You have to feed your newborn every 2/3 hours 24/7; not every 2/3 hours after they finish feeding. So if you feed your baby at 12pm and it takes them 30 minutes to finish feeding, you still have to feed them again at 2pm, not 2:30pm.
You are supposed to nap when they nap. But when they go down, you have to clean up after yourself and your newborn. And there is stuff to do. Maybe you have to wash a bottle and your pumps on top of everything. You don't want to fall back on that because it'll pile up and be more work later or you will run out of clean things to use when your baby is crying. You have to brush your teeth, pee, feed yourself, etc. [While you were trying to do that, you didn't have enough time to wash your face. Priorities. Your teeth are clean, face can wait until next time. Haha half kidding.] Baby needs a diaper change in between! Now you only have a little time left until the next feeding. And ....baby is up. Your time has expired. Time to get ready for next feeding 5 seconds ago. Don't forget to do skin to skin sometime today too.
As I'm doing all this, I need to write down the times of everything when it happens because you will loose track of when you feed your baby, etc. 8:30am will lead to 9:10am and if you don't write down at 8:30 that you fed her, it could screw it up. You will forget if you don't write it down. An easy "8:30am" can be difficult to remember while you're juggling everything. If you feed your baby again a little late, by then your newborn may already be fussy. To avoid your baby being fussy because they are hungry, if you wrote down "8:30am" and remembered when the last feed was, it may have been prevented.
Ok baby is down [sleeping] again. Oh what - you need to run a load of laundry because your baby spit up? Ok add that to the next break too. ;] Oh darn, I'm getting tired because I didn't nap when baby napped. Oh, diapers are running low so you need to open up a new box. Ok, I can do that while I hold my newborn. Don't forget to schedule your own dentist appointment and your baby's pediatrician appointment [everyday life stuff]. I mean, I just do it right then and there at the office, but maybe your baby was fussy or since you were at the doctor's office for an hour, it cut into the feeding time so you had to feed your baby because your baby started crying at the end of the visit. Ok, wait I have to poo now. Let's get the ipad so we can watch the baby on the baby cam or if the baby is awake, bring the baby nearby so I can watch the baby while I ... poo. Sometimes your baby will sleep for 3 hours and sometimes you have to sooth your baby after changing their diaper mid nap so you werent able to get anything done because after you sooth them they are hungry again.
That load is done already!? Now you need to put it in the dryer. Baby was asleep, but is fussy so you need to attend to baby before your 2 hours, lol. Just hold your newborn, and baby is ok. Don't forget - I'm trying to pump every 2/3 hours minimum. After every pump or feeding, I put soothing gels on my boobs and switch them out at least twice. Multitasking, I tell ya. When I'm done with that, I put on nipple cream very often. Then it's already time to feed her again. And don't forget about your best friend's birthday coming up! Don't be late in getting her gift online and scheduling that massage with her. And it's time for you to eat again, but it'll have to wait. So I funnel some Skittles into my mouth. ;P
I get a lot done from 3/4-7/8am, LOL. I call it the graveyard shift.
Ok, that's not even all of it. That was just a quick 6 hours in the 24 hours you are on call with your newborn. :] But I have energy from my baby. It can be hectic, but of course you have your down time!! My baby sleeps a lot so it helps me tremendously to keep everything in order. It's a busy time fo' sho', but it's a wonderful time. Spending time with your baby, watching the baby smile at you [or was the baby just looking at you? lol], talking to your baby - everything is priceless and sooooo worth it! You are filled with such indescribable joy! Loving, holding, soothing your baby while they're sleeping and awake is priceless. Time flies and your newborn will not be a newborn soon...
You want to know how I do it? And write on this blog, reply to my phone and emails and phone calls, take pictures of her everyday and post them on Instagram, organize my photos and upload them to a book?, etc. - I don't sleep that much, lol. But since I don't sleep that much, everything is in order. Haha.
I can't power nap so that's bad. Or maybe I haven't learned/mastered it just yet! When I sleep or nap, I go for a long time. And when I wake up, I can't go back to sleep!! I've always been like that all my life.
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