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April 5, 2018

Day in the Life–4 Month Old Baby Edition

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Hi guys! I haven’t done a day in the life post since Riese was born, so I thought it might be interesting to give a glimpse into what one of my workdays looks like now with the babe in the mix. Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays are my full days of work when I have childcare all day. We share our nanny with another family who has her when we don’t – it works out well! I’m working from home so I can still nurse Riese, though, and sneak in some cuddles during the workday – such a treat. So, here is what I was up to all day on Tuesday this week!

5:40 a.m. – Alarm goes off. Riese is still fast asleep, but I’m meeting the girls for a morning workout, so I decide to let her sleep and go ahead and pump. This is the first time I’ve gone to a morning workout without feeding Riese before I leave and I miss our morning cuddles, but I’m glad I don’t wake her because she ended up sleeping until about 7 or so! Whoa.

5:45 – 6:20 a.m. – Pump, pack up milk, wash bottles and pump parts. I am able to pump enough to leave a 5 ounce bottle for Riese to eat whenever she wakes up, plus another 4 ounces that I save for our evening top-off bottle. While I’m pumping, I drink some green tea, read my book, and have a snack – a few of my Oatmeal Banana Coconut Cookies. Old photo, same routine.

how to manage working out and breastfeeding timing

6:20 – 6:40 a.m. – Get changed and head out the door!

7 – 8 a.m. – Workout! Chelsea, Kathleen, and I do a HIIT class at Next Phase Studio via ClassPass (<- affiliate link for $40 off). It’s a really good one – love circuit workouts because they fly by, and as always I love the social time with my girls too.

morning workout

8 – 8:20 a.m. – Drop Chelsea back at home and then head home myself. Matt is taking the dog for a quick walk before leaving for work and our nanny is there with Riese.

8:25 – 8:40 a.m. – Make and have breakfast! Still obsessed with avocado toast – with 2 eggs and some strawberries. Plus a whole milk latte that goes unpictured.

avocado toast

8:40 – 9 a.m. – Shower, get dressed

9 – 10 a.m. – Work! Finish writing + publish my Easter weekend part 2 recap blog post (I started it the day before), check in on some emails and reply to blog comments from the day before.

10 – 10:40 a.m. – Riese is hungry… time for breastfeeding! I feed her on demand, but she generally wants to eat every 3 hours during the day (closer to 2 or even 1 hour in the evening).

10:40 – 11 a.m. – Check in on emails and eat a snack – I have a hearty homemade blueberry muffin that actually has riced cauliflower in it. Recipe coming soon – you can’t taste the cauliflower at all! 

11 – 11:30 a.m. – AnneTheRD nutrition client call.

11:35 a.m. – Out the door!

11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m. – Lunch with a friend at Northside Social – I have the BLT with a side salad and some green iced tea. Yummmm.

lunch northside social

12:50 p.m. – Race home because I know it is probably about time to feed Riese!

1:10 – 1:40 p.m. – Nurse Riese. I feel so fortunate to be able to work from home and still breastfeed her during my workday… it’s such a nice treat to have this time with her, even though it can be hard logistically (especially when I have client calls/meetings that have to happen at a set time).  Luckily she takes a bottle fine so we can do that if necessary, but I try not to miss feeds because I love that special time with her (and don’t love pumping). Giving her back to the nanny is always so hard… but we LOVE our nanny and so does Riese, so I’m happy that she is happy. <3

1:40 p.m. – 4:40 p.m. – Work! Write and send my morning client follow up email, respond to more emails, share my blog post from the morning on social media, and spend a couple hours writing a partner blog post that I have to send over for review before it is published next week. At some point during this I also make a bowl of my microwave banana oatmeal and have it with some ground flaxseed, cottage cheese, and berries while I continue working. I’ve been more interested in savory breakfasts recently, but having a hearty bowl of oatmeal as an afternoon snack has hit the spot lately, and I think the oats and flaxseed have helped my milk supply… score!

4:40 – 5:10 p.m. – Feed Riese! She went a little longer than she usually does in between feeds because she was having a good nap! While feeding her, I snack on some almonds and a clementine but don’t get a photo.

