24 Hours with a New-born (on a good day)

My beautiful baby has just turned 5 weeks old and she literally has taken over our lives. I am constantly looking at the time calculating when she might want a feed next and what that might mean I can get done in that time. I wouldn’t change it for the world, but it it definitely a 24hour full time job.

So here is an account of what a typical 24hrs looks like with my new-born – from midnight to midnight. this is on a good day and she definitely doesn’t always stick to those timing everyday. This is more of a rough account of a typical 24hrs with my baby.

12:30am – baby wakes crying for a feed so I take a moment to see if she is actually hungry or if she will fall back to sleep, but there is no chance of the later. She is definitely hungry. she feeds for about 15-mins before falling asleep. I put her down super slowly hoping that she doesn’t open her eyes because if she does I have to get her to sleep again ands that’s time out of my already limited sleep. By 1am she is back to sleep.

3:30am – its feeding time  again. I roll over and look at my phone because I swear it feels like I’ve only been asleep for 10 mins. I change her nappy first so that she can fall straight asleep after I feed her. Something I learnt in the first week – change the baby before feeding if you want her to sleep straight after.

5:30am – feeding time again. If she goes back to sleep easily by 5:50am I normally try get to the gym for an hour or so. If not then I go back to sleep.

7am – back from the gym and just enough time to eat before she wants to feed again.

7:30am— feeding time and saying bye to daddy for the day.

7:45am – nappy change, wash her face/bum/hands/neck and put some clean clothes on.

8:30am – try to get her to sleep, she has started yawning so I know she needs to sleep. This can take up to 20 mins if she is fighting sleep, which she loves to do.

9am – she sleeps. I tidy the room, wash dishes, cook food for my lunch and dinner for us later on and hopefully I manage to fit in a shower for myself. It’s always a good day if I can shower before Daddy gets home from work.

She can sleep for anywhere between 45 minuites and 3 hours (on a good day).

11:30am – she wakes up, nappy change and feed.

12am get her in the buggy to go for a walk (she sleeps when we go for a walk). I try to get out of the house for a bit everyday. It helps her sleep and my sanity. She normally sleeps for 2-3hours if I walk around for a while, either window shopping or around the park. Once the weather gets a bit warmer this will be a lot easier and nicer to do.

3pm – wake up, change nappy and feed. she normally stays awake for a bit here and doesn’t go off to sleep again until a hour later. she always wants attention, so generally she will be in my arms, ill talk to her and entertain her.

4:15pm – yawning, it must be sleep time again.

4:30pm – she sleeps 🙂

6:30pm – wakes up, change nappy and feed.

7-7:30pm – bath, massage and put warm clothes on and wrap her up in a blanket ready for bed.

8pm – she wants food again, feeding time.

8:15pm – try to get her to sleep. She sleeps.

10:30pm – she wakes, nappy change and feed then straight back to sleep.

12:30 – she wakes for her feed.

Like I said this is typically a good day. She can wake every hour in the night and has done, or she can sleep a bit longer in the night or day(as I write this she has been asleep for 3 hours already and isn’t showing signs of waking up). She is only 5 weeks old and I am still debating when I will try to introduce a routine or if I will just go with her flow. Most people recommend a routine after 6-8weeks, so I might do some research and see what I think is best.

Any mums out there have an opinion or advice on introducing a routine with a baby? Comment and let me know.