How to manage everything with a small child

Tips: how to save time on cleaning?

A small child in the house and perfect order are two completely incompatible things. Reconsider your usual views on maintaining cleanliness and order. With a child under three years old, it is impossible to achieve perfection in cleaning with previous efforts. More precisely, it is possible, but at the cost of incredible effort and without minimal respite and rest.

• Every item in the house requires care, that is, time and effort. Try for a while to remove from sight those things that you can do without. For example, numerous vases, figurines and all sorts of little things that collect dust. Such things also include floor coverings in the form of rugs and carpets. Anything that serves only an aesthetic role and not a functional one should be put away for storage.
• Set aside a certain amount of time per day for cleaning - for example, 20-30 minutes. This is enough to clean up one room or closet. Don't accumulate a lot of homework and don't try to clean the entire apartment in one go. Cleanliness and order can be maintained if you spend a small amount of time and effort on it every day.
• Combine caring for your baby with some household chores. Place your baby in a sling and you can easily wash the dishes or hang out the laundry. This will save time that you can spend on yourself.
• If you don’t yet have the necessary household appliances in your home, then you should talk about it with your family and friends. After all, a huge amount of work with the advent of miracle machines will be transferred to their “shoulders”. A young mother simply needs an automatic washing machine, a vacuum cleaner and a dishwasher. These technological advances can make life many times easier for a mother with a small child.
• If your baby’s belly button has already healed, then you shouldn’t waste time ironing baby clothes. Just when hanging wet laundry, you need to carefully straighten it, then dry things will look neat.
• You can reduce the volume of dirty laundry and the number of washes by using disposable items - diapers, diapers and napkins. The time allocated for hanging and folding diapers and baby clothes will remain at your disposal.
• Your significant other, older children and parents can do some of the housework themselves. For example, take out the trash, wash the dishes after yourself, wipe the table. These simple tasks take up precious time from a young mother.

Tips: How to save time in the kitchen?

• Pre-composing a menu and purchasing products according to it is a great way to save time. You just need to sit for a while to create a diet for the week, and then choose one of the days to stock up on the necessary products. Firstly, you won’t have to figure out what to cook every day, and secondly, you won’t need to waste time going to the store every day.
• Homemade semi-finished products and freezing are also an excellent solution. Our beloved grandmothers can also come to the rescue here. Finely chop the onions, carrots and bell peppers, pack them into bags and put them in the freezer. Place cooked but not fried cutlets or sliced ​​meat for goulash there for storage. All that remains is to pull it out and cook.
• Organize the meal process in such a way that there are no complex dishes that require a long stay in the kitchen near the stove. Meat and vegetables can be baked in the oven, and porridge can be cooked in special bags. The simpler the dish, the more free time you will have.
• Don't take on all the kitchen work; involve your spouse and close relatives to help. Grandmothers can sometimes bring their homemade meals, and the husband can easily prepare a vegetable salad or cut bread.
• And again, household appliances without which you can’t save time are a blender, a multicooker and a food processor. They will make a woman's life in the kitchen much easier.

In order for a young mother to have enough energy for her child and household chores, she needs time for proper rest during the day - this is watching her favorite movie, reading a book, sleeping or doing her favorite thing. With our recommendations, every woman will be able to take time for herself without harming the baby and other family members. While awake, a growing child can be next to his mother working at home, sitting or lying in a stroller or chaise lounge. But the baby’s sleep time is mother’s time.

How to manage everything with a child in your arms

The time when a mother is left alone at home with a newborn baby or an overly playful crawler is remembered by many as the most difficult time in life. And in fact, the baby requires constant care - but then how to cope with the usual chores? Is it really possible to have time to do everything? It turns out that you just need to reconsider some approaches!

Setting priorities

The main idea that you should instill in yourself and those around you during pregnancy is that life with a child is not at all the same as life without a child, and it will never be the same. Even if the expectant mother is obsessed with cleanliness, after giving birth she simply will not have the opportunity to care for the baby, do daily cleaning, and devote time to herself and her husband. Even attempts to continue after childbirth to do everything the same as before childbirth can lead to postpartum depression, neurosis of the mother and baby, and even greatly worsen relationships with her husband or relatives. So something will definitely have to be sacrificed. Although you can call it more creatively: reorganizing your own time.