5:10 – 6:20 p.m. – Finish up work! Taxes are due soon and we hadn’t sent all our info over to our accountant yet, so I spend this time scanning and uploading documents to a dropbox folder. Fun times! I also take one last look at email and respond to anything time-sensitive, and send out reminders to clients who I have calls/meetings with on Thursday (since Wednesday I won’t be working). Matt got home earlier than usual (at 5 – normally he’s not home until 7 or so) because he was out at an on-site client meeting that ended early, so he finishes his workday at home and then takes Riese from the nanny at 6 and has some daddy-daughter playtime while I wrap up my workday.

6:20 – 6:45 p.m. – Head out for a family walk! It’s nice out so we decide to take advantage… Riese loves being outside and so do we. This is an old photo, but you get the idea. 😉

family walk

6:45 p.m. – Nurse Riese while Matt makes us dinner.

7:20 p.m. – Dinner time! We have a Blue Apron meal – a really good popcorn chicken with rice and cabbage. Matt holds Riese and eats with one hand – he’s a pro by now because our little lady doesn’t ever want to be put down!

IMG_2405

7:45 p.m. – Nurse Riese again. She still cluster feeds sometimes in the evenings… the witching hours! Matt cleans up the kitchen while I feed her.

8:15 p.m. – I can tell Riese is still hungry but isn’t getting much more milk from me, so I give her to Matt and he gives her the top off bottle (she usually takes anywhere from 2 to 4 ounces – we let her decide how much she wants) and gets her to bed while I tidy up around the house a bit and put away laundry.

9 – 9:30 p.m. – Pump, store milk, wash bottles and parts. I reaaaaaally don’t enjoy pumping in the evenings because I’m tired and want to just go to bed, but I’m trying to keep the evening supply up – and I need to make sure we have enough milk on hand for the top off bottles! I usually only get an ounce or two at night when I pump but every bit helps. Like I mentioned in a previous post, I try to make this more fun by reading a good book while pumping. 🙂 I always wash and dry off the bottle parts after I’m done with the evening pump and then bring them back upstairs, along with a snack, so that I don’t have to come downstairs to get them or food in the early morning. Normally, I feed Riese first thing in the morning and then pump right afterwards to save the excess.

9:30 – 9:45 p.m. – Get ready for bed.

9:45 p.m. Lights out! I try to get to bed earlier than this most nights since I never know how early Riese will be up, but it doesn’t always happen with all the evening logistics. Oh well! Matt stays up and relaxes and watches some TV – he’s way more of a night owl than I am! We want to start trying to get Riese to sleep a little earlier so we have more than 5 seconds to hang out together in the evenings before I go to bed, but it’s hard to fit everything in between feeding her and us, pumping, cleaning up the kitchen/house, etc! At least on this day we got to decompress and have some quality time together during our family walk – that was a nice treat. 🙂

—

So there you have it! A current workday in the life with the baby and nursing in the mix. I’d say this day was pretty typical except that I only do morning workouts twice per week (usually Tuesdays and Fridays) – on other days I just get in walks when I can, and then I try to fit in a yoga class on the weekend if it works out. I also don’t always take a long lunch out – most days I just throw together something easy at home and eat quickly because so much of my workday is already taken up by feeding Riese… hard to fit everything in! And some days I’ll have additional calls or in person AnneTheRD nutrition client meetings, too, although I try to limit calls/meetings to no more than 2 or 3 per day because they are so hard to fit in logistically with the baby feeding. If any of my calls are ones that I can take while walking, I take Freyja out for a walk and multitask, too.

What does your typical day in the life look like? It’s always fun to get a glimpse into other people’s routines!

