How do you manage your morning routines with a baby (nursery run, work...)

[dodi1978]

Hi,

DS has got his first couple of days at nursery this week. He loves it and I have stopped crying (ahem, mostly).

My question is - how do you manage your morning routines to make it to nursery as early as possible? My nursery opens at 8am and I aim to be there as early as I possibly can, although my work is quite flexible... I don't have a fixed start time, unless I am teaching or have a meeting early in the morning. But the earlier I start, the earlier I can have my young man back...

On our first two runs this week, I made it in at 9 am on day 1 and 8.45 on day 2... and would like to bring this forward.

So how do you manage this?

I am getting up with my husband at 5.20 - shower, then get as much housework done as possible as well as own breakfast.

Get young man up at 6.30 at the latest (during the last two days he woke up himself at the right time).

Bottle (problem is, he wants to play in the morning, so it takes a while to get even half of it down).

Breakfast about an hour later (this is the pattern from my maternity leave, but maybe I can shorten the break between bottle and breakfast). The quickest breakfast is Weetabix, but I don't want to do this every day. He also likes semolina, toast fingers, pancakes... but this takes so much time!)

Get both of us into day clothes (definitely NOT before breakfast, ahem!)

Run out of the door...

I don't really know how I can manage to do this quicker.... any suggestions? After Easter I want to start cycling to nursery / work as well, so that will take even longer.

Can ds not have breakfast at nursery? Milk will fill him up until then. How old is ds is he d enough to hold his win bottle in the car on the way?

How old is he? If he's not that interested in his morning bottle maybe it's time to drop it? My ds dropped it very early. Then the nursery could give him his late morning bottle/snack instead. Or what about giving it to him in cup and then he can drink it when he wants unsupervised. I was worried about him not getting enough milk when ds dropped it so used the weetabix/porridge to top it up.
Could he have breakfast at nursery? We've got ds having breakfast at the childminders now so dh has more time in the morning to walk the dog as he was finding it hard to fit everything in.

My dh does the morning routine, luckily, so no real tips. But no housework is done in the morning which would save lots of time. I pack his bag , have clothes ready etc for childminder the night before.

Does your nursery offer breakfast? My DS has his there and I also have my breakfast at work (not possible for everyone I realise).

Make sure your DSs nursery bag, including sterilised milk bottles etc is all packed by the front door, or better still, already in the car.

Have yours and DSs clothes laid out the night before

Don't bother so much with housework, do the absolute essentials but leave it there. Annoying as it is, relaxing your housework standards saves on a lot of time.

Breakfast at nursery

I would do
7am wake baby and give bottle
7.15am change nappy and get dressed
7.30/45 leave

Don't do housework in morning. Pack bags at night. Wake yourself at 6.30 and that gives 30 mins to shower and get ready. I would just eat a banana and tea maybe yourself and have breakfast at work

Surely you don't need to get up at 5.20am?! That's 70 mins before you wake your son. You don't need to do housework every day? Blitz it once a week :)

Agree. Nursery should be giving him breakfast, not you. He just needs milk. (how old is is he?) Bottle of milk whilst you're eating your breakfast. You need to multitask more!

I can get little one to nursery for 7.30am, getting both of us up at 6.30am (nursery is 15mins drive away)

Do the housework in the evening. Get dressed after your shower. If you are worried about getting your clothes dirty put on a dressing gown over your clothes. Let DS wake when he wakes and give him breakfast or a bottle and aim to be out the door half an hour after he wakes. How far away is his nursery?

Agree with others that you are all getting up far too early when you don't need to.

Same thing as other posters suggested.

Our DD has breakfast at nursery (surely that's one of the plus points of them going to nursery?). Our DD had dropped her morning feed by the time she started nursery at 10 months, so she didn't have a feed/bottle before going to nursery.

I have breakfast at my desk at work while I check emails (have a big box of cereal in my desk and porridge sachets, wash my bowl at work each day), saves me eating before leaving the house.

Bags ready the night before. Clothes out the night before.

No housework in the morning!

I am interested in this and we need to leave the house at 8

I am planning to wake at 7. Wash, dress, coffee then get baby up at half. He will need a bottle, wash, change. I am going to give his breakfast to cm as he eats about half nine. I will pack bags and leave all in the car including my work stuff at night so only his dinner and my lunch to throw in

You're getting up at 5.20 and not getting him to nursery until 9?!

Wake up at and give him a bottle.
Shower, get you and him dressed.
Leave the house.

Houework in the evenings!

Hi,

thanks for your responses!

Unfortunately, the nursery only serves a snack at 9.30, no proper breakfast.

But you guys may be right about dropping a bottle - I don't think he is quite ready yet to drop the morning bottle altogether, but he is less keen on his normal 8 ounces. So I think I'll stop trying to get it all into him - maybe aim for five ounces and have breakfast more quickly afterwards.

As for housework - if I don't do some in the morning, I'll never ever sit down in the evening. Plus, I don't get back to sleep any more after my husband gets up... so I may just as well get up and get it out of the way...

Good god I thought my mornings were busy and I've pared it down to the bare minimum.

Honestly, I also think you should ditch the cleaning til the weekend (or, if you can afford it, maybe get a cleaner?).

How old is your DS? A few months ago (DS was about 8 months) we swapped bottle and breakfast around, so he has breakfast first now. That would solve the problem, if he can then have his bottle in nursery. No need to hang around for an hour after brekkie then.

I would wake later and give a beaker of milk with breakfast. Things seem far too drawn out.

