Welcoming a new member of the family is such a special moment in every home. It’s so exciting to finally meet the tiny human you’ve been growing in your belly for nine months. At first you spend almost all of your time resting and recovering with your baby. But before long you know you need to get back to a routine. In fact you start to crave the productivity of which you were once capable. But how do you get back to homemaking with a newborn?
Rest is momentary, necessary, and then it’s back to work. But how do you go about managing you household when you have a little baby in your arms 24/7? What do you do when they will not sleep when you put them down? As a mother of five little ones (my oldest just turned 7!) here’s what I’ve learned about homemaking with a newborn. I hope there’s something here that helps you on your journey raising your own children.
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Be Patient
This is what I tend to struggle with the most. Honestly, I’m quite the busy body and staying still too long drives me a bit nuts. However, over the years I’ve learned to slow down. Your baby will fall into a sleep/wake cycle, a feeding routine etc. The days will begin to be more predictable and this time really does go by way too fast.
Set small, reasonable goals for the day that account for the many interruptions you’ll have throughout. Especially when you first start getting back into your homemaking duties, start small. You are still healing after all, keep things very simple and small until you are at least six weeks post partum. Don’t overdue it! Which brings us to the next point.
Make loose daily schedules
Fill out a daily planner every day. I like the hour by hour ones because they really help me to see how much time I have in a day, which you need when homemaking with a newborn. Keep in mind around when your baby will be awake, eating and sleeping. By doing this you keep yourself on track. I don’t know about you, but the baby brain never goes away. And the lack of sleep doesn’t help either. Do yourself a favor and make a daily plan so you’re not running around like a headless chicken.
Don’t worry if you can’t finish a task all in one sitting. Folding and putting away the laundry is certainly one of those things that may take you a bit longer to finish up in this season of life. That’s okay! Account for interruptions in your planning.
Here’s how I like to plan:
Write a list of three things that need to be done. Think of things that don’t happen every day. Like washing the sheets, making yogurt or baking bread. You can also add in things like sowing seeds, harvesting crops, canning… Whatever is going on in your life that doesn’t happen every day of the year. But list only three things! Don’t overdue it.
Then look at your daily planner and see what times would be best for accomplishing those tasks. Plan to have breaks in between each one too, especially if you’re baby is cluster feeding like mine love to do.
From there, the next biggest hurdle getting back into a routine after giving birth is feeding your family from scratch meals everyday.
For more on productivity as a mother check out this post.
How to prepare three meals a day from scratch with a baby
You know you need to feed your family three times a day every day, but that can be more challenging when you throw a baby into the mix. Especially a baby who does not like to be put down.
Making a daily meal plan will help you have easier days and save money by reducing the temptation to buy takeout.
Prep whatever you can in advance. We love making overnight oats or breakfast casseroles around here because they make for such easy mornings. Then for lunch we typically have leftovers followed by a big dinner (so there will be more leftovers for lunch the next day).
Pick simple dinner recipes that you can start earlier in the day, anything in the crockpot or instant pot, or use the delay bake setting on your oven. You can also make ahead sauces, chop vegetables, mix up spices, make rice (we eat a lot of rice in our household). Whatever you can do while your baby is sleeping, whether in the bed or baby carrier (a must have for homemaking with a newborn), will make your life so much easier when the twilight hours come on.
If you’ve got multiple kids, you know the hour when dinner rolls around can be the most stressful part of the day. You’re exhausted from the days work and now you’ve got a gaggle of hangry kids running around you.
But… You knew this would happen so you prepared dinner during nap time and now you can calmly instruct your kids to wash up and prep the dinner table while the food finishes up. So much less stress!
Ask For Help
You do not need to do everything on your own. When your husband is home from work ask him to help with something specific. Enlist the help of family or close friends when in the very early weeks with your newborn. If you have older kids, have them hold the baby for a couple of minutes while you work on something. Or, get them involved more in the running of the household.
Teaching your kids how to do chores will make the newborn phase easier down the road.
Pray daily for the patience and strength of mind that raising kids demands. This is not an easy journey, there will be more than one frustrating moment. You need all the help you can get, so pray often.
Cherish this season with your baby
With the business of life and the desire to be a productive super mom you can miss out on a lot of little moments with your baby. When we had our first, I remember being told to cherish this time with our son. However, I seemed to always be looking toward the future and not embracing the moment. Now we have five kids and I can’t believe how fast time has flown. Each of my babies gets bigger every day, nothing like the little five and six pounders they were born as.
While you can’t dedicate 100% of your attention on one child every day, set aside one on one time with each of your kids as often as possible. Give them hugs and kisses, especially while they don’t protest them. 🙂 Let them know you love them, and take time to slow down to be with them.
Your son or daughter is a beloved spirit child of Heavenly Parents. Love them as Christ loves them, rear them in a way that honors Him. Heavenly Father has entrusted His precious children to you, do your best and pray a lot.
Homemaking with a newborn can be challenging but you’ve got this, you’re doing better than you think 💕
Happy homemaking 😊
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