A couple of weeks ago Lola showed us one of the most amazing photos I've ever seen of parents and their children, which is the same one that tops this post. A father lying on the floor rests surrounded (And below) of his six children, all of them asleep, while the mother poses vigilantly just in case.
This large family has become famous for this image and also famous because the couple got a donation of $ 250,000 (180,000 euros) to spend on a large area and a honeymoon in Las Vegas.
It might seem that with that money they have a determined life, and the truth is that it sure solves their children a lot, however there is something that is immovable, time, and I found it curious to calculate the time that parents can spend on doing everyday things, taking into account that, for example, They spend 52 diapers a day and about four hours to put them on.
Need for disposal
Changing a diaper with "pee" is done in about 2-3 minutes (remove clothes, remove diaper, clean a little with a wipe, put diaper and put on clothes). If we calculate that each child should spend about 3 diapers a day only pee (the rest will also poop), multiplied by 6 children, they give us about 18 diapers of pee that, multiplied by 3 minutes (calculation 3 instead of two, because in some change turns out that there has been an escape and you have to change the clothes), show us that Only to change pee diapers does this family spend 54 minutes.
Changing a diaper with poop is done in about 5 minutes (sometimes a few times less, sometimes it will be little poop, sometimes it will poop to the back, so 5 minutes on average seems reasonable to me). A baby a few weeks ago about 6 poops a day. If we calculate that each child stains 6 diapers a day, multiplied by the 5 minutes it takes to change each diaper (gives 30 minutes) and multiplied by the 6 children they have, we have to Parents spend 180 minutes of their daily time changing diapers with pockets.
These 3 hours, added to the 54 minutes of the diapers with pee, give us 3 hours and 54 minutes to change 52 baby diapers.
Feeding need
The six babies drink artificial milk, so everyone takes bottles that must be prepared before consumption. To prepare a bottle you have to wash your hands, bring to a boil for a minute and let it reach room temperature and then add the powder and get the mixture. This gives about 5 minutes per bottle, although as surely they will prepare more than one at a time (putting more water to boil and all done at the same time), we could leave it in 4 minutes. However, the bottles must be washed thoroughly afterwards or sterilized (I stay, in developed countries, with the first option), so I think we can perfectly add one more minute per bottle, leaving the final result in 5 minutes.
A baby of a few weeks eats every 2 hours and a half / 3 hours. This makes me take about 8-10 bottles a day, so we will be left with 9. Six babies to 9 bottles per day gives us a total of 54 bottles to be prepared. If we multiply the bottles by the 5 minutes it takes to prepare them we have to This couple spends 270 minutes (4 hours and a half) every day to prepare bottles.
As the bottles, in addition to being prepared, must be ingested and babies need someone to give it to them, we calculate the time it takes for a few weeks baby to take a bottle, and between taking it, it regurgitates a little, He stops, falls asleep, keeps eating and burps, 10 minutes can pass quietly.
If we multiply the 54 bottles that the sextuplets take every day for 10 minutes we get that This couple spends 540 minutes (9 hours) every day to feed their children.
Need to sleep
Babies in a few days do little things. Most eat and sleep, nothing more, so we will choose to think that the sextuplets do the same. If we have calculated that they take 9 bottles a day, we must calculate that, after eating, they should sleep 9 times a day.
Most babies fall asleep while they eat, or just after taking it, however it takes a little while to get into a deep sleep so that you can leave them in a crib or bassinet without waking up instantly. This time is approximately 15 minutes (sometimes more) than, multiplied by the 9 times each child sleeps gives us a total of 135 minutes per child, which multiplied by the six children gives us that This couple spends 810 minutes (13 hours and a half) of the day in rocking or holding their children after having slept and then passing them to a crib or cradle.
And in total ...
They would still have to bathe them, put on cream, walk them for a little while on the street so they can synthesize vitamin D, take them in their arms for a little while to bond and soothe the cries when they do not sleep, wash clothes, lay it out or dry it, collect it and fold it, put the pajamas at night and put the clothes in the morning to make a real reliable calculation of the time these parents spend taking care of their six children.
However, with the three needs we have talked about, I think it is enough to give us an idea of what it can mean to have six children at once.
We have said that this family spends 3 hours and 54 minutes to change diapers, 4 and a half hours to prepare bottles and 9 hours to give them, in addition to 13 and a half hours to sleep them. Adding all these hours we get that In only three basic needs six babies need 30 hours and 54 minutes of their parents' time.
From this it is concluded that or someone made a hundred hands with the children, or we will see this couple soon with serious psychological problems.
By the way, if someone wants to continue with the calculations, I encourage them to do so and show the conclusions here:
- Bathe, put creampie and dress: 15 minutes per child.
- Stroll for a little while on the street to synthesize vitamin D: about 10 minutes in total, if they leave all at once, which become 20 between you prepare them all and take them out of the strollers when they get home.
- Put two washing machines daily with the babies' clothes and towels and coo and collect and store the clothes: 25 minutes.
- Take them in your arms for a little while: let's put 15 minutes per child a day, what less ...
- Put the clothes in the morning by removing the pijamita: about 7 minutes per child (we do not count the diaper change).