Let him have the amount of milk he wants alongside his breakfast, don't worry if he doesn't gulp down the whole 8oz? It is difficult for this stage, and you need to go a bit easy on yourself. Alternate between relatively easy breakfasts - instant porridge, weetabix and brioche as a special treat (which can handily be finished in the buggy on the walk to the nursery) are my usuals.
The housework is where you can really help yourself - just try and lower your standards a bit during the week and blitz at the weekend if you can tolerate it, or as others have suggested, pay a cleaner to do it. Getting up before 6am feels like absolute torture to me though.

My morning routine goes:
6.30am, all get up. DH takes DD downstairs for breakfast. I jump in the shower and get dressed.
6.45am, I go down and we have a cup of tea together while dd finishes breakfast.
7am, dh goes upstairs to get ready for work. I get dd dressed.
7.15am, dd plays while we get any bits done that we need to- quick wipe down of the kitchen, switch dishwasher on.
7.45am leave house
7.55am arrive at nursery

If dh is leasing earlier for work, dd stays upstairs with me while I get showered and dressed and we still get out by 7.45am.

Getting up at 5.20am does seem a bit bonkers to be honest. I still can't really see what is taking all the time in the morning?

I get up at 6 if I'm washing my hair, 6.20 if just a shower. Make lunch for me and DH. Get DTs up at 7 (they're awake from around 6.30 but I leave them in their room until 7), breakfast for them (cereal - anything else is for the weekend), dressed and out by 7.50. I have my breakfast at work.

Definitely no housework in the morning!

No morning milk anymore but we used to;

Alarm - 6.50
Get up - 7am
Shower and teeth done by 7.15. Dh make bottle of milk (now cup of water)
Clothes, hair and make up, bed made by 7.30
Get DS up and ready or make lunches - 7.45 then leave and walk to nursery while DS had his bottle - he wanted to hold it himself by this point.
8.05 nursery handover. Breakfast there.
8.15 walk to bus and get to work for 8.30
Breakfast at work or on bus (cereal bars suck)

7am alarm goes off, get up and dressed. Put a large hoodie on over work clothes to avoid any mess from breakfast.
7.10 get baby up, change nappy and get his clothes out to take downstairs.
7.15 one of us gives him his bottle while the other makes our breakfast.
7.30 finish breakfast and get baby dressed.
7.40 brush teeth, hair and make up
7.50 coats and shoes, out of the house
8.00 drop off at nursery.
Have lunches, bags ready night before. No housework or washing up.
Boom.

Could you give nursery something to give him for his breakfast if this is a rate-limiting factor? e.g. a yoghurt and fruit? Then you could just give him a small bottle & get him/you ready. Playtime as a reward for not dilly-dallying (although I don't know how old your DS is, he may not be able to appreciate rewards etc yet, in which case he might not miss it?). The routine needs to change a bit from ML, and it will take time to evolve to where you're reasonably happy (and then something else will change).
YY to all bags, clothes etc. laid out previous night - saves the 'where are my shoes?' last minute issue.

Thanks again everybody! There were a couple of good ideas - like big sweater over work clothes.... I'll probably look out for big long-sleeved T-shirts that also cover my trousers.

I'll also not try to get a whole bottle into him, and move on to breakfast immediately after. That alone should cut out a lot of time. Nursery will then give him a bigger bottle during the morning (by the way, DS is eight months).

By the way, I am not talking about lots of housework... just things like emptying the dishwasher (which will help next evening with clearing dinner stuff away) and sorting the laundry... which, when it piles up, takes ages. But I can do this while watching Breakfast TV.

Well, maternity leave is officially over now and it's back to work tomorrow.... will have to try to put things into practice!

One of the issues is the breakfast TV - it doesn't go on in this house til your ready to leave.

So, in this house:
Alarm 6.15. Me have a wee, and then DH do whatever he needs in the bathroom
Kids allowed out of bedroom - DS1 has usually been up since about 5.30. DS2 is quieter, but nearly always wide awake before I go in.
Me, and kids downstairs for breakfast (all in PJ's). Toast (less mess, and they get cereal at nursery), and then while the kids finish eating, I empty dishwasher, and make my lunch. Me and DS1 upstairs. DS1 into uniform. DS2 finally finishes breakfast, and comes up for clothes.I start, and then DH takes over when he's finished breakfast and cleared the kitchen, and does teeth. I shower while he finishes clothes / teeth.
Boys get 10 mins of TV while I dry hair or put a wash on - I don't have time for both.
All out of the house 7.25.

The play and TV, imo, is what is holding things up.
I'd also consider switching bottle and breakfast. The bottle will be easier to finish at nursery.
What does DH do in the mornings?

Good luck - it does get easier with experience.

DH gets up at 6.45. By 7.20 he is showered, dressed and pretty much ready to leave.

I get up at 7, dress DD and give her a bottle. Then hand her to DH while I get ready.

Lunches and bags packed night before, I have a bath in the evening too. We leave the house at 7.45.

Admittedly, you need to fit in breakfast, DD has hers at nursery (not that she ever eats it, too full of milk!). But 5.20 does seem excessively early!

I get myself ready, get my 2.5 yo twins up at 730 and we're all out the door by 745!! Admittedly they have breakfast at nursery but still I can't believe its taking you nearly 4 hours from wake up until dropping off!

How do you travel to nursery? I have been known to give a drink and slice of toast in the pram on the way if DS won't wait for his breakfast..

I get up 6.30, shower, teeth, dry hair etc.
DH gets DS up at 6.50, wash, nappy, dressed. He has water in morning now.
Leave by 7.15 at latest.

My CM gives DS breakfast but if he's really hungry I give him an apple/banana or dry cereal in car. I eat breakfast at work or also in car!
All housework is left until evenings and days off, mostly days off!!