It is best to try to come to an agreement with your family so that during the entire period of recovery after childbirth, that is, at least in the first month of the baby’s life, the mother can mostly rest and take care of the baby. This is objectively necessary for the mother’s body to become toned, for lactation to be established and for the bond with the child to be strengthened. Such “postpartum leave,” when the whole family took care of the nursing mother, is present in the traditions of most peoples of the world, including Russians.

At the same time, sometimes relatives offer to “stay with the child” while the mother does some housework. Many will find this proposal tempting, but here lies a danger: the baby really needs to establish relationships first of all with his mother, and not with his grandmother or aunt! Most mothers themselves instinctively worry when a newborn baby is in someone else’s hands, even if this person is absolutely reliable... Giving the baby to other family members at first should be no more than a few minutes, when the baby is calm and in a good mood, and if he begins be nervous - take him back, things can wait. Over time, this period can be increased, but to reasonable limits. In the practice of natural feeding consultants, there are cases when a baby refuses his mother’s breast precisely because he spends more time in the arms of his grandmother or nanny than with his mother - in this case, the baby simply begins to confuse who exactly his mother is...

Therefore, of course, it is better to agree on help with housework, and as for help in babysitting, everything has its time. However, it is clear that, alas, not everyone can count on sensitive and reliable support. And then you need to think about certain nuances in advance, otherwise the sudden transformation of the “princess”, whom everyone took care of during pregnancy, into a “maid”, who suddenly has many new responsibilities, can be too shocking.

First of all, you need to decide what is more important to you personally. Child's health? Your own health? Is the house clean? Good relationship with the new dad? Depending on the answer you give yourself, you should distribute your energy between tasks.

Then all possible cases need to be divided into groups. Things that you can basically do should simply be excluded (for example, ironing many things, chatting on the phone, etc.) or try to combine it with feeding the baby. So, many mothers have a great rest, surrounded by pillows for comfortable feeding, during which they can not only communicate with the baby, but also read, watch TV, and talk on the phone. A walk can be combined with going to the store, chatting with friends or relatives. And in any case, do not forget to give a load to everyone who is going to visit you: the first months of life, visiting a mother and child should not be entertainment, but help. It is quite easy for a guest to make the purchases you need now or to take part in organizing a meal, but for a mother this is a serious help.

The remaining cases should be divided into categories :

• what you can do with a child in your arms: for example, throw things in the washing machine, put food on to warm up;
• those that can be done when the child is nearby (in a stroller, crib, baby chair): washing dishes, hanging washed clothes, light cleaning;
• those that can only be done when the baby is sleeping.

Although it is best, at least in the first months, to try to relax with your child. Parenting books and articles often give this advice, but what does it mean in practice? Here are the two most general rules. First: for long feedings, it is better to lie down, and if you want to take a nap, do not deny yourself. The relaxation and restoration of strength obtained in this way is incomparable to anything. Second: during the day, do something pleasant for yourself (pick up a book or knitting, brew and slowly drink tea, make a face mask - each of us will have our own version).

But what a mother of a newborn should not do is try to plan her day in advance. In a child who feeds on demand and develops according to the natural laws of nature, any kind of regime is established at the age of about two to three months. In fact, only from this period can a mother more or less confidently plan serious matters during the baby’s dreams - run to the hairdresser, relax in the bathroom, cook a big family dinner... Moreover, we must keep in mind that the routine that the baby sets for himself approximately every changes within two to three months.

We include the baby in our activities

Sooner or later, the mother still comes to the conclusion that she needs to rebuild her life so that it flows together with the child - and not to be torn between the needs of the child, her own and the needs of the rest of the family members. In traditional cultures, having recovered after childbirth, the mother continues to carry out her family duties, which, by the way, are much more difficult than washing clothes in an automatic machine or cooking semi-finished products in a microwave oven...

In this case, the child can stay next to his mother all or most of the time. The sling, or sling, which is gaining popularity in Russia, is best suited for carrying a baby in your arms. Unfortunately, many mothers try to either distract the child as much as possible so as not to “disturb” them, or rush into household chores during the child’s sleep, sacrificing their own rest. But isn’t it better to provide the child with the opportunity to take part in the life of the family as much as possible from early childhood? This is certainly more useful than lying in a crib, contemplating a spinning mobile...

