What do you do with your days with a new baby? Share with Fairy Non Bio for chance to win a £300 voucher NOW CLOSED

[JustineBMumsnet]

As part of our partnership with Fairy Non Bio, we’ve produced the Mumsnet Babies podcast. There are ten episodes in the series, and episode 8 covers what you can actually do with your days when you have a new baby. Fairy Non Bio would like you to listen to the podcast here and then post on this thread with your experience.

A new life as a stay-at-home-parent may feel daunting and bewildering, and though you’d likely prepared for the ‘stuff’ you have to do with a baby, you may not have planned for how you intend on filling your days with a new baby, and potentially preventing loneliness now that you’re not at work every day?

Whatever your experience, share your stories of and tips for making the time you spend alone with your baby feel fun and fulfilling, and share any advice you have for when you’re out and about. Do you have any ideas about what you can do at home, when your baby is at different stages? Perhaps you have tips on making being out and about more enjoyable, despite the organisation it now requires with a new baby in tow? Maybe you have creative ideas for being able to do the tasks you need to be able to do around the house, while keeping your baby entertained?

Whatever your experience and tips, share below to be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 Love2Shop voucher.

If you’d like to rate the Mumsnet Babies Podcast, please go to the iTunes store to add a review.

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

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Dog walks, lots of cuddles and play time... when there is a brief break from feeding. I have a very hungry baby!

Juju3 what a hateful comment. Any wonder new mums end up with PND with pressure on them to do nothing but stare into their babies eyes adoringly and made to feel like a shit mum if you look at Facebook or the news or whatever 🙄

I really enjoyed my time with my children when they were babies. If they were awake (usually quite early in the morning) and if the weather was good I'd put them in their pram and go for long walks. Usually ending in a park somewhere. Here i'd get them out and let them have a go on the swings, slide, or similar.
If it was raining, i would play with them at home, or take them swimming.
In the afternoon, after dinner (and hopefully when they were sleeping) i would try and get some jobs done. Or have a nap myself!

I just remember trying to function as normal, getting the house work done but without worrying too much about it! We'd get out visiting or doing the shopping so I'd get some fresh air and exercise and a change of scenery! When desperate for sleep I'd take him for a drive with the heater on and as soon as he nodded off I'd stop in a car park and have a nap myself!

i have a 13 month old and iv always just done what i can. if it doesnt get done then tough! it will get done another day.

Most days with my newborn son (he's almost 2 months) I just want to spend at home with him, having cuddles, watching him smile and learn new things. They change so quickly at this age that I want to treasure every day.

From a more practical point of view, we are both up several times in the night feeding, so I like to have a nap with him in the afternoon if I can.

I also set a goal to achieve at least one practical thing a day, whether that's getting washing washed and dried, cooking a meal, going to the post office or packing clothes that he's grown out of away into the loft.

Cuddles and walks. Always cuddles ❤️

Everything else takes a back seat!

Loved going for early morning walks

Slept, cried, looked forward to not having to sit on my thigh on a pillow... Ds1 was a shock. He cried a lot and we had no idea what we were doing. Also we went out a lot, before baby, so 2am was coming home not waking up from bedtime at 7pm. I was consumed by the fear I was a rubbish mum and of accidentally killing him. Ds2 was much more enjoyable as I'd kept the first one alive and he was an easier baby. Ds1 was a great toddler though and conversely ds2, the easy baby was a shocking toddler. I was honest with my new mum friends about how difficult I found it, and because I was honest they were too. The support of other mums helped me so much.

I have 3 DCs and like to go walking, sometimes I take my book an read on the go, or we go down onto the beach.

With my first baby when baby was asleep I was trying to catch up on sleep whenever I could. I was feeling tired and trying to juggle housework between baby sleep was not that easy. After a few months we started go out to mother and baby group run by the local church and I wasn't feel lonely anymore. I was able to speak with other mums and get many useful tips. My baby loves to interact and observe other children playing. It's great to have many new friends. We often meeting in each other houses and our children play together

I am no good at sleeping in the day unfortunately, so when my baby was really small I spent a lot of time at Mum and baby groups. I tried to go to two or three per week. It was a great way of meeting people, three of which I still see weekly and she is 1 now.

We also went for a walk every day, weather permitting. I found lots of little cut throughs in my area that I had never known about and I've lived here for years!

read a book and sing to the baby

I put baby in a sling, rocked him til he nodded off on my chest, then put headphones in and went for a walk with podcasts for company. Had a shoulder bag with a nappy and pack of wipes in case of emergency.

I listened to the back catalogue of the infinite monkey cage and got quite fit!

Little babies are great, they're portable and stay where you put them! And don't whine that whatever place you wanted to go to is boooring.

I have 3 (including twins) and have found walking with the buggy to be a bit of a life saver. My twins would only sleep properly in the buggy during the day and I've had PND which is helped (in my case) by fresh air and just getting out of the house

I made sure I went out every day, even if it was just a walk round the block. I went to lots of groups, baby massage, baby sign etc. In the house we'd read stories, play with stacking cups. If she was being fussy I'd walk around pointing at all the pictures telling her who was in the pictures and what was happening, if that failed we'd go into the back garden. Happy times

I hated baby groups etc so rarely went to anything like that but I made sure we got out for a walk every day, even though he screamed constantly in the pram. The fresh air and change of scenery really helps.

I went back to work when they were only a month old but DH used to aim to go to at least two baby classes a week. We also used to take them for walks in the pram a lot so as not to feel trapped in the house and the fresh air used to put them to sleep

We did a lot of cuddling and lounging about to be honest!! We always went to some sort of group every week though, mainly to get out of the house

My advice is to try and get out every week or every few days, even if it's just a five minute walk. It helps break up the endless routine of feed / rest in the early days.

With our first I was worried about everything, making sure he had the best, cleaning the house until it was spotless for when people come over and hardly having any sleep! I was anaemic and not eating very well!
When we had our second, I started to not worry too much about what the house looked like, and catched up on sleep when our first went to preschool for a few hours and when she slept.
Our third girly came and she fitted right into our routine!

I enjoyed cuddling and staring a her. To me she was perfect. We went to coffee mornings sometimes and for lots of walks. With my second baby I did far less staring and napping and instead did anything possible to tire my toddler out so we could at least sit down in the afternoon.