Hellobee Boards

I went back to work last week and LO is with my DH right now, too until September.

Pre work:
6 am - Wake up and breastfeed LO. If she's not up, I'll sometimes wake her up or let her sleep until 7.
6:30 - Double pump after LO feeds. Play with her if she's still awake. Put her back in co-sleeper if she's still tired.
7 - Breakfast, get ready for work, check my pumping supplies
8 - Breastfeed LO one more time
8:15 - Leave for work

Post work:
5:40-6 p.m. - Return from work. Breastfeed LO. I ask DH not to feed LO after 4:30. If she seems a bit fussy or hungry he'll give her an ounce or two to hold her until I get home.
6:30 - Start dinner. Prepare LO's bottles for the next day. Freeze any leftover breast milk. Wash pump parts and put out to dry (only if I was able to pump 3 times at work. If not I wash the pump parts later in the night.)
7-7:15 - Eat. DH and I will take turns eating depending on how LO is doing. If she's in the mood for playing with her mobile we set her down in her bassinet (it's on wheels so we keep it with us in the living room) so we can eat. Watch Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune
8 - Feed LO again while watching more TV! Catch up on e-mails. (one-handed) Read the news.
8:30 - Bath time for Mommy and LO. We bathe together! She loves it. I get in first and clean myself, empty most of the water, refill a little and then DH brings her in.
9 - Play with LO.
9:30 - Pack breakfast and lunch for work. Take out clothes for the next day.
10-11: Breastfeed LO again. LO goes to bed. Late bed time! We were putting her to bed at 8:30 originally but she fights that bed time and sleeps like crap if we put her down earlier. Depending on what I have planned, I'll go to bed with her. The latest I stay up is midnight.
11: If I only got to pump twice at work, I'll pump after LO falls asleep. Wash pump parts and set out to dry. Go to sleep.

LO normally has been sleeping through the night. Since I've been back to work, she's only gotten up once to eat.

REPEAT!

Morning:
Wake up between 6:30-7am
Feed LO a bottle
Get her up/dressed
Shower
Make breakfast
Pack lunches for DH and myself
Play with cat and LO
Leave for work by 8:10

After work:
Get home, play with LO
6:30ish bath for LO
Bottle, rock LO, put her to bed
Make dinner
Eat dinner
Make formula / bottles for daycare
Pack daycare bag
Make lunches for DH and myself
Wash dishes
Do laundry if needed
Clean kitchen
Pick up LO's toys / pick up the house
Free time
Go to bed - change LO into nighttime diaper and give her 1 more bottle

Repeat, repeat, repeat. We're usually in bed between 10-11pm, so the evening stuff is all done between around 7:30-10

@CarrieLouWho: Good luck on your first day back LO just turned 6 months old, and we only just started solids, so they're not really part of the current routine yet. Here's my pre- and post-work schedule:

6a -- sometimes 5a, 5:30a, etc., depending on LO - Wake and breastfeed.
6:30a - Keep LO in crib with toys as long as he is happy. Husband is "on call," and I shower. (If LO sleeping at 6, then I'll shower first and BF after.)
6:45a - Make-up, dress, check on LO.
7:15a - Pack up pump and be sure I have all parts (hands-free pumping bra, flanges, valves & membranes, connectors, bottles with lids), count bottles/ounces of pumped milk for daycare and put into mini cooler bag.
7:30a - Leave for work (and pick up coffee, breakfast, and lunch from supermarket/Starbucks). DH brings LO to daycare later w/ mini cooler and any other supplies needed for the day.

At work pump breaks:
10a, 1p, 4p (I pump while eating lunch.)

After work
5p - Leave work, and pick up LO from daycare
5:25p - Arrive at home and refrigerate milk pumped at work and any leftover from daycare
5:30p - Breastfeeding depending when last daycare bottle feed was. If no breastfeeding needed immediately, play with LO -- read books, sit and play with teething toys, blocks, Exersaucer, etc.
5:45p or 6p - Bath
6:10p - PJs
6:15p - more reading, playing depending how drowsy LO is, and DH washes bottles and pump parts
6:30p - Breastfeeding
7p - Bed for LO, sometimes laundry, too
7:10p - Cook and eat dinner -- nothing too complicated, usually heat up frozen meal, salad, something simple, watch TV, relax. Also figure out if daycare needs anything like extra change of clothes, more diapers, bibs, etc. (We bring the bag to them Mon. mornings and they send it home Fri. evenings, so we only do a complete bag re-set on weekends.)
9p - Pump
9:30 or 10p - Bed for me
11p - Sometimes LO wakes again, and he usually wakes once or twice overnight.

Repeat! I have a different schedule on Tuesdays, as I work 12p-9p, so I drop LO off at daycare, and DH picks him up after work and does the nighttime routine, but with bottle of pumped milk. When I get home around 9:15p, I want to collapse, but I eat a snack and clean bottles. May or may not pump again. Sleep around 10:30 for me.

Hope this helps!

This is so scary to me lol. I start work at 9 a.m. now, but I need to talk to my boss about starting at 8 instead so I can get out at 5 and pickup LO before daycare closes at 6. But I currently wake up at 7:30 to leave the house by 8:30, and it didn't even occur to me that I'd need much more than an hour to get myself AND the baby ready. I feel like I'm going to be waking up at like 5 a.m.!

@pregnantbee: There are some things I can do differently, like showering/blow drying hair at night and preparing breakfast/coffee/baby stuff the night before, etc. So there's that! I'm just starting to get really nervous about all the juggling ahead and whether I can handle it!

@ladyfingers: You'll be able to handle it. It will take some time to get used to it, but it gets easier with practice. I don't think I forgot any pump parts at home last week

Get up at 6, shower, do hair and makeup
6:30, make breakfast, pack up pump parts, feed pets, sometimes start a crockpot meal
7 - wake up DH and LO. DH showers while I BF LO.
7:15/20 - DH takes over with LO, I get dressed and out the door by 7:30

Evening:
Pick up LO any time between 5:15 and 5:45 depending on work and traffic.
Home between 5:30 and 6.
Between 6 and 7, play, nurse, if LO is content on her own for a little while or catnapping in her carseat I do a few quick chores like loading the dishwasher, starting a load of laundry, maybe starting dinner.
DH gets home around 7 - he plays with LO until about 7:30 while I do a few more chores. Once or twice a week I fit in a run on the treadmill during this time.
7:30, I take over to nurse LO before bed, while DH takes over chore wise with packing lunches, washing and prepping bottles, finishing dinner etc.
LO goes down at 8, we eat dinner together then and watch some TV. Usually head up to bed about 9-9:30.

We make it work by meal planning either simple meals or crockpot/make ahead casseroles so there is very little dinner prep to be done the night of. We also do way more the night before in terms of putting our bags together, packing lunches, prepping LO's daycare stuff, laying out clothes.