I am just over halfway through my maternity leave, and I find myself getting anxious for returning back to work. I love this season of life with the slow mornings and newborn cuddles. The months have already gone by too fast! In this post I am sharing some of my favorite things while on maternity leave. These aren’t “must-haves” or life-changing recommendations, just a few things that have brought me comfort and joy during this season of life.

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My Favorite Things: Maternity Leave Edition

Contact Naps

I am enjoying all the contact naps that I can get while on leave! While my baby started out in a bassinet and is now in a crib at night, almost all of her daytime naps are contact naps. We do contact naps in the carrier or while she is lying on me. She isn’t going to be little forever and I know that I am going to look back one day and miss when she was small enough to sleep on my chest.

As I get closer to going back to work, I am going to try and transition some of her daytime naps in the crib. For now, it’s my favorite part of the day!

Breastfeeding

Thankfully, my journey breastfeeding has been a fairly easy transition. I took a breastfeeding class, joined breastfeeding Facebook groups, and read up on it before birth which I think helped a lot with the transition.

My baby did have a lip and tongue tie that we had released at 2.5 weeks, so the beginning was a bit painful. After around a week of healing from the procedure, breastfeeding became completely painless. I worked with a lactation consultant for a few weeks to help troubleshoot the recovery of her procedure since I have a strong let down and mild oversupply which was causing a few problems (including mastitis). Now that it’s been a few weeks and she has had a chance to adjust and build her strength, breastfeeding has been going very smoothly!

I feel so close to my daughter, and an overwhelming sense of love and adoration when nursing. I am so glad that it has worked for us! I wish that I could exclusively breastfeed (and not pump). However, since I will be going back to work, we are working on introducing a bottle so I am pumping once a day (for now).

Kindle

I feel like it is easy to get sucked into doomscrolling on social media during maternity leave. Doomscrolling gives me anxiety and I feel like it takes me out of the present. Instead, I have been opting to read and have been loving my Kindle! I am someone who prefers a physical book, but it is a lot easier to use the Kindle since I usually have just one hand available.

During the first few weeks when I was waking up frequently during the night for long feedings, I looked forward to getting to read and it helped me not feel as tired in the moment. Now that feedings are much faster as my baby has grown, I am mostly getting reading time in during the day while she is contact napping.

Babyletto Kai Rocker

I spend *a lot* of time in a chair and sitting these days. I have easily spent over 100 hours already in the Babyletto Kai Rocker between nursing and contact napping. It’s comfortable, water repellant, stain resistant, and perfect for my small space.

Hydroflask Tumbler

These days I am drinking a TON of water. I try to drink between 96- 128 oz a day since I am breastfeeding. I have been using the Hydroflask 32 oz travel tumbler since before pregnancy and it’s something I am constantly reaching for throughout the day.

Wildbird Aerial Wrap Carrier

The Wildbird Aerial Buckle Wrap has been one of my favorite baby carriers for everyday wear during the newborn stage. It’s soft, supportive, and easy to adjust, making it comfortable for errands around the house, carrier naps, and longer strolls. The structured wrap style gives great back support while keeping your baby close and cozy. I have loved babywearing and it was something I was so excited for while pregnant!

Stranger Things

My husband and I had previously never gotten around to watching Stranger Things. During the first half of my leave, however, the final season was released on Netflix. We decided to watch it while we were both on leave and loved it! It was something that I could look forward to during the evenings when “witching hour” came around.

Morning Coffee

I feel like I get fairly good sleep for having a newborn. The first 2 months, my husband was on leave, and for the first 3 weeks my mom was in town. This led me to getting lots of naps early on when I had 5+ sleep interruptions during the night. Now that my husband is back to work and my baby is getting a bit older, she is having longer sleep stretches (4- 5 hours) during the night and not waking up as frequently. Regardless, I am getting less sleep than before pregnancy and birth, and my morning coffee is something I have been looking forward too and savoring!

Quilt Blocks

A lot of my time has been monopolized by my baby (which I am not complaining about)! However, I think it’s been helpful to have a creative outlet to focus on when I have downtime. I started working on a Sawtooth Star full size quilt before my daughter was born, and I have continued to work on it in small increments when I have free time. So far, I have completed 9 more quilt blocks and just ordered more fabric to make more blocks. By the time I am done with the quilt, which will be for my daughter, it should be 100ish blocks. Since I have only completed 15, I have awhile to go, but I am planning on completing more during the remainder of my leave!

Scrapbooking

Another creative outlet I am getting into during the second half of my leave is scrapbooking. My mom scrapbooked while I was young, so I always knew it would be something that I want to do to document the lives of my children. One of my resolutions this year was to start a scrapbook for Lainey and make at least one page for it every month. It’s easy to get behind making a scrapbook and feel overwhelmed trying to catch up. I plan on starting the scrapbook this weekend. So far, I have gathered inspiration from other baby scrapbooks on Pinterest, printed photos, and gathered my supplies.

Final Thoughts on Maternity Leave