How to Keep Home With a Baby 

Having a baby adds a new level of challenge to the everyday tasks of homemaking. Chores that were once simple suddenly become more challenging and time-consuming. While I am sure I have more challenges to overcome as my little one continues to grow, these tips have helped me keep my home and mind from succumbing to complete chaos, and helped me to feel as if I had accomplished something at the end of the day.

Give Yourself Grace 

The first thing you need to do is give yourself some grace when it comes to getting things accomplished. You are not going to be able to do as much as you could before your baby was born. It is physically not possible. 

If you are like me and enjoy things to be neat and tidy, then you need to become okay with a little disorder. The bed might not get made every day, and that is okay. 

Set Realistic Goals 

Making sure your goals for the day are realistic is important to give you the feeling of success at the end of the day. When my baby was first born, I would set one goal for the day. It might have been making dinner, going to the grocery store, or cleaning the bathroom, but certainly not all three.

If you are able to get to more than one thing, fantastic, but if not, you don’t have the feeling of failure from not accomplishing unrealistic goals.

Baby Wear 

Getting yourself a good baby carrier is crucial for doing anything. I have no clue how a mom can do anything without one. 

I really enjoy my wrap-style carrier. I wish I had two so I could wash it more, because I don’t want to be without them for the time it takes to run the wrap through the washer and dryer.

Lists and Reminders 

As fantastic as it is to have a list of things you need to do, if you forget to look at the list, it’s not helping. I have begun keeping a detailed to-do list on my phone’s home screen, so I see it regularly. 

Setting reminders in my calendar has helped tremendously as well. I have reminders to take out the trash, when it is the week to mop or wash the sheets. I put a reminder to go get the laundry off the line after I hang it up. It feels ridiculous, but in this stage of life, with my not fully functioning brain, it is necessary.

Dinner

My baby would be a perfect angel up until about 1600. Then he would get super fussy and want to do nothing but eat. Because of this, I quickly learned that if I had time earlier in the day to get dinner ready, I should take it.

Taking advantage of a few spare moments in the morning to prep food can save a lot of stress in the evening. Crockpot meals and casserole dishes that can be prepared early and then thrown in the oven come dinner time are fantastic.

Delegation

I hate asking someone to do something that I feel like I should be able to do myself. I learned quickly, though, that in order to preserve my sanity, I needed to ask for some help. Delegating a few extra tasks to my husband really helped me to reclaim some of my sanity.

It is the hardest thing to do sometimes, but asking for help if you need it or accepting help when offered will make life so much easier. People are willing and eager to help. Accept it.

Accomplishments 

When you get to the end of the day and feel like you have done nothing, sit down and make a list of every little thing you did that day. Did you get to brush your teeth? (You go, girl!) Shower? (I am jealous.) Put some dishes away? The most important thing that goes at the top is that you kept a tiny, helpless person alive for yet another day. 

I hope that this list was helpful and gave you some ideas to help you get a few things done around your home and help you feel more at peace. In case no one has told you yet today, you are doing an amazing job. If you have any tips for homemaking with a baby, I would love to hear them in a comment below. If you are looking on more tips to help with postpartum, you can read my post here.