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Original poster

How do you find time to read after becoming a mum?

39 replies

Hopefullyhopeful1 · 12/06/2023 19:55

Just that really. I have an 11 month old and work full time. What used to be my favourite hobby has slipped off the radar. When I do manage to get a minute (usually after DC in bed), I struggle to keep my eyes open.

Has anyone managed to keep up their reading after becoming a mum and working full time?

OP posts:
YappyCamper · 12/06/2023 20:46

Honestly, it took me years. Almost a decade.

I tried audiobooks but find them quite hard to concentrate on, and they're just not the same as reading.

I was just so tired, even if I'd had the time I didn't have the energy. The only time I managed if for years was on my commute. Now that my youngest is 11 I have time to read again and have for a few years now

mondaytosunday · 12/06/2023 20:30

I started by reading a chapter before going to sleep. Even if only for ten minutes it helped me feel I could do something just for myself.

ladydiggins · 12/06/2023 20:10

My DD (b 2005) was a demon breastfeeder. I fed her (almost) 24/7 with a book in my hand. I was/am a demon reader.

ThatFraggle · 12/06/2023 20:09

Audible.

justanothermanicmonday1 · 12/06/2023 20:08

I have a 14 month old who's at nursery as me and DP work full time. I read on my lunch break, or an hour after dinner & bath.

stopthejetwashingmadness · 12/06/2023 20:08

I listening to audio books during night feeds but nothing too taxing (and it took ages to read)
Only recently got back into it

Bernadinetta · 12/06/2023 20:07

PinkPlantCase · 12/06/2023 20:07

I listen to audiobooks in the car and when I do housework

Ditto this

whereeverilaymycat · 12/06/2023 20:07

I have the kindle app on my phone and will snatch reading time wherever I can. I'm the only person that doesn't mind when an appointment runs late!
I also consciously choose to read over watching tv etc so I'm always years behind on shows.
I'll also listen to audiobooks when doing stuff around the house, driving any distance etc.
Time to read will come back to you, but possibly at the expense of other things. Fifteen minutes of scrolling can be replaced by a chapter or two. Plus I second heading to bed slightly earlier and make reading time.

PinkPlantCase · 12/06/2023 20:07

I listen to audiobooks in the car and when I do housework

NeverThatSerious · 12/06/2023 20:04

I still read every day, even if not quite as much as I did pre-DS. I tend to read of an evening, after he’s in bed and I’ve tidied up from the day, with a glass of wine or a bottle of beer.

BadgerFace · 12/06/2023 20:02

I try and go to bed half an earlier than I want to go to sleep and read although some days it’s only 10 mins. I used to read on my commute when I first went back to work but in latter years have switched to podcasts. Defo hard when the kids are small!

InTheFutilityRoomEatingBiscuits · 12/06/2023 20:00

I read to the DC. My youngest heard the entire of a song of ice and fire before age one. Audiobooks also good, it’s entirely fine to listen instead of read. I listen whenever I’m in the car, when I go running or exercise class, when I have to nip to the shop. Sometimes on head phones sometimes the dc listen too. I read actual books in the bath and on the loo.

with my first and second DC I would stay up late into the night to read as I had to. I would also read whilst walking/bouncing tired children to sleep.

totallybonafido · 12/06/2023 19:59

My youngest is 4.5 and I've never managed to get back into it for long!

SnapPop · 12/06/2023 19:56

When my DC were very small - no (sorry!). I rediscovered it when my youngest was 3yo.