- anne
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25 comments
  • Lauren April 5, 2018 · 2:24PM:
    Just a small time saving tip - you could refrigerate your pump parts after your morning pump and then you only have to wash at night. Pumping is the worst!
    Reply
    • Anne
      April 5, 2018 · 2:39PM:
      It really is!! It's honestly just as easy for me to quickly wash them as to toss them in the fridge so I figure I might as well!
      Reply
  • SHU
    April 5, 2018 · 3:12PM:
    Trying hard to contain my jealousy about how much she sleeps (okay and about how much you are able to pump in the AM!!). To anyone else reading this with a similar aged baby, if it makes you feel better mine is eating all night still— 2 or 3 times :). You’re doing great - definitely keep the 9pm pump for supply! I agree w you that reading is the best distraction. I also like to reward myself with ice cream ?
    Reply
    • Anne
      April 5, 2018 · 4:04PM:
      You're doing great, too - hang in there! Every once in awhile Riese will be up at 3 to eat just to remind us that she's in charge and to not get too used to the sleep... but yeah we are super lucky she's a good sleeper now. The flipside, though, is that she hardly sleeps during the day - maybe two 20 to 30 minute naps, if that. And she wants to be held or moving (stroller, wrap while walking) during the day for naps, too -if the moving stops, she wakes up, and she won't do the bassinet during the day randomly. I love the snuggles and don't get her all to myself most days so I don't mind but it would be basically impossible to get anything done without childcare since there's no napping! So grateful for our nanny.
      Reply
      • Rosalind Herendeen April 5, 2018 · 9:23PM:
        Also jealous of all that sleep!! At what age did Riese start sleeping through the night? In your experience, do you have any tips for extending the time between feedings/dropping the middle of the night feedings? I have a 9 week old son and we’re doing about 2 feedings per night, but want to start trying to figure out ways, if possible, to get him to sleep longer through the night. Thanks!
        Reply
        • Anne
          April 6, 2018 · 10:29AM:
          I feel like every baby is SO different so I don't really have any tips... I think she started sleeping through the night around 3 months, but it was a gradual thing where she just stretched things a little longer day by day. I think at the 9 week point we were also doing 2 feeds per night... I bet he will start stretching that out! Things that have helped us that may or may not work for you: the evening bottle top off (for us this is necessary because Riese can't get enough from me at night, but I think it also helps her to sleep longer and I know others who do this with their kids too) + always swaddling her and having white noise on in our room. Good luck!!
          Reply
    • Amber
      April 16, 2018 · 7:03PM:
      I'm right there with you. My baby girl was born the same day as Riese and we had one 7 hour stretch of sleep after her 2 month immunizations but other than that she has never slept through the night and for the past 10-ish weeks she's been up 3x per night and for the past 4-ish weeks she's been up every 1.5 - 2 hours. It's so tough!! I just keep reminding myself this too shall pass. And taking naps when I can (luckily I'm in Canada so still on maternity leave)
      Reply
      • Anne
        April 17, 2018 · 9:56AM:
        Oh gosh. Hang in there... that is SO tough.
        Reply
  • Jackie April 5, 2018 · 3:59PM:
    Northside Social! I miss that place.
    Reply
    • Anne
      April 5, 2018 · 4:01PM:
      So good! :)
      Reply
  • Brooke April 5, 2018 · 4:32PM:
    You are so lucky with her sleeping! My son is a couple days older than Riese and we’ve been dealing with the 4 month sleep regression for almost 3 weeks. Which means 4-5 wake ups each night and small frustrating cat naps during the day. The only upside is that it got us in gear to get him to bed at 7:30 each night.
    Reply
    • Anne
      April 6, 2018 · 10:25AM:
      Oh man, I'm so sorry - that sounds rough. Hang in there!! I'm nervous we will hit the regression at some point too... you never know!
      Reply
  • Liz April 5, 2018 · 7:50PM:
    4+ years on & I still have my VHC water cup! It really helped me drink so much more water while nursing. I love that thing! It’s getting old so that must mean time for another baby, right? :)
    Reply
    • Anne
      April 6, 2018 · 10:25AM:
      Haha totally! And yes, it's the best - I love how big it is!!
      Reply
  • Angie April 5, 2018 · 8:03PM:
