Finding ways to increase productivity while nursing may seem impossible if you’re relatively new to the job of being a human milk dispenser. But after twenty-four months of breastfeeding, I have found quite a few ways to utilize this valuable time.
I started off like many new breastfeeding moms probably do – watching TV while my reflux baby nursed constantly. Of course when I got hungry, I held my nursling in one arm while trying to prepare food with my free hand (thank goodness for the My Brest Friend buckling nursing pillow I used constantly to help support baby even when I was standing!).
Sometimes I even baked while nursing my tiny baby. But most of the time, it was just too hard to try to get something done with one arm tied up. So TV was what I did for the majority of my daughter’s nursing/sleep time during her first 3 months of life.
Learn 10 things you can easily do postpartum here!
When I first began taking my baby to a dark, quiet room instead of sitting on front of the TV as I nursed her while she slept at around four months old, I thought I was about to embark on a miserable journey of dungeon-like isolation that would be downright depressing. But instead, I ended up accomplishing some things that otherwise never would have happened.
And now, through my experience, I’m going to share some inspiration with you, Mama. Whether you are trying to increase productivity while nursing an always-hungry newborn, a snoozing child you have not sleep-trained or something in between, this post is for you!
8 Ways to Increase Productivity While Nursing Your Child
Let me start off by saying, if your little one is sucking a lot of productive time out of you (literally) and you do not own a tablet, you are going to want one. Trust me, once you use a tablet instead of your phone, you will increase productivity significantly in your online life.
You don’t have to get anything fancy if you don’t have specific technological needs. As much as I love my newer Samsung Galaxy Tab A, I often still use my Amazon Fire because it is so lightweight and much easier to use one-handed. For a mama with her arms tied up who wants to do basic work and browsing, I highly recommend going with the cheaper Amazon fire.
Now that you’ve got your chosen device ready, let the productivity commence!
1. Start a Blog
You want to increase productivity while nursing your babe? Let’s jump in with ambition! Starting a blog is definitely the way in which my life has changed the most since my breastfeeding journey began.
The feeling of being “just” a mom began to weigh on me when my daughter was about 9 months old. Prior to that point, my baby had needed me so much and so frequently, I felt extremely essential to the survival and happiness of another human being. How much more fulfilling can life get?
But the older she got and the less my every waking – and sleeping – moment was consumed with making sure this little person stayed alive and well, the more my thoughts became empty and I started to yearn for the mental stimulation my full-time job offered before I gave birth. That feeling ultimately led me to start this blog.
Read my natural hospital birth story here.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can’t do it because it’s something you’ve never done or never imagined yourself doing. That is how I felt at first. But here I am, almost a year later, still going strong and absolutely loving being a mom blogger!
If you are interested in building your own blog but don’t know where to start, check out Amy Lynn Andrews’ website. She is great at explaining everything you need to know about starting a blog – in plain English without all the technical jargon.
2. Create a Meal Plan and Grocery Shopping List
It took me a while to get around to doing this, but when I finally did, it had a huge impact on how much grocery food and money we wasted each week.
Increase your productivity while nursing by planning all of your meals out for the week and making a grocery list based off of every single ingredient you need for each meal. Add in some staples and you’ve got your grocery list ready to go!
I usually plan out my meals for the following week and put my list together on Sunday and then grocery shop on Monday morning (or text the list to my husband to pick stuff up after work if I can’t get out). This has truly organized my life so much!
3. Read Your Bible
It may be difficult or impossible to read or work through a physical devotional book during this stage of motherhood, but thank goodness for Bible apps! We have so many options these days on what version to read and they are all easily available on just about any device.
Use this valuable time wisely. God has given you this time; now it’s your turn to give at least a portion of it back to Him.
4. Browse Pinterest for Free Educational Materials
What better way to increase productivity while nursing than to invest in your child’s education so that you can feed her brain when your done feeding her body?
Depending on your child’s age, this will obviously look different at different times. Right now, my daughter is 2 and I am working on several preschool principles with her. I sometimes browse preschool blog posts on Pinterest for free printables, learning activities and crafts.
