My reading habits have changed drastically since Edith’s arrival. She doesn’t like to sleep! I’ve been told newborns are supposed to sleep 16 hours a day, but the little princess only sleeps 10-11 hours! I feel so robbed! My time is pretty much spent feeding her and trying to comfort her – and receiving almost daily visits from friends and family of course. It’s very tiring and there isn’t much time for reading. But I do manage to sneak in some reading time now and again. Here’s what I do:
Audio book while feeding her during the day:
If I’m alone while I feed her, I try to listen to an audio book. I say ‘try’ because it’s not always I can concentrate – breast feeding takes more practise and demands more attention than I’d ever thought as she still needs a lot of help and encouragement, so I have to press pause a lot.
E-book while feeding her at night:
If I’m not too tired at night, I read a bit on my phone. But I admit I’m usually too tired and choose social media instead.
Audio book with Mr. Boyfriend:
This is an old tradition: once a week Mr. Boyfriend irons his shirts while listening to an audio book. I used to knit during these sessions – now I feed Edith and put her to sleep next to us. We’ve only managed one listening session like this since Edith entered our world, but I think that hour has been my favorite reading moment in a long time!
A real physical book:
You know, one of those books where you actually have to turn pages and everything! This used to be how I read most of my books, but now it’s very limited. It’s just not easy holding a book and turning pages when most of the time you only have one hand! So I only get to read a ‘real’ book when she sleeps during the day, which is usually not more than 20 minutes here and there. And I also need to eat …
If anyone have tips on how to sneak in some extra reading time, I’m all ears!