Especially if you have kids later in life (after 25), changing all your established routines by having a baby is difficult. But the things that are important to you don’t change! You are just adding another important thing that requires a lot more of your time now. So here are our top tips to help you fit in at least some of those other important things.

  1. Do work when your baby is awake. Save naptime for you. Let your baby be ever so slightly involved in what you are doing, or at least able to see you moving around and doing, while you give the baby some attention during your process.
  2. Have a priority list. If you want Me Time to journal, beat your high score in Candy Zombies Crushing Dodgeball Players, and meditate, have a list of what you’ll do first. This will spare you the time that indecision could cost you. (And having a separate time for work will help keep you from guilt-tripping yourself about that.)
  3. Hold things loosely. Babies are unpredictable, and as soon as they have a rhythm, something jars it. So don’t plan to get an hour of weight-lifting in. Plan to lift weights for as long as you can before the baby’s nap is over, or their calm runs out.
  4. Add Gratitude. Gratitude helps you value what you do have, rather than dwelling on the difference between your past habits and your present.
  5. Give yourself grace. Besides the life change of having a baby, you yourself will have changed. Your biology changes to allow for different sleep patterns. Your mental and emotional place changes. If you can’t do things the way you could have before, that’s not a bad thing. It’s a thing about this space in your life. Give yourself grace to have different abilities now.

While we’re not going to tell you to “cherish every moment” because that’s frustrating advice, do what you can to enjoy the journey, even though it’s messy and unpredictable. You’ll be glad that you did.