Is is true? moms have no time?

[bump_wanted]

i had a very well behaved newborn baby he slept ALL the time fed like clockwork every 4 hours hardly ever cried etc etc but your life is gonna change and wont go back to normal like you know it now but you get a new normal which is so much better though you are tied down in a way because your not just planning for yourself you obviously need to make provisions for your baby. over time you become an expert at splitting yourself into 100 and eventually manage to get most of the things done in one day and sometimes even manage to cuddle your OH but then LO's routine changes and you need to start again lol xxx

 

[aob1013]

When i was pregnant, people kept telling me how awful this would be, how i would always be tired, how i would never have time to myself, how i would never shower, how this and that it would be. My experience has been totally the opposite .. i still do everything i want, of course i tend to Leni as and when he needs it, but my life isn't really that different, it's a different type of different/normal kwim? .. infact it's got better!

 

[Hayley90]

I am pleased to say i am one of the lucky ones, with a very placid baby who only cries when he is hungry - even then he grunts for a while, most people never hear him cry!! He sleeps well, doesnt have any real issues with wind/reflux etc. He poos every 2 days around the same time!!!! And is so relaxed, he doesnt need me at all - anyone could get him to sleep. He smiles at everything, and will quite happily sit on the sofa watching me race around cleaning everything. He sleeps through 8 hours, and first did this at 3 weeks. At worst he will wake me up at 1am then go straight to sleep until 7.30/8am. I am used to haveing 6-8 hours sleep max, it is more than enough for me!

My problem, is that i like sitting with him, talking to him, taking pictures... washing up, hoovering etc gets put on a backburner!!

Its amazing, regardless of how difficult you find it. For once, i do not care that my hair isnt clean today, because Harrison is smiling at me. I will shower at midnight like i did yesterday!!

 

[MissRhead]

I thought pregnancy was hard work no no no lol
the hard work starts the moment you give birth, your life revolves around caring for that little baby so anything you have to do for yourself has to be done quick time! I'm used to eating cold meals having greasy hair and stinking lol
but tbh all of the hard work is nothing compared to the love and happiness you get from them x

 

[lucy_x]

yes they sleep, but they also require cuddling, a majority of the time.

 

[MissBroody]

Newborns sleep a lot, but small chunks. When they're asleep you need to be doing washing, cleaning, sterilising and making up bottles, you will no doubt get a load of visitors who always seem to come when baby is sleeping. When baby is sleeping its good to nap as you'll be up a lot in the night. For the first few weeks after birth I was exhausted, in agony from stitches and I was breastfeeding and felt my baby was permanently attached to me. He was also a bit of a bugger to get to sleep so spent a long time rocking and shhing. Then in the nights he had colic. Then there's the housework to do while they're asleep because when they're awake you have no chance. You'll get midwife and health visitor visits for the first 2 weeks or so and you have to be up and ready to greet them. I remember going out for the first time when he was 3 days old to pop to the shop for vests - I had no make up on, my hair hadnt been washed in a week and I went out in my pyjama top LOL. Seriously, til your baby is here its unimaginable. I never imagined it to be this hard!!
xx

 

[ouchwithNo.2]

they are all different, my first was a pain. Slept half hour, awake for 2 and so on.
This one is a breeze. From day one slept 3hrs straight, always went down. At 6wks she slept 10.30pm to 6.30am and has done ever since. Thats 8hrs for us.
Her day sleep is good, a 3 or 4hr stretch which I do find dull as all jobs get done then.
Im lucky BUT if I needed to nap when she did I couldnt/wouldnt. I cant day sleep, I wake grumpy and feeling 1000 times worse.

 

[Buffy71]

You dont understand it until baby arrives. But you wont care because you'll have your gorgeous little baby. Sounds silly - but its true!!

 

[NG09]

When i was pregnant, people kept telling me how awful this would be, how i would always be tired, how i would never have time to myself, how i would never shower, how this and that it would be. My experience has been totally the opposite .. i still do everything i want, of course i tend to Leni as and when he needs it, but my life isn't really that different, it's a different type of different/normal kwim? .. infact it's got better!

Yeah, I don't understand peple saying theres no time to shower etc, I still manage to get showered, hair done and make up on every morning

 

[moomoo]

When i was pregnant, people kept telling me how awful this would be, how i would always be tired, how i would never have time to myself, how i would never shower, how this and that it would be. My experience has been totally the opposite .. i still do everything i want, of course i tend to Leni as and when he needs it, but my life isn't really that different, it's a different type of different/normal kwim? .. infact it's got better!

Yeah, I don't understand peple saying theres no time to shower etc, I still manage to get showered, hair done and make up on every morning

you're obviously one of the lucky ones then! Good for you!!

 

[Lara310809]

I thought that I was tired during pregnancy, but that was a joke compared to this. But during pregnancy you can catch up on your sleep; when you have the baby there, you can't.

Babies may start off by sleeping aorund 16 hours (if you're lucky enough to have a textbook baby; some babies sleep a lot less), but they may only sleep in 20 minute chunks. While they're awake they're demanding, and you have to be around them. When they sleep it's your job to catch up with the housework, wash bottles (if you FF), prepare for when they wake up.

