To ask what you’d expect to achieve housework wise with a small baby?

[findingways]

Baby is a few months old. I am trying (but struggling) to get very much done in the day. I wake up, feed baby straight away, change her into her outfit and then we usually play for a bit as she is very smiley and lively in the mornings. I’ll read or sing some nursery rhymes. I pop her on her playmat which probably gives me about 10 mins to make my breakfast and coffee, eat and drink quickly and maybe pop a quick wash on if I get chance before she wants to be picked up. She will then feed and fall asleep. She will only contact nap on me, or in the car seat/pram sometimes when we are out. She knows when we are at home and doesn’t like to be sleep in her crib in the day. I put her down while I get ready as fast as I can- she usually wakes up and is grizzly by this point as ready for her first nap. We then try and get out the house where she 9/10 times falls asleep. By the time I’m in, it’s change, feed, change again, pop her down briefly to put the washing in the dryer. I then might try and put a second load on but usually she cries then so I stall and don’t achieve this and end up not getting my lunch until 2pm or later, and it’s wolfing down something quick.

Is this just mum life and do I need to lower my expectations of myself? I feel like I should be getting more done, ie cleaning the bathroom down, prepping tea, running the vacuum round, but I don’t seem able to achieve this. You see these videos of people managing to clean their house in their baby’s nap times but I could never do that in the daytime unless someone is here to hold my baby while I do. I’m fortune that she seems to enjoy a longer stretch in the night but this is at bedtime only!

Is it normal or could I be doing anything differently to free myself up some more time?

I did nothing around the house and cuddled them for every nap and whenever they wanted. No regrets.

Could you try a sling for contact naps?

Alternatively, clip her into her buggy and push it back and forth in front of the washing machine til she drifts. They usually like the white noise. Then she might just stay asleep in it for a bit.

Failing that, you do what you can - it already sounds like you do what you can!

I have a sling which she likes but find it tricky to do anything as I can’t safely cook or use cleaning sprays etc near her if that makes sense. She will sleep in the pram providing the pram is constantly moving. 😂

I’m trying to do this but I struggle to not feel a bit stressed when washing up builds and laundry needs putting away

You can buy a little thing that clips onto the pram handle that gently rocks it.

Take her with you to put the laundry away - put a bouncy chair in the hallway between the bedrooms and sing / chat to her as you do it.

same here, op! Now my baby is a bit bigger she is happy facing outward in the baby carrier so I can get a bit of hoovering done occasionally! She slept well in the stretchy sling when she was tiny then started hating it when she was a couple of months old and wanted to look around so I was lucky to shower and eat. It sounds like you have your priorities spot on to me and are doing great

Cleaning can wait. Honestly, focus on baby right now, that's the most important thing she everything else can be dealt with later.
My first was about 5 months old before I had a "good" day, which to me meant putting some fish and chips in the oven before DH got home.

Sounds fairly standard to me, OP! It does become a little easier when you can hold a baby one handedly (confidently). Until then, lower your expectations and enjoy tiny contact naps!

There's no straightforward awnser here as some days are better than others, for any reason - or for no reason at all!

One tip i think is great - is pick 10 things to do or put away at a time. If you're having a hard day, those 10 things could literally be: 1) wash up these 3 cups, 2) wipe down the sink, 3) hang this 1 towel up in the bathroom, 4) take this candle upstairs where it belongs.

If you're having a more productive/better day then you can turn those things into bigger tasks like - 1) hang up this laundry to dry, 2) clean the bath, 3) hoover the downstairs, 4) dust the living room surfaces etc...

You can choose to do those 10 things during nap time, in stealth mode in 10 minutes, throughout the course of a few hours or even the whole day. Or do 10 small things in the morning and 10 in the evening. However it works best.

I like it because often it pushes me to achieve more than I would normally and I feel like I've achieved something once I've done it.

I do think you have to lower your housework expectations for a while but I found that making little changes helped massively. Eg putting a load of washing in he night before, in a timer so it's ready in the morning
Clean the bathroom while baby is in the bath
I also used the organised mum method (I think that's what it's called) for a while and found it great as you really don't spend much more than half hour per day going housework but it's enough to keep on top of it!

At that age, I had days which felt reasonably productive, days which were spent cluster feeding on the sofa, and a range in between. But in general, hardly anything. I was doing well to tidy up after myself at a few months pp.

I managed to get a reasonable amount done but mine would happily play on a playmat while I got example hung up laundry and chatted to them. Food wise I batch cooked and defrosted as needed. Wasn't doing any deep cleans or much in the bathroom but generally keeping on top of it meant it was tidy and clean enough for me. Was out the house a lot at baby groups or long walks so didn't make so much mess. Am probably abnormal though! And find it much harder now they are older and scatter their stuff everywhere and I have to work as well as parent and do housework

Totally normal. Try and enjoy it, OP! You won't ever get this time back. It gets a bit easier after 6 months when they fall more reliably into a 2 nap routine in their own cot and you can use that time to sit on the sofa and enjoy a cuppa by yourself clean / launder etc*. DH took charge of the kitchen and cooking during the week and I just bunged in laundry when I got the chance during the week. At the weekend, we got more done when we could share the baby holding/ cuddles.

*unless you have one like DD2 who at 10months will still only contact nap if I need her to sleep for more than 20mins.

I used to get my baby to go asleep in the pram/buggy by rolling it back and forth inside the house. Then I could just leave them asleep in that for their nap while I got on with some housework

You need to buy a rockit it's bloody amazing it clips onto the pram and when you turn it on it rocks the pram as if you're moving it! Also do t worry what you can't do then it can wait, you'll never get this time back! In the first few months I soent so much time cleaning instead of looking after myself and bonding with DD. My DD is now 9 months and I can do all housework so you'll be able to eventually it's not forever