A week in the life of a nanniless working mum

Monday
7am
Did I mention I have a dog? A quick cup of tea, breast-feed baby, do Sunday’s washing-up and head off, en masse, to the park for our morning stroll.

2pm
MTV Studios, Camden. Alex sits on my lap during ‘Shoot the Messenger’ for E4. Bradley Walsh is the presenter and Rhona Cameron, a co-guest. On set, Alex screams hungrily throughout. Everyone is kind and understanding, but the result is that I have no idea what the hell the show is about or what I’m supposed to be saying! Filming takes ages and finally finishes at 9pm.

10pm
Drop baby at home with husband and rush to Sky News to review Tuesday’s papers.

12.30am
Barely able to open the front door, too tired. Give Alex her last feed of the day and tidy the living room in my sleep.

‘Multi-tasking’ has become my mantra. Yesterday for example, I had to bend down to pick up a sock. Rather than standing up again, I crouched around the flat, bent double, looking for other things to pick up at the same time. When my husband asked what I was doing, I said, ‘Saving my back of course.’ Not sure this is ‘normal’ behaviour.

Sometimes it works. When walking the dog around the park, I stop halfway to read my mail and feed the baby too, unless it’s raining. At my computer, I rock Alexandra to sleep with one arm and type one-finger emails with the other. I never walk to the kitchen without an armful of washing and always drag the rubbish bag downstairs on my way back.

Tuesday
1pm
There are some places that babies really don’t belong, and lunch with political hacks is one of them. Charlie Whelan and Peter Wilby of the New Statesman smoked, drank and generally behaved as expected over a business lunch. Meanwhile, I anxiously tried to hush Alexandra, who was interrupting important pre-election gossip with her fretfulness. Couldn’t enjoy the food or the company, so miserably made my excuses and left.