Adya, the Baby Who Came to Stay

A bit out of the ordinary for a management consulting blog, but in true Vollardian style, I’ve had some reflections on Year One of being a mum to baby Adya. Here are some unsolicited tips and lessons that I’ve learnt!

1. Teen Mum at 37

When Adya was handed to me, I knew she was mine but I couldn’t quite wrap my head around the fact that I was now someone’s “mum”. I still feel like a teen mum…and if you squint hard enough and ignore a couple of decades I might be right.

2. Project Baby Management

I’ve leant hard into the data science of managing this baby. Using the Huckleberry App, it’s all about tracking and predicting next milk, poos and sleep. It's like handling a tiny, demanding boss with a very predictable set of demands. Hungry? Check. Dirty nappy? Check. Gas? Check.

Plus capturing all of this data allows for monthly reporting and check-ins with you baby. Like "Adya, I can see that you are averaging 3 wake ups per night, can we please look into that?”….I do get met with blank stares but it is nice seeing the data trend towards more sleep.

3. Don’t Assume People Are Interested in Your Baby

A baby is like an all-consuming project. It takes up all of your time, so you might spend all of you spare time with other people talking about the baby. Just like that change management project, not everyone might want to talk about techniques to ensure adoption of your newly built CRM.

4. Investment Babying

It feels hard to say this, but I’d happily take those long hours in investment banking over this sleep deprivation. It's like having a demanding MD who calls you every hour not for markups, but for feedings, nappy changes and sometimes just to stay awake and stare at you but not actually go to sleep. And just when you're done, the cycle repeats. Who needs conference calls when you have a baby monitor, right?

5. The Myth of Multitasking

Multitasking with a baby is like juggling with one hand tied behind your back – it's a recipe for a spectacular mess. Now, I'm all about that single-task life. Bottle sterilizing? That's my Olympic sport. Don’t try do everything. Just do one thing. At a time. And tell everyone else to buzz off.

So there it is, a year of motherhood wrapped up with a bow (and several diapers). Adya, my little bundle of joy (and chaos), has made sure life's never dull. Here's to surviving year one and bracing for whatever comes next! 🎉