Imagining life with a baby
Now imagine life with a baby. How much time will baby care take? Take infant feeding, for instance. If you’re breastfeeding, expect your newborn to eat eight to 12 times each day (maybe more!). If there are 12 feeds a day, and each feed takes on average 30 minutes (and that’s the low end of average), you’ll be spending 6 hours a day breastfeeding. Even if you’re formula feeding, preparing bottles, cleaning them, and actually feeding the baby takes time, too.
How will your pie chart need to change to accommodate this? What about diaper changing? Expect to change a napp with every feed – if you figure 12 per day at five minutes per change (once you get good at it), that’s another hour there. Add in clothing changes, comforting, putting baby to sleep, burping, etc. Add that all to your pie.