Day in the life with an 11-week old
My (somewhat) daily routine these days
Last week, on a Thursday, I decided to make a sort-of photo blog of the day’s haps. I’m somewhat fascinated by how other people spend their days, particularly moms of newborns. Are their babies frequently crying? Are they staying calm through it? Did the day stick to a standard routine, or did it veer off course? How did they feel by the end of the day?
This is my attempt to capture — in full honesty — what a day is like around here at this stage of his growth. I almost discarded all of this because he was fussier than “normal,” and actually the next day was pretty much perfect all day long, but it wouldn’t be fair if I shared only the good days. Heeeeeere we go.
The morning: 5:15am - 11am
I woke up with the baby at 5:15 and nursed him back to sleep. This was an earlier time than his typical wake up, which has been more like 6:00 - 6:30, with a final wakeup around 7:15-7:30. Some days I’ll use the extra time for meditation and yoga, some days I use it to sneak in more sleep. Since it was so early, I tried to go back to sleep but couldn’t (womp!) So at 6:15 I was on my meditation pillow. I then gave myself a 30-minute yoga practice before moving to the kitchen to start pumping and preparing his first bottle.
The evening before I had done a “dream feed” for the first time to see if that would delay his first wakeup, and it worked! I gave him 3oz while he was still in lala land at around 10:00. This delayed his first wakeup by about two hours, to almost 2:30. His second wakeup was 5:15.
By 7:30 he was up. Within a few minutes we were in the kitchen, him resting on a play mat while I finished pumping, organized his bottle, then made myself coffee and oatmeal.
At 8:00 he had his first bottle, just under three hours since I nursed him. I have found nursing him overnight is easier than waking up to pump and prep a bottle, but we do bottles during the day through his first night feeding. For the first feed he gets 4oz of breastmilk or breastmilk fortified with formula, depending on how much I was able to pump.
I have no stigma around formula anymore; I just want my baby to be happy and fed. Since switching to bottles I found I can’t pump enough to keep up with his needs, so while the majority of his food is breastmilk, he still gets several ounces of formula per day.
My husband takes the first overnight feeding, so he sleeps in a bit in the mornings and wakes up between 8:30 and 9:00. He takes the baby and gets him to go down for his first nap. Meanwhile, I get myself together for the day.
Early afternoon: 11am-2pm
After the baby wakes from his nap (we usually get about 90 mins to two hours for the first nap), my husband gets ready for his work day and I change the baby and get him dressed. By 11:00 he’s ready for his next bottle. On this day, we got two full hours of napping. I used the time to lay down for a bit given the early wakeup, then do his laundry and clean and sanitize the bottles from the night before.
He was fussy after that feed so I took him outside, which always calms him down.
Once he calmed down I had to find something to do with him for another hour or so before he got tired again (hah!) so we spent some time in his nursery. I read him a book, we played with contrast cards, and did a few minutes of tummy time.
Soon, he was showing signs that he was tired but (as is somewhat typical) struggling to nap. After trying for several minutes to get him to nap in my arms (where I could then hopefully transfer him to his crib) I gave in and put him in a wrap. We walked around the house until he fell asleep. He napped for about an hour, and then it was time for bottle #3 (4.5oz of breastmilk and/or formula) around 2:00. While he napped I pumped, ate lunch, folded his laundry, and cleaned/sanitized his bottles.
Later afternoon: 2pm-5pm
After his bottle it’s time for a walk (and more coffee!). We try to get out for a walk every day as long as weather permits. I have varied the time of day, but found that after the third bottle and before his night feed is our sweet spot. He does not nap well by the second half of the day, and walks usually help him to go down. Unfortunately, today was not that day. He slept for 18 minutes, but was otherwise calm. We were out for about an hour.
After our walk I tried once again to get him to nap, going back to old faithful (the wrap) and walking around our house. This, unfortunately for everyone’s sake, did not work. But, by 5:00 it was time for his evening bottle, 5oz of breastmilk/formula.
Evening: 5pm-7pm
Enter, the witching hour. He was quite fussy after he ate, but it was because he was tired and still refused to nap. He didn’t want to be in the wrap so I held him and walked around the house, which did not calm him down, before taking him outside and slowly walking up and down our block, which did.
We survived that hour together until it was time for a bath at 6:00. He used to hate the bath but now, thankfully, loves it. It’s a great way to calm him down for the evening.
Immediately after the bath, he was fussy again, and by this point very tired. I took him to his room, put him in his pajamz and swaddled him. It took about 15 minutes for him to go down, while I rocked and sang to him. By 6:40, he was out, and I was freeeeee (just kidding, love being a mom).
Once he was down, it was time for me to pump for his dream feed bottle, shower, eat, hang with my husband, and read about a page of a book before getting to sleep because my oh my that first wakeup comes on quick, and one has to be ready to do the whole thing over again the next day.
I will say that with every passing day, his moods become more easy to predict and his napping does seem to be improving (slightly). He’s just not a day napper, but he goes to bed early because of this, and I guess that’s the trade off.
Would loooove to hear how other mamas with babies around this age spend their days. Sound off!
Until next week,
xo - A
I don’t know if it’s a mom thing but I love to read these types of things and birth stories now 😂