Any tips for getting ready in the morning?

[Aussie]

I'm returning to full time work in a month and my daughter will be 11 mths. My partner starts work at 6am so I'll be getting ready on my own (he gets to do it on his own at the end of the day as he'll be picking her up from daycare!).

I'd be interested in hearing tips from others about their morning routine getting ready, breakfasting/organising baby, how long it takes, what works well, how to entertain baby while mum finishes getting ready, etc.

Aussie - I take my son to work with me and have to be there by 7.15 so I try and get ready while my son is still asleep. I have everything ready in the evening, clothes ready, bag etc. I get everything ready for breakfast, even sometimes try and have mine before I get my son up by that time it is just him to get ready and have his breakfast. This doesnt always go to plan but we havnt been late yet.

I normally get up first and have a quick shower whilst she is still in her cot. I have left some toys in for her to play with. We both go downstairs and I take off her night things. Whilst she is having her bottle, I start changing her nappy and dressing her. Then its into the high chair for some breakfast. I normally leave her in this chewing on a bit of bread or apple till I have my breakfast.

Then its back upstairs for Mum to finish getting dressed. Again I put her in her cot with some toys for a few minutes till I finish off getting dressed.

I don't bother with too much makeup- it takes too long. A rub around my face with a sponge is about as much as I get.

This all is done is about 30 minutes and then we are out the door and off for the day. We even manage to have some time to play most mornings before we set off.

It will take you a week or so, but you will find your own routine. Have as much ready from the night before as it saves having to run around for everything in the morning. I leave all my daughters clothes ready for the next morning and have her food etc that she will eat for the day ready in the fridge to just go.

We get up at 6:30 and have to out the door at 7:30. I put ds is highchair in kitchen, give him breakfast and juice, eat my breakfast standing up in the kitchen and running around packing everything at the same time. When finished my breakfast I usually have both of our bags packed. Ds gets down from highchair and has a bit of a play while I get dressed (I always make sure I have showered the night before as our mornings are too hectic and I am always late if attempting a morning shower!). Dh may get up about this time (he works late most nights) and then either one of us will get ds dressed, then out the door......phew! Exhausted just thinking about it!

Hi Aussie
Getting organised the night before would be my top tip. I put out all my son's clothes, anything he is going to need to take with him etc. I also try and get my own clothes ready, have my bag organised etc. When my son was 11 months I used to put the stair gate up at the top of the stairs and let him crawl around while I got dressed etc as he hated being left in his cot. He is now 22 months and will quite happily watch a video or Milkshake for half an hour while I get myself together. I always factor in 15 mins to sit with him on my lap, for his bottle or a look at a book or just a cuddle. This was to try and make it feel less of a manic rush.
Good luck - I hope your return to work goes smoothly.

We are ok in the morning once we get out of bed that is...seem to be quite prone to just lying around and suddenly it's very late. However, best piece of advice I was given was to get me dressed as the absolute last thing before leaving the house. This saves (hopefully) the need to change should there be porridge/milk/sick accidents / general mess. Other than that just multi-tasking (drink tea, eat toast whilst spooning in porridge etc). This is not a skill developed yet in dh who has to sit down with his cup of tea and rest once ds is dressed! This can in fact cause a significant time delay!

I find that everything I do takes twice as long once my 2 year old is awake, so my top tip is to ensure he stays asleep till the very, very last minute. This may mean amending his bedtime, but it's worth it for a peaceful morning - and it helps get him into the habit of sleeping later at weekends.

Also, do you have to give him breakfast? My son is not immediately hungry when he wakes up. Milk is quite sufficient. His childminder then gives him breakfast. Could your son's daycare centre feed him when he gets there? It saves so much time. Hope no one shouts me down for this - is he old enough to be given a piece of toast to hold en route to his daycare centre? Breakfast on the run is a common practice in our family.

Pack as small a daily bag as possible. It pays to duplicate bottles, spoons, bibs and any other daily stuff your childcarer asks for. She then has one set while you keep the other.

If you have to make up bottles of formula milk each morning, stock up with some ready-made cartons. On days when you're running late they save precious minutes.

Can you tell I'm not an early morning person?

aussie - most things have been said already - mum actually eating breakfast in the morning -wow- you've ALL got something on me there - but loads of people at my work eat breakfast there - fruit's good for this.

my mum was a child minder - she used to give them breakfast and often receive them in their pj's to get them dressed herself. being a new mum i'm too bothered about how that looks - but i may drop a few hints to my childminder yet!!

also don't worry about being on your own - you may even find it easier that way. everytime someone stays over at mine i relax too much and end up late for work. did you ever see 'it's a knock out'? well, it's a bit like that - isn't that part of the fun? (don't answer that)

if you're working full time it's definately worth trying to have a play whilst you're geting ready. once i arrived at work and realised i hadn't hardly talked to my boy. that definately makes it more stressful.

got to go get bottles and bag ready for 2moro!! good luck and enjoy it!

