It’s finally here or around the corner, not the due date, but your first day of maternity leave. Perhaps you’re off for good, or you still need to be available for a little guidance. Either way, you’ve got a fair bit of time on your hands and are probably wondering what to do during your maternity leave.
Don’t stress too much about maternity leave activities. Preparation and plans are important, but so is relaxing, de-stressing, and enjoying your final disruption-free nights of sleep. This is going to be the last time that you’ll be on your own schedule for a while to come.
The days after your baby arrives will be a whirlwind of emotions, sleepless nights, exhausted naps, and many heartwarming moments bonding with your new arrival. With this in mind, here are some great ideas of things to do to enjoy your maternity leave.
1. Prepare Some Freezer Meals
One helpful thing to add to your list of maternity leave activities is a bit of food preparation. When the baby comes, there will be plenty of times where you won’t have the opportunity to cook a nice meal.
Meals that take longer to prepare and require a lot of chopping, stirring, and tidying afterwards will be low on your priority list. Stocking up your freezer with delicious, nutritious meals is fun and will definitely help you later on. If you’re not a cook, get a family member to do it or pre-buy some healthy meals to freeze.
2. Organise Your Nursery
Some women claim that they instinctively start to nest right before the baby comes. True or not, nesting is one of the things to do on maternity leave. This could involve tidying, doing laundry, setting up the baby’s nursery, or unpacking and arranging all the baby shower gifts.
Perhaps the baby will come early; if so, then this preparation will definitely be important. And, if you’re someone who likes to keep things tidy, clean, organised, and ready, then you’ll benefit on a psychological level too. According to SOVA, organising your space reduces anxiety.
3. Take Some Time To Do The Things You Love
Klara Czerwińska, our expert on all things cooking, child, and casino related, suggests that you take time to do the things you love. You won’t get so much time later, so spoil yourself now and take plenty of time to do some things that you haven’t been able to do while working.
Klara also suggests you play online casino games with Joycasino. She enjoys informing new players about trustworthy casinos, and that is definitely one.
4. Do Nothing
One of the best maternity leave tips is to take time out for yourself and allow yourself to do absolutely nothing, at least for an hour or two. When the baby comes, you’ll probably only have the time to yourself when they nap, so enjoy these last few free moments.
5. Relax
Everyone loves to do different things to relax and detach from daily stresses. Take a nap, lie silently contemplating your thoughts and feelings, sit outside in the garden, watch the trees waving, or watch a movie and zone out.
6. Get Plenty Of Sleep
This one is probably the least spoken about, but also one of the most important things to do on maternity leave. Sleep is vital for physical and mental health. According to mentalhealth.co.uk, “sleep is as important to your health as sleeping, drinking, and breathing.”
7. Read Up On Babycare
If you’re feeling anxious about all the unknowns, you’re not alone. It’s normal to worry in an effort to plan for the future, but at the end of the day, worrying is not on the list of recommended maternity leave activities.
Reading up on other’s experiences, advice, and some practical aspects of preparation and baby care are.
There are plenty of resources that you can turn to second-hand or new baby books, online books, free or paid online baby care videos, online classes, family members, or trusted online websites like parents.com.
Conclusion
There are plenty of things to do to enjoy your maternity leave. No one else can make the decision of what to do during maternity leave for you. Be sure to listen to your own inner voice as much as you do to our maternity leave tips and don’t stress too much.
