Why Is it Busy With a Newborn?

Expecting your first baby is an exciting time. You are going to have a baby and child to call your own, and start your parenting journey. Some may be excited while others may be extremely anxious. Whatever your expectation is, you can basically plan on those expectations to not match your reality when the baby does come. Every baby is different, and you simply never know what you will actually get.

One question you may be wondering about is how things are going to be that busy when you have a newborn baby. There will be two parents, both with some time off, and there will be one newborn in the house which mostly just sleeps and eats. It seems like you’ll have more than enough time to take care of the baby and do everything that needs to be done - it likely won’t be that way though.

First off, you need to remember that you’re going to be sleep deprived for quite some time after having a newborn. And if you’re not sleep deprived, then your partner is going to be. Someone will be waking up every couple of hours at night to feed the baby, and they’ll be up for anywhere from 30 minutes to much longer while eating. Sleep will be something that you wish you could get more of.

Your baby isn’t only going to need to eat overnight, but during the day as well. You’re now running on less sleep than you are used to, and you’re stopping every 2 to 3 hours to make sure your baby is getting fed. You’re also changing diapers and simply trying to enjoy having a baby in your life. The lack of sleep really throws things off for you here - you’re not used to this type of sleep deprivation on a consistent basis.

Most everything else is pretty much the same. You’re going to be excited to have a new baby in the home, and you’re going to want to spend time with them. Life is undergoing a pretty dramatic change with how you spend your time, but that doesn’t mean you don’t get any time to yourself. You’ll still get some downtime even with a newborn in the home, but just not a lot of it like you used to have.

Another thing to remember is that every child is different. Some people are really lucky and their baby will wake up, eat, and then go back to sleep pretty quickly. Others will struggle to sleep at all at night, and others will simply not be interested in sleeping if they’re not being held. You may get lucky with the first type of child, or you may be not so lucky and struggle to find a way to get your child to sleep at night.

If you’re struggling with the transition, try not to spend as much time and energy on doing the things that aren’t as important. Jobs and chores around the house can wait if they need to - you can do the dishes later or clean the bathroom another day. No one is going to judge you for not getting all of the housework done when you’ve got a newborn in the house - take care of your baby and yourself first.

Having a newborn is busy simply because you’re not getting enough sleep. Life has changed, and it’s time to get used to a new life.