If your little one is still a baby, scroll through posts about how to interact with your baby or activities you can do to stimulate her development. You can find materials or activities to promote intellectual and emotional growth for pretty much any age on Pinterest.
5. Get Familiar with Your Finances
Here’s a fun way to increase productivity while nursing (heavy on the sarcasm). This one may not sound exciting to a lot of us, but it is certainly important.
Raise your hand if you are not as well-informed about your finances as you should be (raising both hands over here …).
My husband is the finance person in our house. He loves it and he’s good at it. I don’t and I’m not. But I often think about how lost I will feel if something ever happens to him, and I know I need to be more educated in this area of our life.
I’m still not nearly on top of it all, but I have definitely gotten better at keeping up with certain areas of our finances since I became a milk machine tied to a chair.
6. Shop for Baby/Toddler Clothes and Birthday Gifts
If your baby is still very young, you may think all the clothes you got at your baby shower have got you covered for a long time.
But that mindset will ultimately find you rummaging through the nursery closet, looking desperately for just one season-suitable 18-month outfit to put on your one-year-old who has just outgrown all of his 12-month clothes.
Instead of ending up in this scenario, increase productivity while nursing by shopping online for clothes in future sizes for your child. This is also a great way to get sales at the end of a season when you shop for the following year.
Similarly, this is the perfect time to shop for birthday and Christmas presents for your child as well as neices and nephews. Better to be ahead of the game instead of scrambling for a gift at the last minute.
7. Create a Shutterfly Scrapbook
How often do you think to yourself that you should be printing pictures of your little one and keeping them organized by age? I think about this all the time. But finding the time to actually do it is tricky.
That is why doing it online while you’re too busy nursing to do anything else is such a great idea! This is how I got my pregnancy photo album done.
You can have fun with it and be creative or just do something basic so that you have some of those priceless moments in print before they accidentally get erased. Whatever your style, creating an album on Shutterfly is the perfect solution to increase productivity while nursing.
8. Plan Out Your Daily or Weekly Schedule
Depending on your baby’s age and neediness, creating and following a schedule might sound overwhelming – or maybe it sounds like just what you need but you’re not sure how to go about it.
Get my FREE sample schedule for baby mamas here!
If you are overwhelmed or don’t know where to begin, let me give you a couple of pieces of advice as the mama of a very needy baby who was attached to me around the clock for her first 6 months of life.
- Make Baby-Size Goals
Fist of all, start gradually. Make your goals small to start.
Your life and responsibilities have changed significantly with the arrival of your child. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, there is quite a difference in what you can accomplish in a day as the mom of a small child versus your former self when you only had your own needs to look after.
At this point, getting a load of laundry washed and dried might be a noble and ambitious goal for you for the day – and even that might only get done while wearing your baby in a wrap. I have a wrap like this one and it was invaluable, by the way.
- Use Time Blocks
Secondly, instead of attempting to stick to a rigid time-based schedule, organize your “to-dos” by parts of your day. For example, while my daughter nursed and slept in my arms in the evening, I would make a small list of goals I wanted to accomplish the next day divided up by morning, between naps and before bedtime.
Once my daughter was a slightly-less-clingy toddler and I was able to accomplish more in a day, I graduated to creating a routine for each week that included which household chores and outings would happen on what days.
This gradual progression of organization has been very beneficial to me by keeping me on track with things I need to get done while allowing me flexibility for difficult days or weeks.
For more on how to get things done with a small infant, check out this post over at Wear Your Mom Genes.
You Have Limited Time to Increase Productivity While Nursing
Don’t worry, breastfeeding mama. Before you know it, your little one will be nursing less and you’ll have more active productive time again.
But for now, take advantage of this time to learn new ways of being productive. Once you figure out how to use this down-time to your benefit, you will be surprised how much you miss it when the day comes that you begin to wean from breastfeeding.
What do you do while attached to your little one, Mama? Let me know in the comments if you have other ways to increase productivity while nursing. I would love to hear your experience and ideas!
And don’t forget to share these productive ideas with our fellow breastfeeding mamas via the share buttons below!
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