The ones who get tired the most are those mothers who try hard to entertain and “develop” the baby while he is awake, and go about their business when he finally falls asleep. As a result, it turns out that the lack of rest affects the mother’s well-being, and at the same time, the baby does not try to act independently for a long time, because he is used to being entertained. But a mother’s task is not at all to be an eternal toy for her child. Mom's role is that of a loving and reliable guide to the world around her. For a child, it is both interesting and useful to observe the activities of an adult, and as he grows up, he takes part in it as much as possible. At the same time, while doing things together, the mother does not deprive the baby of attention, as some believe - on the contrary, they constantly communicate, and with age, the mother begins to direct the baby’s actions, giving him more and more independence. If the mother restricts the baby in areas where he cannot yet cope due to his age, and encourages his independence within accessible boundaries, she will raise an intelligent and caring assistant.

So, if a child of several months old watches the cooking process with interest, then closer to a year he can already help with the simplest actions (wash something, throw it in a saucepan, add salt). One and a half year old children are already quite capable of putting their things in place (if, of course, it is accessible to the child), wiping off dust while cleaning, helping their mother sort through cereals or berries, and so on. Let this help be purely nominal for a long time, but the child will be “in business” and proud of his function as his mother’s assistant, “like an adult.”

The mother’s main task is to decide what the baby can already handle without spoiling too much, and what he can’t handle yet. So, if a baby, having spilled something, goes for a floor rag, it is better not to prohibit him from doing this, but to allocate his own “cleaning tool”. If a six-month-old child reaches for a sharp knife, you should either simply move him away, or offer him a toy knife and a peeled potato (which he will most likely lick along the way). And with mom’s help, setting the time on the microwave timer is one of the favorite pastimes of slightly older children...

With your baby awake in the sling, you can vacuum, peel vegetables, and wash the stove. And washing floors and hanging clothes (on a floor dryer) easily turns into a game of “hide and seek” with a baby who has reached at least 4 months of age. With the corresponding exclamation “Ku-ku, where is mom?” she either disappears or appears from behind pieces of furniture (or hides behind a diaper, which she is just now shaking and straightening).

Proven Tricks

And finally, methods of rational housekeeping, tried and tested by many mothers, can come to the rescue.

Devices that are great in situations where you need to do things with a child on you or next to you: a sling; mobile cradle, car seat or chaise longue; horseshoe-shaped nursing pillow; rug with toys. Moreover, it is not necessary to buy an expensive developmental mat - according to reviews from mothers, a travel mat, which is easy to clean and warmer and more pleasant to the touch than simple oilcloth, is very helpful. It is enough to place the child on it along with his favorite toys, and if you are within sight of the baby, you are guaranteed 10-20 minutes to do your own business.

As for food, in the first few months it is best to switch to food that requires a minimum of time, that is, semi-finished products. If you have the means, you can buy them - meat, fish, vegetables, the choice is now huge. If you have time, you can prepare them: freeze the same chopped vegetables, cutlets, dumplings, dumplings prepared with your own hands... The advice to prepare more food before giving birth and freeze part of it, found in foreign literature, seems wild to many, but only until tested on myself. Stewed pieces of meat, baked chicken thighs, pilaf - all this, defrosted in the microwave, did not lose any of its taste.

Home appliances also come to the rescue. The microwave oven takes away some of the beneficial properties of food, but cooking in it is very easy and quick. A food processor allows you to chop vegetables and cut cheese with a child in your arms. Meat or fish can be baked whole, rather than frying, stirring tediously and fearing that it will burn; vegetables will be cooked in a steamer; and porridge in portioned bags only requires the ability to get them out of the pan in time.

Ironing of many things, according to reasonable understanding, turns out to be not necessary at all - for example, bed linen (and almost everything else) can simply be carefully hung to dry, and then neatly folded. It is also in the interests of the whole family to temporarily switch to clothes that are as wrinkle-free as possible (fortunately, modern materials allow this). Mom should think over her wardrobe and leave a minimum of things in it for the near future - multifunctional and not requiring special care. But almost no one irons baby diapers anymore: if necessary, they are washed with the boiling function, and special baby rinses are used for softness (if the baby is not prone to allergies). Then the diapers hardly wrinkle and when folded into a pile they look no less neat than if they were ironed. (It should be noted that some chains of expensive hotels have refused to iron bed linen, replacing the iron with fabric softener, because exposure to high temperatures seems to glue the fibers of the fabric, making them less breathable.)

Cleaning? Many mothers come to the conclusion that once or twice a week is enough when the house is small. As a last resort, you can hire a visiting assistant: the same couple of times a week will not cost that much, and for many women this turned out to be a huge relief. And most importantly, remember: the children will soon grow up, and mother’s chores will become different again!