How to survive the early mornings.

Well where do I start? First things first, as soon as you find out your pregnant say bye bye to your lay ins. Your lay ins are loonnggg gone! Your early mornings may start way before your baby is even born, because they are either having a party under your ribs or your constantly up for the toilet. As a new mum or dad you think it will be easy and your the ones that roll your eyes when someone is telling you that they have been up all night with their kid. Trust me the tables will change my dear.

When Zachary was first born the first couple of nights were a dream, slept all night and there was no fuss, well this was easy. We spoke too soon. Until he wanted to eat more, feeding twice a night and I had to pump at 2am and 5am. This is when it started for us. Well at 5am Zac was still asleep but because I had to pump (I needed to get my milk supply higher), I had to put the machine on, as soon as I switched it on Zachary’s eyes were wide awake. Well I don’t blame him because it was like a bloody vacuum, but no way was I getting out of my warm bed to go into the cold early mornings to pump, you must be mad! After I pumped we might as well get up because he wasn’t going back to sleep. I mean I’ve never seen 5am in my life, I didn’t even realise it existed on the clock. There is no television on, its still dark and freezing because our heating has never seen 5am either. The poor house didn’t know what was going off. The early mornings effects everyone and every object.

That was happening till he was about 2 months old, yep you read that right. After a couple of nights we kind of just got used to it, I guess it starts becoming your routine. When we made the decision of me stopping breastfeeding and pumping we only had to get up twice, and it was amazing! Yes, you might still be thinking twice a night is still a lot, but not what we was doing previous, it was slightly getting better.

Then Zac was being bottle fed, still getting up twice a night till he was about 3 months old. We was coping really well, it was now our daily routine. Sometimes he would wake up after 5 but if he didn’t then I would feed him at 5 then let him come into bed with us, and he would sleep for another hour or two. And in them days that’s how we coped with the early mornings, just put him in bed with us to give us at least another hour sleep. You may think ‘oh my god she co sleeps with her baby your not allowed’. Horse poop, you do whatever you think is best there’s nothing wrong in letting your baby come into bed with you, sometimes you have to break the rules. You obviously need to be safe and sensible but your new parents your the most cautious people out there.

When he was feeding more and being more active in the day he started waking up once a night and we would be getting up at 6 or 7 in the morning. So our routine now is get him bathed and bed at half 7 then he would wake up about 4 for a bottle then up at 6, they’re rough times by the way no one can be dead on time but always have a guide line. What I find in the mornings is to just simply, GET UP. You would of never of guessed that 😉 Never, ever fight with a child that wants to play at 6am, they always win, I’ve tried. So the best way is to get up, have a shower straight away, get changed, do your hair and make up, then make your way downstairs. Then you are basically ready for the day. I make sure I do all my little jobs downstairs like change his nappy, feed the pets outside and feed Zac his breakfast. Then he would have a nap I can then feed myself and do the pots. Well ah! we are ready.

If I got up and went downstairs in my pj’s and dressing gown I am not motived one bit. I feel like Garfield the cat, legs up eating last nights lasagne and staring into the tv until my little kitten screams for food. So what I’m trying to say is no matter how many times your little Satan wakes up in the night, always get ready as soon as you get out of bed. No matter how tired you feel, that shower will wake you up. Trust me. Go downstairs and add a coffee (I never drank coffee until I become a mum) on the to do list and you’ll have more energy to go about your day.

Don’t worry about your early mornings to come or if you’ve just started them, you do just naturally get on with it. There little face looking at you in the mornings makes your tiredness go away. When they nap you nap, even if its for 10 mins, every second of sleep counts. Its easier said than done because I never did, but everyone’s different.

Things definitely get better and you start learning things and how your baby copes with a routine. Believe in yourself and stay positive and so will your baby.