Aaaaaaaaah! In the past week it feels like I have gotten a total of 8, maybe 10 hours of sleep. My eyes are burning, my mind is numb, yet corny as it sounds, my heart is full. My beautiful and healthy baby daughter Ayla was born after a very difficult labour (an episiotomy, forceps and a vacuum were needed). As a first-time mommy, exhaustion is clinging to my shoulders like a backpack bursting of boulders.
Aside from taking care of my baby, there has been a non-stop barrage of visitors. While my husband and I appreciate the good wishes, I wish we could post a sign on our door which says, “Closed until further notice.” The steady stream of friends and family coming has been wonderful and also wonderfully overwhelming.
As I’m navigating through New Mommy territory (and by new, I mean I’ve never changed a diaper before this), I keep thinking about the pre-natal class I went to which listed the amount of time new parents could expect to spend on basic infant care each day: 15 hours. 15 hours?! I thought my instructor Shannon was exaggerating but sadly she was not.
Here is the breakdown Shannon outlined of how your first few weeks are spent. The following is a worst case scenario and extra time was tacked on to account for the inexperience of some first-time parents.
Feed baby every 2-3 hours
Worst case scenario: 45 min. each feeding = 9 hours/day
Burp baby 24 times a day
Worst case scenario: 10 min. each burp = 4 hours/day
Change diapers 12 times a day
Worst case scenario: 5 min. each change = 1 hour/day
(My husband and I are doing the cloth diaper thing for environmental and economical reasons so this estimate is probably doubled).
Completely change baby’s clothes, your clothes/bedding 2 times a day
Worst case scenario: 30 min. to change = 1 hour/day
Total time for basic infant care: 15 hours
Yowsers! This is not including time needed for cooking and cleaning the house. Forget about any personal time for now. Other parents tell me that it gets easier – I’m clinging to this hope. Thankfully I have a very helpful husband who has had plenty of experience with babies from caring for his younger siblings.
New and experienced parents everywhere, I salute you.
