Life with a newborn baby can be difficult to manage, especially when you need to spend most part of your day feeding and changing them, let alone getting any housework or relaxation time in. Nevertheless, having a baby doesn’t need to signal the end of your career, as you still might be feeling like you want to climb that career ladder and make a successful life for you and your new family. Here are 10 top tips for studying when you have a newborn baby to keep on moving forward with your career.
Study Online
Finding time to go online and catch up on your course will be a much easier way of fitting studies into your schedule as opposed to trying to make your lecture on time, either with your baby or by leaving him with another family member. Make life easier on yourself by either speaking to your professor about having classes sent to you by email or start a course that is completely online such as the graduate online nursing programs at Carson-Newman University. This way, you are still able to connect with fellow students and enjoy a personalised learning experience, although it can all be done from the comfort of your own home.
Stick To Baby’s Schedule
Babies will want your attention for an abundance of reasons; they are doing this because all your baby wants to do is grow, therefore, you will be required to follow his or her schedule and jump to their every need. This makes it almost impossible to stick to your previous routine or even one that you have thought up, ready for the arrival of your baby. Find a schedule that works for you both by getting to know your baby’s general routine, such as when he wakes up, needs feeding, changing, and when he likes to nap. The nap time is your golden hour or when you can choose to sleep yourself, tidy up a bit, relax with a coffee or get your head down in a book or laptop. A very newborn baby will nap around every 45 minutes, however, as they grow to 9-12 months old, they will be napping every 2.5-4 hours every day, so bear in mind that whatever schedule you create for yourself, it will need to be flexible.
Take Your Studying In Baby Steps
Most highly successful people get to where they are by setting themselves small achievable goals to undertake each day, this way they are always moving forward and focusing on larger goals. When you have a newborn baby, it won’t be a matter of choice that you take your studying in baby steps, you will just need to find a couple of hours throughout the day that suit your new lifestyle. This means that making yourself small achievable goals each day can be the solution to completing the tasks at hand without causing you too much stress.
Have a Plan
Following on from the previous tip, setting small achievable goals requires a plan. This plan doesn’t need to be monumental or fit for a presentation to a CEO; a simple list will do. Try writing three things down that you want to have accomplished by the end of the day. If you have an assignment due soon then perhaps this plan can include writing 500 hundred words by the end of the day. Once you have a clear plan, it is easier to stick to your goals and achieve something, no matter how small, every day. This will help you to succeed at college or university whilst juggling motherhood. If you didn’t make a plan to study at all for a whole week then you might be forced into a feeling of stress once you acknowledge how much work there is to catch up on. You might then set yourself a goal of writing a whole assignment once you have put your newborn to bed for the night, although this will put a lot of pressure on you that could have been avoided by following the ‘baby step’ method.
Buy a Baby Wrap
If nap time is proving to be more difficult than you first thought, it might be that your baby needs the warmth and love from his mother. In this case, you can always have your baby close to you and hit the books or computer by using a baby wrap that wraps around your body, holding him close to your chest as you get on with all your tasks. Along with having a hands-free solution to caring for your baby, there are a wealth of other benefits to using a baby wrap, such as being able to discreetly breastfeed, aiding your baby’s growth and development, and strengthening the bond between parent and baby.
Call on Your Loved Ones
If your family members and close friends are able to help you out by distracting the baby for a while, then take every opportunity without feeling even slightly guilty. Besides, they will probably love being asked to cuddle your little one. This way you can lock yourself in a room and crack on with at least an hour of studying before your baby requires your attention again, and you can get a lot done in an hour if you have made your plan and laid out your baby steps for the day.
Understand When Enough is Enough
Studying is incredibly important if your chosen career path involves having a specific diploma, however, not at the expense of enjoying quality time with your new family. Remember that welcoming a new baby into the world is a miracle that should bring you lots of joy and happiness, along with responsibility and a little bit of fear. The moments that you spend with a new baby should not be taken for granted, so ensure that attending to their needs takes precedence over studying for your future, you will have plenty of time to catch up on your career once your baby’s demands slightly diminish.
Studying with a newborn baby might be difficult but it is certainly possible. Remember to follow these tips and understand that your baby’s demands will change as they grow older, so be flexible.
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