If you’re a mom, you already know—baby naps are gold. Not just for the little one (to avoid late-in-the-day meltdowns), but for you, too. That precious pocket of quiet time is when you can finally decide: Do you clean? Do you shower? Do you answer those 37 unread emails? Or do you just collapse on the couch?
Enter the 10-20-30 method, the TikTok trend that’s giving new moms everywhere a blueprint for making the most of their baby's nap time. Just take it from Alex: She recently shared on Instagram that she's now incorporating this parenting hack into her daily routine with Sofia. And spoiler alert: So far it's working well!
So, what is the 10-20-30 method? Alex explains it best: "Basically what you do is, when you put your baby down for a nap, you do 10 minutes of cleaning, 20 minutes of self-care. The self-care can be anything from journaling, reading, eating." And then do 30 minutes of work/productivity.
She continues, "You can kind of make the 30 minutes whatever you want. If you have admin tasks to do, if you have work to do. For me, I'm gonna spend it working on some emails and social media things." Simple and effective! "I feel like just finding a more structured way to be more purposeful with that time is gonna be really good for me, and it's like being productive... but also there's self-care sprinkled in there," she says.
Of course, you can also tweak this approach to work for your own family's lifestyle. Alex adds, "I know it's probably different for people that have multiple kids and have to figure out the nap schedules, but Sofia takes two naps a day." She adds, "If you're a mom trying to find purposeful things to do during your baby's naps, maybe that's a good way to start."
And it gets even better! If the nap is longer than expected, you’ve earned some bonus time to do absolutely nothing (if you so choose). Netflix, mindless scrolling, or nap time for yourself—permission granted. After all, you deserve it!
Macie Reynolds is the assistant editor of E-Commerce and SEO for The Pioneer Woman.
