Making the Most Out of Breastfeeding

When your baby is first born you may find that you are nursing them takes a lot of time. Partly because of the lack of sleep that a mom may have, it could feel that she is in a continuous loop of nursing. If you feel like you need to be getting other stuff done make the most out of your time. Here are twenty things that you can do while nursing your baby.

Now of course depending if you are sitting or laying down when you nurse your baby will determine how easy these task will be. Also the age of your baby will be a factor. Some things may become easier to do once your baby is older and other may become harder to accomplish as your baby becomes more aware of what you are doing while feeding them.

1. Knit, Crochet or Do Embroidery - Keep in mind that you will be using needles around your baby. Once your child is aware of these needles that you are using it may be a good idea to discontinue this hobby while you are nursing, unless your child knows that this is something that they are not to touch.

2. Crosswords or Word Searches - If you are nursing your baby on the side that you are use to writing with you may have to wait to do these until your baby is nursing on the opposite side. You might be surprised though how quickly you begin to get more comfortable using the hand that you are not dominate with.

3. Watch TV - Watching TV while you are nursing is easy as long as it doesn't distract your baby. You will only need a free hand if you want to use the remote. If you have a DVR, Tivo or have a show or movie that you recorded on a tape or DVD you can watch a little at a time. Then when your baby wants to nurse again you can pick right up where you left off with your show.

4. Read a Book or Magazine - You may find that the 30 minutes that your baby nurses at a time is a great time to pick up the current book that you are reading. You can easily come back to your place if you always keep the book near the area that you nurse.

5. Eat - Mom needs to eat too. Snack while you breastfeed that way when your baby is done eating you both will be full and you can move on the next task of the day.

6. Use Your Computer - Ever go on a forum and see that someone is NAK. You can do the same thing. I wouldn't recommend sitting in front of the computer every time that you nurse but it doesn't hurt to do it once in a while. By the way NAK stands for Nursing at Keyboard.

7. Make Lists - Once again if you have the hand that you write with free you can make lists while you are breastfeeding. Make a grocery list, a list of the things that you want to get done that day or whatever.

8. Talk On the Phone - If you know that you need to call someone take that time that you are nursing your baby to do it. You'll be able to sit, talk and feed your baby all at the same time. Try and keep the phone near you when you are nursing so if it rings you won't have to stop nursing to pick it up.

9. Talk With Family - If your family is home you can talk to them while you are nursing. Whether you are talking to your partner or your other children while you are nursing you are certainly still multitasking.

10. Read to Other Children - When you have younger children you can read them a story in the amount of time that it takes to feed your baby. Why not do both activities at the same time. If your children are reading chapter books take the time as an opportunity to read a chapter in a book to them.

11. Fold Cloth Diapers - Now this may seem like it would be kind of tricky but you will be amazed how quickly you are able to do this sort of thing while nursing.

12. Fold Baby Laundry - You can fold any kind of laundry when you are nursing. Baby laundry is the easiest though since everything is so miniature.

13. Brush Your Baby's Cradle Cap - When your baby is at the age when they have cradle cap you can brush their hair, that is if they don't mind you doing that while they are eating, to encourage the cradle cap to fall out.

14. Relax - Remember too that is totally okay if all you want to do is do nothing other than nurse your baby while you are nursing your baby. Take a deep breath lean back and simply relax.

15. Write a letter or fill Out a Card - Here we are with another one of those tasks that almost always need to be done with your writing hand. Still though if you have a thank you not or letter that you need to be writing someone you can do it while you nurse your baby.

16. Sing Your Baby to Sleep - It is a maternal instinct to sing to your baby as they fall asleep. A lot of times a baby will fall asleep while nursing, singing though may seal the deal for sure.

17. Brush Your Hair - When you are running late and you want to brush your hair you can do that while you are nursing.

18. Put On Your Makeup - Place a mirror in front of yourself and put your makeup on while you are breastfeeding your baby.

19. Think and Plan - A very simple task that you can do at the same time as nursing your baby is to think about what ever you want. Also you can take those thoughts and plan.

20. Enjoy - Last but not least, you can look at your baby and gaze at their cuteness. I think the best task that you can do while nursing your baby is to enjoy breastfeeding your baby.

Every baby is different and will not nurse under certain circumstances. You may be surprised though just how much you can get done, along with feeding your child, while breastfeeding.