Like Tigermoth I leaves babes asleep until the last moment. While he's sleeping I get his stuff ready and shower/feed/tea me!! On the bus to the childminder's he drinks his juice and (nod to tigermoth) give him something to nibble which will keep him going unitl the childminder takes him back home (after dropping off her son). But this process is due to change as we are fighting about which hat (Rugrats or Bob) to wear and which shoes to wear and which ones to throw under the bed!!

I returned to work in January (having needed the money) part-time when my baby was 12 weeks old. I only work two days a week but those two days I have to be very organised.

I used to work Wednesday and Friday but now I work Wednesday and Thursday. This isn't too much of a problem - it just means that I need to be very organised Wednesday night.

I have 3 children to get ready (9, 5 and 5 months). My usual morning routine is that I get up at 6:40 and wake the baby and give her to my husband to feed while I shower. Once I have showered, dressed, dried my hair, etc. I take over the baby, normally by 7 am. This gives me 1/2 hour before I am picked up for my lift to work. In this time, I finish feeding the baby, if necessary, wake the other two children and get them dressed, do their hair, get them to brush their teeth. I take the baby with me on the way to work and drop her off at my S-I-L while my (estranged) husband takes the two eldest ones to Breakfast Club which is run at the school they attend. The Breakfast Club starts at 7:45, they are given breakfast and can play afterwards before being taken to their classroom ready for lessons.

I find I need to be very organised the night before - I get the childrens' clothes out, shoes by the front door, book bags put by front door with homework in, etc.

It did seem a bit daunting at first but I have now been back at work 2 1/2 months and it is a doddle to get ready in the morning.

I was quite anxious about the morning routine before I went back to work. So needless to say I was ready with loads of time to spare and holding DS (then 15 weeks) at arms length to avoid baby sick on my work suit! Getting everything ready the night before is an obvious place to start. For us back then this included making up bottles, a change of clothes for DS, clothes for us both for morning (a challenge when you first go back to wearing formal, fitted clothes!), making Dh his sandwiches, my gym things (for lunchtime session)and anything I needed for work. 9 months later all we've managed to drop is the bottles (DS has cow's milk from a cup at nursery).

We are saved because DS has breakfast at nursery. He is a great breakfaster and can take up to an hour to eat readybrek, mashed pear, sultanas and toast one after another. That would be an absolute nightmare - especially considering the mess potential of readybrek!

Finally the advice to get yourself dressed last of all is essential (IMO). I found that after having DS throw up on a jacket one day and wee on some trousers the next day! He's not so bad now but the habit exists.

I could not manage without a playpen. I know some people disapprove of the idea, but after ds has been fed, dressed etc. I put him in there with lots of books, and then finish getting myself ready. Our flat is quite small, so I can keep waving, chatting, singing and dancing as I go backwards and fowards sorting myself out.

I agree with everyone else, dont get dressed yourself until the last minute, and never leave yourself with only one clean thing to wear - that will be the morning you get covered in wee!

Art

Who have you come across that disapproves of a playpen and on what grounds? Just interested.

Thanks

Oh I've come across several who make very disparaging comments ( at NCT cofffee mornings etc)- we now (jokingly!) refer to it as the 'cage' sometimes as a result!
But seriously I could't be without it at times- we have a Babydan Babyden type and dd actually likes it within reason -( and she's 14 months now).
If really desperate put a telly tubbies video on too and she's happy for as long as it takes!

Some people seem to think that if you have a playpen you must use it to plonk your child in and leave them there for hours at a time.

Weve got the babyden too and ds loves it. Yes it does look like a cage, but it is the safest place when I have to cook, go to the loo, fly about getting ready for work....

yes, art, that's what i think too! once you have a mobile child, surely you need somewhere safe for them to be during the occasions you mention? we've got one too - for exactly the same reason. ds soon lets me know when he is bored and ready for adventure!

where do you put them if you don't have one do you think?

I didn't have a playpen when ds was a baby, so to get over the 'where do I put him while I get ready for work' issue, I'd put him back in his cot. I'd give him some books and toys and basically let him get on with it for the duration of the shower. Once I was out of the bathroom he'd just crawl around the room. We put a stair gate up on the landing so the only places he could get to were his room and our room. Once he got a bit bigger, the stairgate could be moved over his bedroom door and his room became one big playpen!

Actually, I did have a playpen - a lovely wooden one, but I kept it at my Mum's. She'd have him 2 days a week while I worked, so his playpen served as a safe area while she doing things and doubled up as a safe sleeping area for him too.