    What does your nanny do while you nurse or she naps? Is she doing light housework? I always wondered how that works, especially since your home part of the day. My husband work from home and when my oldest is at preschool (afternoon) while the youngest naps I’m rushing to do housework and prep dinner. When he’s home he’s telling me to rest because he thinks I do too much.
    Reply
    • Anne
      April 6, 2018 · 10:27AM:
      Riese only naps while being held or while being walked, so that's active time for the nanny, but while I'm feeding Riese she will do light housework - laundry, tidying up baby stuff, etc. It's amazing. And during the lunchtime feed, the nanny will eat her lunch! :)
      Reply
      • Lindsey April 6, 2018 · 12:54PM:
        Do you plan on transitioning her to napping in her crib or a rock n' play? Just curious!
        Reply
        • Anne
          April 9, 2018 · 9:28AM:
          Yes, definitely, just not sure when... she doesn't like the Rock 'n' Play (I know, weird) so we'll start doing naps eventually in the dock a tot or bassinet, then eventually the crib. Right now it's the difference between her napping on us/in the stroller happily or just crying in the dock a tot/bassinet and not napping, so it hasn't been worth forcing it. But hopefully she'll be more open to it soon! Although I do love holding her while she sleeps. :)
          Reply
  • Sara April 6, 2018 · 2:07PM:
    I'd love to hear more about your nanny on boarding process! I know you had a rough start with it, but what did you look for with your nanny, how did you decide on hours and responsibilities, and what do you use for payroll taxes? I'm in the process of finding a nanny for us, and feel so clueless to it all.
    Reply
    • Anne
      April 9, 2018 · 9:30AM:
      Yeah it's a really confusing process! We worked with out accountant to figure out how much tax to withhold and what her net pay would be, and then we set up a recurring payment through our bank for that amount every 2 weeks. We also registered as a household employer with our state and got an EIN from the IRS as well. I know there are services that will do all the tax/payroll stuff for you but we didn't want to pay extra for that. In terms of responsibilities, she takes care of Riese obviously and then when I'm feeding Riese she does light housework (laundry, dishes, tidying up baby stuff). Hours is totally dependent on your needs! Good luck!!
      Reply
  • Jay April 10, 2018 · 9:07AM:
    You are amazing woman!!
    Reply
  • sam April 10, 2018 · 3:48PM:
    can you share your baby's current schedule? including nap times?
    Reply
    • Anne
      April 10, 2018 · 4:19PM:
      We don't have her on any particular set schedule during the day, but generally she sleeps from about 8 or 9 p.m. until 5 or 6 a.m., then goes back to sleep for another hour or so after the first morning feed. Daytime feeds depend on what time she ate first thing, but she usually eats roughly every 3 hours (except for in the evening, when she wants to eat more often), so 6 a.m., 9 a.m., noon, 3 p.m., 6 p.m., and then 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. We do her top off bottle around 8 usually. Usually she naps briefly during the day right before she eats, but not always. Naps are anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes but she wants to be held or out walking for naps - we haven't had success transitioning her to her bassinet or crib yet for naps. Hopefully soon!
      Reply
  • Jen April 15, 2018 · 10:29AM:
    I hope you realize how fortunate you are to have this type of schedule as a “working” mom... working out and lunch with friends, breastfeeding on demand, a nanny... you are very, very lucky considering what most other working moms deal with these days. I hope you never take it for granted and waste this time while your little one is still so little and cuddly. I’m envious.
    Reply
    • Anne
      April 15, 2018 · 6:35PM:
      Yes, I do feel extremely fortunate to be able to work from home and be able to see Riese during my workday. However, it's not luck, as I've worked hard for this, but I know it's a wonderful gift. That said, I don't appreciate the quotes around "working" mom. There's no need to be rude.
      Reply
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anne mauney fannetastic food
Hi, I’m Anne! I'm a Washington D.C. based Registered Dietitian, mother, runner, and lover of travel, adventure, and the great outdoors. I've been blogging since 2009, sharing a mix of lifestyle content, recipes, and fitness tips. Come for the recipes – stay for the fun!
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anne mauney

I’m Anne, a Registered Dietitian and mother. I've been blogging since 2009 and love showing others that eating nutritious foods and staying active can actually be fun rather than overwhelming!

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