Back to work morning routine

amye02 · February 2016

I was lucky to get 8 weeks paid (in the US it's pretty good). This is my last week home though and I need to get a morning routine going with DS. Any moms who are back to work have suggestions for mornings?

megs416 · February 2016

I went back to work last week and we are still trying to find our morning routine. Luckily, I have flexibility with what time I arrive at work, but I know everyone is not this fortunate. Right now, my DS wakes up around 5 am for a feeding and goes back to sleep until about 730. DS usually hangs out on our bed while I get ready for work. Typically, i shower at night so i can save time in the morning. I eat breakfast, feed DS again around 830 and am usually out the door around 9. Some mornings things took a lot longer, which resulting in me leaving closer to 930. I have a 30 to 40 minute commute.

Luckily, my husband works from home. Our DS stays home with him and various family members help out with baby duty during the day. This keeps me from having to add a day care drop off to my morning routine.

I would love to hear what everyone else is doing in the morning and their experiences going back to work.

ramfam2507 · February 2016

This is my last week home also, I go back next Monday. This whole week I'm "trying out" what my morning routine will be. I learned to shower at night with DD five years ago, makes things way easier. I'm setting my alarm for 6am and getting dressed, makeup on, nursing DS, getting pump ready, and handing him off to my mom (we're living with my parents right now due to my douchebag husband). Since we're at my moms, it will hopefully make the transition easier next Monday. Good luck to everyone going back!

phillipsbr · February 2016

I was hoping to see a million replies on here with ideas because I need some too! I get up super early, have a 40-min commute, and have to be at work around 7:15. What I'm thinking might work best for me since I'm breastfeeding is do his last feed around 3-4 like usual and then pump when I used to get up around 5 and have a bottle ready for him when he wakes up whether that's with my husband or our caregiver. That would be in a perfect world though

amye02 · February 2016

Well, my first "practice morning" was a failure. I set my alarm for 6 but DS was up to feed at 5 then I fell back to sleep. This is going to be harder than I planned. Help. Why can't Starbucks deliver?

twilliams145 · February 2016

I go back to work in 2 weeks so I need to get my morning routine figured out as well. Goal for this week is to actually wake up earlier! I've started wearing my jawbone fitness tracker again because it has an alarm that makes it vibrate, only waking me up and not DS1 or DS2 who both sleep in our room. I want to be ready before waking them up. Looking forward to hearing what everyone else has had luck with.

chewie5990 · February 2016

I haven't gone back to work yet but whenever I've had to wake up early for appointments I've got up showered and completely ready before waking DS up to breastfeed and then I get him changed and ready and we leave. I plan on doing the same for when I go back to work..I'm a teacher so I don't have any flexibility when it comes to start time so I'm just going to plan on getting to work 30 minutes early in hopes I end up there before my students.

teachmegs817 · February 2016

I go back next Thursday. Before LO, I was up by 5:30-5:45 and out the door by 7:00 to get to work by 7:15. DS has been waking up sometime between 4-6 for his last nightly feeding I call it, which is good because It then has me up and I will probably not go back to bed after this feeding. I've been trying to keep myself up 1-2 times a week after his 4-6 time frame to get my body used to the adjustment. If he's more towards the 6 am end, that's what is going to make things tricky. DH gets up at 6, he needs to be to work by 7:30 and I don't want to get to work any later than 7:45. My mom is watching DS when I go back to work and I told her that we need her at our house at 7:00, 7:15 the latest. The good thing is, I am a pretty good morning person. If 4-4:30 becomes my new wake up time during the week, I should be okay.

Some things that I am planning on doing, and usually did before LO arrived was have my lunch prepared before hand, clothes set out on the dresser, and take my shower the night before. I'm also trying to get majority of the house cleaning done on the weekend and leaving only light duties during the week. My hope is with the 4-5 hours left during each weekday that we have with DS before bedtime, that it's not being spent running around cleaning, organizing, and preparing for the next day.

ATolentino89 · February 2016

Get everything as prepared as you can. I have the diaper bag/pump bag/purse packed except the BM that I put in that morning. Here's my routine: We get up at 6. Hubs showers while I nurse baby. Even if he just ate I top him off. Then I shower while DS sleeps and/of hubs watches him. I get ready while DS has his morning chill time/sleep. If he's really grumpy I stick him on the boppy and nurse while I do my makeup. He's pretty good about letting me get ready then we pretty much snuggle until we leave at 8:15. I drop DS off at daycare at 8:30 and am at work by 9

Bubbz · February 2016

Do eeeverything the night before that you can. My lunch and bags are packed and ready to go. I get up at six, assuming he hasn't woken me up beforehand. :P I get dressed, make my oatmeal, and eat while nursing. Ideally, I don't drop food on the baby. Change his diaper if I need to, then off we go. (I'll often change his clothes the night before, and then he wears whatever he slept in to daycare, haha.)

