little angel needs to be fed at least 6-8 times (2).
You need to understand your baby’s sleeping routine and feeding times. It is easier to recognize some signs that it’s time for sleep such as rubbing eyes, thumb, yawning, and ear pulling (3). However, it is difficult to understand if your baby needs a feed (4).
So, ensure to feed them as soon as they wake up and before sleep. With this, you’ll be able to set a sleeping and feeding routine.
2. Prioritize Sleep And Self-Care
A good sleep can keep you energetic for the whole day.
For mothers, sleep deprivation can affect the production of milk. Coping with a lack of sleep can be challenging. Both baby and mother need to sleep peacefully (5).
However, when to sleep is a concern for a newborn baby’s mother. When you feed your baby during noon or evening and even at night and make your baby sleep, try to take frequent naps for 2-4 hours.
If frequent naps are not possible, the mother can look into other self-care options to relax her physically and mentally (6). Postnatal massages are beneficial for new mothers looking to rest and rejuvenate.
3. Plan Feeding Schedule
Planning a feeding schedule can be a daunting task for a newborn baby’s mother. But it is not that challenging if you know their sleep pattern and feeding.
Your cuddler requires feed every 2-3 hours during the initial month and sleep for the next 2-3 hours after feed. You have 2-3 hours to manage household chores and even sleep.
When babies turn two months old, they require feeding after 3-4 hours, and babies over 4-6 months require feeding after 4-5 hours (7).
If they feed properly, they either sleep peacefully or play, so it is easier to manage work in between those and nap periods.
4. Include Baby Care Activities
As your baby grows older, make some time for baby care sensory activities to encourage skills like listening, visual, touching, tracking, and feeling.
When your little one starts growing, their dietary habits will change, so you can add taste-sensing activities to familiarize them with different food tastes.
You can indulge them in playing ball, puzzles, funny faces, singing, fetching objects, and musical games.
5. Balance Household Chores with Baby Care
Establish a daily routine to manage day-to-day tasks. The routine may cover the baby’s feeding time, playtime, and sleeping time.
Remember, each day is different with babies; sometimes babies are too fussy. It would be appropriate to ask for help from family members to handle some work.
Prioritize baby time, and when your baby grows enough (3-4 years) to handle some mini tasks, try to assign some chores.
The task involves keeping objects in place, sharing care tips, keeping clothes in place, and more. This helps to build management skills and teamwork abilities. Moreover, it gives you some space to spend quality time with your little one.
6. Create Bonding Time with Your Baby
Bonding is an intense love attachment with your baby. Creating a good love bond with your little cub helps trigger long-term connection and socialization abilities and builds a sense of care towards each other (8).
Scientific studies show that a lack of care bonding can cause despair and fear, and babies may feel insecure. To nurture a bond, start communication with babies, eye-to-eye contact, cuddle time, and small gestures to follow.
As your baby grows a bit older, you can start incorporating fun mom-baby exercises to create bonding, improve physical activity and spend quality time with your little one.
[Read : How Many Hours of Sleep Do Babies Need By Age?]
Self-Care Tips for New Mothers
Women are the backbone of a house. Being a mother of a newborn baby, you have to handle much stuff alone. In between all hustles, you always forget self-care. Here are some self-care tips for new mothers.
1. Give Yourself Some Time to Get into the Routine
Make a routine and practice every day. Give yourself some time to get into the new routine with a baby.
2. Understand That Perfection is Not Possible
It is ok if you fail to maintain the routine. Failure can happen when it comes to handling newborns and household chores.
3. Set Realistic Expectations And Be Flexible
Keep your routine goals aligned and change when necessary. Make small goals that are easy to achieve. For instance, the baby’s feeding and relaxing times should be set according to their sleeping times.
4. Include Time for Exercise and Physical Health
Regular exercise helps to keep you strong physically and mentally (9). Make some time to do light exercises, such as brisk walking, running, and yoga, to keep yourself strong.
5. Take Time For Self Care
In all the juggling, managing time for oneself seems impossible. But make some time for a nap, eat well, keep yourself hydrated, and exercise regularly.
6. Plan for Social Interaction
A Woman often forgets to socialize when she becomes a mother. Social interaction gives you a break and keeps your mind calm. Start planning for social interaction with friends or family to enjoy some peaceful time.
7. Don’t Hesitate to Ask for Support
When you cannot manage everything on your own, it is fine to ask for support from family members. It helps to manage work even better.
8. Learn To Manage Stress
Start meditation and yoga for stress management. It helps to relax your mind so you can stay productive and engaged in work.
There are 24 hours in a day, and being a woman and a mother is a tough job. But by making some changes and implementing the above practices, you can ease your life to some extent. Give some time to yourself and cuddle your little teddy while enjoying motherhood. Don’t forget self-care and good sleep. Make some changes and follow the above tips to be a superwoman again. Enjoy peaceful motherhood!
[Read : Postnatal Yoga]
FAQ’s
1. How do I Take Care of Myself With a Baby?
Make a routine and plan your day accordingly. It helps to keep you organized and allows you to spend some time self-care with a baby. Remember to prioritize yourself while caring for your baby, household, and your job.
2. How do You Plan a Daily Routine With a Baby?
Follow babies’ sleeping and feeding time to plan daily routines. Consider taking help when needed, and hiring house help if available and needed.
References
- Tham EK, Schneider N, Broekman BF. Infant sleep and its relation with cognition and growth: a narrative review. Nat Sci Sleep. 2017 May 15;9:135-149. – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5440010/
- Breastfeeding FAQs: How Much and How Often (for Parents), Nemours KidsHealth – https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/breastfeed-often.html
- Tired signs in babies and toddlers, Raising Children Network – https://raisingchildren.net.au/babies/sleep/understanding-sleep/tired-signs
- Signs Your Child is Hungry or Full, Nutrition, CDC – https://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/infantandtoddlernutrition/mealtime/signs-your-child-is-hungry-or-full.html
- More sleep, more milk, Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine – https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/10.5664/jcsm.10612
- Better Sleep for Breastfeeding Mothers, Safer Sleep for Babies- National Institute For Childrens’ Health Quality – https://nichq.org/insight/better-sleep-breastfeeding-mothers-safer-sleep-babies
- How Much and How Often to Breastfeed, Nutrition, CDC – https://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/infantandtoddlernutrition/breastfeeding/how-much-and-how-often.html
- Bonding with your newborn, MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia – https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000677.htm
- Evenson KR, Mottola MF, Owe KM, Rousham EK, Brown WJ. Summary of international guidelines for physical activity after pregnancy. Obstet Gynecol Surv. 2014 Jul;69(7):407-14. – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4134098/
Read Also : 10 Natural Energy Booster Tips For New Moms
