Since it has been a couple of months since I wrote my last update I wanted to share a new Day in the Life post talking specifically about balancing work & baby, as well as an update on sleep schedules & how breastfeeding is going. Emma is 4 months old now (officially today!) and I’ve gotten a lot of questions about how I’m balancing work and taking care of her. It has definitely gotten more challenging as she’s gotten a little older. She was taking long 2-3 hour naps two to three times a day early on. Now she mostly only naps for 45 minutes now (occasionally she will do a long nap every now and then, and did on the day I tracked our schedule below) and she is awake for about an hour and a half to two hours between naps. I’ll touch on her sleep schedule a little more below. Sorry if this post is super lengthy but it’s a lot of info so I just want to be sure I’m covering everything from all the questions y’all have sent me plus any other info I think would be helpful to you!
Work
The shorter naps definitely make work challenging. As soon as she goes down I rush around like crazy to do the next thing on my to-do list. I often use one of her naps as my workout/shower time, which is why I’ve been trying to do only 30 minute workouts lately. I hope to get back on the waking up early to workout schedule soon but it is SO hard when it’s cold outside. But I really want to get better about the AM workouts because that would free up more of my time to work. Currently I work later into the evenings than I used to (typing this at 8:30pm) because that’s just when I had the time.
As a full-time blogger I have the luxury of working from home but it is certainly a lot harder than I expected it would be with a baby…but every day I learn something! I rarely have work that calls me out of the house with the exception of photo shoots, influencer events, and the occasional meeting. I have been working on a huge new project and have been lucky enough that I have had those meetings from my house so far.
The biggest challenge for me is all the segmentation of my tasks. I really like to focus and hone in on one task until I’m done but obviously a baby needs things on their own timeline and so I may not be done working on something but I’ll need to stop to take care of her. And its my privilege of course, but I’m just not as productive as I used to be! But I will say…it has helped me really narrow down what tasks are truly NECESSARY for me and my business. I have put myself on a more structured schedule in terms of what I work on each day. I think ultimately it will really help me sift through what is most important and in the long run will be really good for my business because I just don’t have time for “fluff”.
Sleep Schedule
So yeaaaa…Emma isn’t really on a structured schedule. I took the Taking Cara Babies newborn sleep class for 0-12 week olds and then I also bought her 3-4 month ebook. She really promotes a “flexible routine” over a strict schedule and I think that works best for us right now. She also says you can’t really sleep train a baby until about 5 months because until then they are not developmentally ready. For us that looks generally like what I’ve outlined below. (I tracked our actual schedule from yesterday to share)
Nighttime Routine
About a month ago I tried to start implementing a nighttime routine and we would bathe, swaddle, and feed in her nursery in the chair. Then I’d put her down. Then she’d wake up an hour later. Every time! We would also not bathe every night…so then other nights would look like her eating and then me basically swaddling her and turning on her sound machines in the room (she still sleeps in our room currently) and turning off the lights. I’d just bounce her gently until she would fall asleep or get really drowsy and I’d put her down. I know they say not to rock or bounce the baby to sleep in your arms because when they wake up they will be confused about where they are…but I haven’t noticed this being an issue with Emma. She falls asleep in my arms most every night and then I put her down. Then she generally sleeps through the night…a solid 10-12 hour stretch without waking up. So for us it seems to work fine.
What I’ve learned in my 4 short months of mothering is that there are tons of “rules” and tips for getting your baby to sleep but ultimately it’s a learning process and your baby is a unique individual. Find what works for her/him! This goes for anything, not just sleep! So basically right now we don’t have a set “routine” other than I follow her sleepy cues and swaddle/sound machine/lights out/bounce. Sometimes feed to sleep if that’s what she needs. Other nights she’s fine not eating and will fall asleep on her own.
A Day in the Life
6:30- Wake Up/Change/Eat (it’s usually between 7-8 but sometimes she wakes up earlier or sleeps a little later)
7- Play time/Tummy time
8:15- Down for nap
11:15- Wake up/Change/Eat
11:45- Play time/tummy time
12:45- Giving hunger cues so feed her again and she falls asleep for about 20 minutes.
1:05- Tried to put her down but she didn’t want to so I held her and we hung out
1:45- Goes down for nap
2:20- Wake up/Change/Eat
2:40- Play time
4- Down for nap
4:45- Wake up
5- Eat
6:20- Down for Nap
7:00- Wake up
7:30- Eat/Change/Get in PJs
8:20- Down to sleep
9- Wakes up, seems hungry…nurses back to sleep
9:30- Wakes up again, Craig keeps her swaddled & bounces her for about 5 minutes and she goes back to sleep for the night
Everyday really is different, again sometimes her naps are all only 30-45 minutes long and sometimes she pulls out a long nap like she did on this day. Most times at night when we put her down she may wake up once more about 45 minutes later then she is down for good on the second time, but sometimes she goes down for good the first time!
Breastfeeding
I am still exclusively breastfeeding after feeling pretty defeated/frustrated that my baby wouldn’t take a bottle. We tried basically every bottle known to man. I got kind of tired of trying so we stopped but I do want to try again soon. It’s not that I wanted to stop breastfeeding (I don’t want to stop yet) but her being able to take a bottle every now and then would give me a little more freedom to do things away from her for more than a couple hours. Plus I’ve got a crap ton of frozen breastmilk so hopefully she will get to use that at some point! But other than that, breastfeeding has been honestly really easy for us so I feel really fortunate for that. Besides the first week when she had a tongue tie, making it kind of painful for me, everything has been pretty good. I did get mastitis one time after we went to that wedding in Philadelphia in September and I had to be away from her and unable to breastfeed more on demand so I got a clogged duct. Luckily we caught it early so I never got super sick but did have to take a week’s worth of antibiotics.
Another question I got was if I pump at all. Right now I will pump in the morning first thing if Emma is not awake and I’m trying to workout. There’s just no way I could workout with full boobs, lol. Otherwise she will eat and then I will try to pump out the rest to empty. My lactation consultant told me to do that to help balance the oversupply. I don’t really understand how that works but I just listen to the pros 🙂 Other than that I’m not pumping any other time.
Overall I have been working to balance out an oversupply and do feel for the most part it has balanced out just in the last couple of weeks, but I notice a huge difference in my supply based on how much water I’m drinking. So if you’re struggling with supply make sure you’re hydrated! And probably more than you think you need to be. For me I have always been a big water drinker, but now I have to basically triple the amount I need!
I get a lot of questions also about working out/breastfeeding/keeping up supply. I do workout about 6 days a week usually and as I just mentioned have had more issues with an oversupply than not enough…so I haven’t noticed working out has hurt my supply. Everyone is different. But I eat a LOT. I mean breastfeeding makes me so hungry! I feel like I am constantly snacking on something and that’s fine… I know my body needs it to produce milk and especially if I’m working out. I don’t count calories or anything like that but I do try to make sure what I’m eating is of high nutritional value for the most part and I use Emma as incentive for that because I want her to be getting that nutrition. But of course I still have treats and dessert most nights of the week so it’s all just a balance…which really isn’t all that much different from how I ate pre-baby. I also don’t time workouts based on our feeding schedule. I sort of just fit it in whenever I can!
So that’s basically it, not exactly condensed but it’s a lot of info! If you have any questions please feel free to ask in the comments and I’ll answer 🙂
xo,
Bess
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