ATolentino89 · February 2016

I have totally dropped food on the baby.

KRH6829 · February 2016

I'm lucky to still have some time off with DD, but as others said, showering at night is a huge help. I learned this pretty quickly with DS two years ago. You mostly just have to worry about getting dressed and then spend the rest of the time getting your kiddo(s) ready.

Holdmomma · February 2016

amye02 said:
Why can't Starbucks deliver?

I can't tell you how many times I have thought that lately.

Definitely showering at night when I go back. With my first it just sort of worked itself out. DS is an early riser so he sat in the bouncy seat in the bathroom while I got ready. Now that I have a willful 3 year old that stalls every time we leave the house I'm even more stressed. I will be getting DH to help in any way that I can.

A couple things I learned with DS...

Diaper bag packed, shower and lunches done at night. Bottle in the AM since feedings can be done quickly and by DH if it works. Also you will be carrying a lot of gear to the car in the morning (kids, diaper bag, lunch, purse or work bag). Have your husband or partner load up the car before you leave to you are just in charge of yourself and baby.

dmendo01 · February 2016

I am the worst morning person so I am dreading this. I go back in 3 weeks. I don't have to be there until 8:30 and DH doesn't have to be at work til 9 so we both have to leave at 8 (he's taking DD to sitter). I commend your trial runs bc I am trying to squeeze in all the sleep I can in the next few weeks. I'll scramble around when I have to ha. But my plan is to give DD a pumped bottle in the morning bc she takes it so much faster than me feeding her. And I will pump. I've always showered night before to save time (never have been a morning person!) and I'm hoping DH will help me with her since he takes about 10 mins to get ready!

caketimes · February 2016

I am dreading the return to work, I go back on leap year! I'll definitely have to do more prep in the evening. LO will be staying with DH for the first 11 weeks, then we'll need to find childcare. I want to start to practice the schedule, so in the next few weeks we're going to be sleep training and moving towards more highly scheduled days and nights. How I will get there is a question I have yet to answer. If there are any suggestions for how to get the baby on a schedule, that would be great! I'm going to surf the feeds to see if any already exist.

Court11152325 · February 2016

I go back to on campus teaching Feb 16. Fortunately I only teach from 11-1:45 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I've had to go in already for meetings and what not here and there and I've learned that it now takes me double the amount of time to get ready. DD usually wakes around 6-6:15, so I'll probably just get up with her now. Feed, eat breakfast, shower, pump and give her what I pump. I'm lucky that I don't need to get to campus until 10, but she's been pretty consistent at eating from 6:30-7:15 and again at 9:15-10. So having to take that into account is tough.

megs416 · February 2016

So I have learned a few things after my first full week at work.

1. Don't forget to take your pump to work with you if you plan to pump during the work day. I actually had to leave work early after forgetting it.

2. My baby is always willing to eat, even if it is a little bit earlier than his preferred time. This really helps me get out of the door on time.

3. Eating a grab and go breakfast in the car cuts down on my morning prep time.

4. Every morning is different and sometimes you just have to go with it. Getting up early is hard and leaving my baby is even harder. However, there is a sense of normalcy that comes with returning to work. It reminded me that while my whole world has been turned upside in the best way possible, the outside world just kept moving forward. Also, people tend to cut you a little slack after having a newborn.

Best of luck to everyone returning to work over the next couple of weeks!

JulieK79 · February 2016

I go back in 3 weeks and am having anxiety about how my morning will go getting out of the house on time. DD doesn't have a consistent time she wakes up so I feel like I may just have to go with whatever happens for awhile. Some days my toddler leaves the house without a problem. Sometimes he becomes very stubborn and all of the sudden doesn't want to go anywhere and that adds 10 minutes to the morning process. A friend said she pumps in the car on the way to work which I'm fascinated by and thinking about trying since I'm a teacher and will have limited time to pump until lunchtime.

Oh! And a staff meeting has just been added for the day I come back so I have to be there 30 minutes earlier than normal. Ah!!!!!

Glad to see I'm not alone in worrying about this.