They say you shoudl try to sleep when they sleep, but how can you when there is so much that needs to be done. And that's just trying to maintain a decent home, that's not even thorough cleaning. And then there's the family and friends that pop over for a coffee, when all you want to do is sleep. Then there's the lying awake at night because while your baby is sleeping, you can't, no matter how tired you are. Things don't stop just because the baby does.

And yes, you are very tied down with a baby; everything changes. You can't just pop out anymore, you have to juggle getting the baby ready around their naps, getting their changing bag ready, feeding them, then finally taking them out. There's a shop over the road from me; literally 20 metres from my house, and I would look at it longingly when I ran out of Diet Coke, because they sold it, but I found it so hard to get there.

 

[gills8752]

I honestly haven't noticed all that much difference. I manage fine to have an hour or two to my self most days, all my housework and washing is done. My lo sleeps for an hour - hour and half at lunchtime so I get plenty of time to sit and relax. I dont have issues with leaving the house at a moments notice, just bung a few nappies in the bag and off i go.
But I breastfeed so I don't have the bottles to sort out. I don't have a routine - everything I do is baby led with feeding/sleeping/playing etc. In fact, my lo is fast asleep and I've been surfing the net for the last hour lol

 

[RinnaRoo]

I was totally naive about it all. I thought BF was gonna be totally easy and natural. It wasnt. I was like Ooh hes not gonna have colic and cry all crazy. He does. And for some strange reason, I thought I was gonna be better on the house work. Im not.
Its hard, and its not at all what I expected.
But I must say, its the most rewarding, jumbled up mess of a job Ive ever had.

 

[bumptobe29]

ohh i love this thread. my lo is 2 weeks 5 days and i thought pregnancy was tiring!! i moaned and groaned all the way through pregnancy and wanted him here asap. now i wish i was pregnant again!! like someone else said, when pregnant atleast u can catch up on sleep that u miss, with a baby there ur life, is now their life. what ever they need, u get them, no matter how tired/sick/hungry/smelly/need the loo!!!! i love my lo to bits and truely its all worth it, but i find it difficult to find time to pop to the loo at the moment!! i honestly dont know how single moms cope, and big ups to them for doing it. im practically standing at the door waiting for hubby to walk in, just so i can lock myself in the kitchen to make dinner and have 5 minutes of non baby led time to keep my sanity!!! all worth it tho but nothing compares!! x

 

[bumptobe29]

oh and as for them sleeping for 16 hours a day, i swear thats a frikkin joke some health care professional must have made up at some point!! unless u have a very placid baby, my little man sleeps about 5 hours a day, and in short sharp half hour bursts!! x

 

[aliss]

Not being able to sleep when pregnant (ie having to pee 6x a night, sore hips) is totally different than not being able to sleep with a baby. When you are pregnant, your body doesn't want to sleep - with the baby, your body DOES want to sleep but you aren't allowed. Being kept awake by someone else is so much worse than when your body won't go to sleep.

And yes, newborns sleep up to 16 hours per day (well, not mine, he had colic), BUT, that's every other hour or so, not 8 hours straight LOL. By the time your exhausted butt gets back into the bed to sleep, the baby is awake and the merry-go-round starts up again!!

With a colic baby, I had to wear him in a sling just to go to the bathroom in my own house!!!

 

[Seity]

My baby only slept in 30 min increments and needed to eat every two hours. So at first it was diaper change, feed, diaper change, get baby to sleep, get a few minutes sleep myself, repeat. Thankfully my OH is the cook or I would have starved and his mom came for the first month and helped with the cleaning.

 

[ellie]

I used to get annoyed at everyone keeping on about how I should get loads of sleep now because I never would again ....
they were right lol!

whoever states as a general fact ' newborns sleep 16 / 18 hours' is a liar I believed it too, I really wanted to believe it! Yes they might sleep frequently, but not a lot. Your whole daily life becomes about them, not about you. When you finally manage to get them to nap, you then have to choose ... do I sleep too? Or do I have a shower / wash my face / eat or drink something / go to the loo / answer the phone / cook tea etc ... by the time youve decided, theyre awake screaming again and you're either stuck to the sofa for 2 hours feeding them, or doing bottles
Its a pretty steep learning curve ... I had 36 years of doing just what I wanted and I didnt think things would change! We brought LO home from hospital and he slept 5 hours - I thought 'this is alright, I can cope with this, I dont know what they are all on about' ... then he's hardly ever done it since

But you get sort of used to it, you get used to cold tea, soggy (or nonexistent) food, sleep deprivation! Its amazing

 

[Sam9kids]

Ha ha im not commenting on this one!!!!!

Clearly it can't be that bad.

Either that or im just plain stupid!!! i hardly get time to fart!!!

 

[Jchihuahua]

Nearly 9 months on and I still have next to no sleep, am permanently exhausted and don't get half as much done as I want!

When she was a newborn and I was breastfeeding almost every second she was awake I rarely even got time to pee!