Where do you stash your baby?

[Hyggeandhugs]

So I'm only a week into life with my DD and have been lucky to have family staying to offer support, meaning that there is always someone that can watch over her in her Moses basket as I get on with cleaning, washing, sterilising, showering, etc. my DH often has to work away, hence DPs stepping in.

It's suddenly dawned on me that soon its just going to be me! When I was pregnant people would say I should do everything whilst she slept, but people also say that you can't let them sleep unsupervised for the first 6 months. I'm so confused!

What do you all do with your newborn when you need to do something? I'm working on the basis that she can never be out of sight for even a minute. So are you all carrying them around in slings? Maybe popping them in bouncer chairs?

Bouncy chairs all the way.
I am
Sure I traumatise them by taking them into the bathroom while I had whirlwind showers

I do stuff when baby is awake, when baby sleeps so did I!

I think what changed things for me was the moment I realised I was not watching DD for up to two hours when she slept AND I slept at night!

I'm working on the basis that she can never be out of sight for even a minute

Good grief, you don't have to watch them all the time! Think about nights - OK, you're in the room with them, but you're asleep, not watching them. It sounds as if she likes her Moses basket so that's perfect - you can easily move her around to the bit of the house that you're in. But it's fine to be getting on with stuff while she (hopefully) sleeps.

I was literally the same when my daughter was born in January. I had a Moses basket in the living room so I would pop her in there if she fell asleep when I was holding her. She would also fall asleep in her swing, or on her playmat. We live in a bungalow so I don't have the dilemma of upstairs/ downstairs though. I do also have a sling and it was really useful on some days when she would only sleep on me. Tbh she does have at least one nap a day where I will hold her and just use it as an excuse to catch up on a bit of TV. She still sleeps fine at night in her next to me and has been mostly sleeping through the night since 5ish weeks so obviously the cuddle naps haven't been a hindrance.

Eh??? How do the posters above talking about 15 mins etc sleep themselves?!?

Maybe I was doing it wrong, but if my dc were asleep at nighttime, I was asleep!

All still alive.

Agree with pps, they don’t have to be in sight at all times, you can get on with stuff whilst they’re that little. BUT don’t use all of their nap time to sort out chores! Sit and binge watch something on tv. When they’re that little you can get away with putting them in the bouncer watching you vac/do the washing/cook.

For DC3 I got a lie flat highchair for in the kitchen (to have somewhere high up out of the way of the older two) but it came in handy when I needed to cook, I would wait until he was fed and drowsy and pop him in there. That way he would nap and I could get on with what I needed to without needing to stop to check on him.

We lived in a flat when DC was a baby so everything on one floor and not much space. I just wheeled DC around the house in the pram the whole time to wherever I was. DC actually preferred the pram bassinet to his cot so would nap there during the day.

I liked having long hot baths in the early days, probably because I got so fed up with lukewarm ones when pregnant. I would take DC into the bathroom with me, run a lukewarm bath, take him into the bath with me and have a play and then pop him in plastic storage box next to the bath lined with a towel while I ramped up the temperature. He'd quite often fall asleep in the bath so I'd just move him to the box and cover him with another towel and then stay in the bath as long as I liked.

Usually in the bouncer in the bathroom when I showered. I would leave him alone in the living room or bedroom in a cot, crib etc while I went to the loo or sorted food out in the kitchen or did laundry etc. Our downstairs was quite small so I would make sure that the doors were open and I could hear him and pop back in every 5mins or so.
Youngest was in a sling a lot because he hated being a baby!

Thanks for all the advice, i guess I took some of the round the clock supervision advice a bit too seriously

I guess I'm just paranoid as I seem to have a back-sleeping-refusing, swaddle-escaping baby and after five days in NICU, the idea of leaving my little side-sleeper unattended is scary. I hear your advice though and will try to chill out and remember to make some time for box sets and naps