Knottie67744546 · February 2016

I have roughly 30 min commute,We get up at 6:30 am ish i take a shower at night, lay out my clothes (or just think about it and I know where it is) and babies clothes. 6:30 am ish: We cosleep so when I get up I immediately change his diaper, wipe him down with a warm towel or baby wipe (especially under his neck) change his onesie. DH watches him while I go brush my teeth and wash my face, I do a simple 5 min makeup routine, throw my clothes on, DH warms the car and we head out. Usually out by 7am

kaylanpolk · February 2016

I've been back to work for about a week now and it's not joke. I have to pack my lunch the night before. LO usually wakes up at around 5 (30 minutes before my alarm, thank you) and I nurse him. Then I make a bottle to leave for my husband so I can get ready and not worry about my sleepy stressed husband struggling to get a bottle for a crying baby when he next wakes up. Ha. I am usually ready to go around 6:30 and I have a 40 ish minute commute so I pump in the car on my way to work (I swear if I ever get pulled over I will die). With setting up and putting away the pump in the car I usually get to work shortly before 7:30. it seems to be working for us so far.

Knottie67744546 · February 2016

kaylanpolk said:

I've been back to work for about a week now and it's not joke. I have to pack my lunch the night before. LO usually wakes up at around 5 (30 minutes before my alarm, thank you) and I nurse him. Then I make a bottle to leave for my husband so I can get ready and not worry about my sleepy stressed husband struggling to get a bottle for a crying baby when he next wakes up. Ha. I am usually ready to go around 6:30 and I have a 40 ish minute commute so I pump in the car on my way to work (I swear if I ever get pulled over I will die). With setting up and putting away the pump in the car I usually get to work shortly before 7:30. it seems to be working for us so far.

How does that work? Ur pump connects to the car? What do you do at a red light?

ATolentino89 · February 2016

You can use a breastfeeding cover so people won't really know what your doing. And a lot of pumps have battery packs or you can plug them into the car

kaylanpolk · February 2016

Knottie67744546 said:

kaylanpolk said:

I've been back to work for about a week now and it's not joke. I have to pack my lunch the night before. LO usually wakes up at around 5 (30 minutes before my alarm, thank you) and I nurse him. Then I make a bottle to leave for my husband so I can get ready and not worry about my sleepy stressed husband struggling to get a bottle for a crying baby when he next wakes up. Ha. I am usually ready to go around 6:30 and I have a 40 ish minute commute so I pump in the car on my way to work (I swear if I ever get pulled over I will die). With setting up and putting away the pump in the car I usually get to work shortly before 7:30. it seems to be working for us so far.

How does that work? Ur pump connects to the car? What do you do at a red light?

I use batteries in my pump and a nursing cover. I just... Don't make eye contact at red lights. Haha

rzaremba · February 2016

Just curious, any of you car pumpers use the Freemie? I have about a 45 minute commute and if it works it sounds like a good use of time!

heatherkennedy021 · February 2016

I've been back to work for 3 weeks and I definitely say get as much done the night before. I make LO formula for daycare in a large water jug and put it in the fridge. I make sure her clothes are out and diaper bag packed for daycare. I shower at night as well. I wake up between 4:40&5 depending on LO last feeding and get myself together and dressed for work. Then I get LO dressed,changed and fed. Then I pass her off to hubby at 6 so I can make it to work by 6:40. Hubby normally takes her to daycare between 6:30 and 8 depending on his day. I will say I rarely eat breakfast at home I either grab a biscuit from Hardee's or a granola bar as I'm running out the door. But sleep is precious and I will soak up every minute I can get.

JLS12JSP · February 2016

Agreed with all the PP's! I would suggest cutting out naps during the day since you can't while back at work. Also, I gave up quickly on showering every day. I only wash my hair every other day anyways so every other day showers it is! Also, DS starting sleeping through the night (amazing!) but is now waking up around 630 which means I have to wake up by 530 to get ready and hope he doesn't wake up early. How in the world do you ladies get ready in the morning when your LO one is awake and DH isn't home? My DS isn't really content unless he's getting your full on attention.

kaylanpolk · February 2016

rzaremba said:

Just curious, any of you car pumpers use the Freemie? I have about a 45 minute commute and if it works it sounds like a good use of time!

I have never heard of it but a quick Google search and it looks... Problematic. Haha. What if it gets full?

thatgirlree24 · February 2016

kaylanpolk said:

rzaremba said:

Just curious, any of you car pumpers use the Freemie? I have about a 45 minute commute and if it works it sounds like a good use of time!

I have never heard of it but a quick Google search and it looks... Problematic. Haha. What if it gets full?

I just googled it too haha but the reviews sound really good. Now I'm curious to see how many on here have this pump?

ATolentino89 · February 2016

JLS12JSP said:

. How in the world do you ladies get ready in the morning when your LO one is awake and DH isn't home? My DS isn't really content unless he's getting your full on attention.

My LO will lay on the bed in front of me or I prop him up in his boppy and he will play/talk to me. This is when I put on my make-up and throw my hair in an updo.

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