Research finds that being a mum is basically the same as having 2.5 full-time jobs

I have never loved anything as much as I love being a mother.

It's amazing and fun and challenging and rewarding. I also love my job – and firmly believe that being able to do a job I love also, in turn, makes me a better mum. However – there is also no denying that juggling being a mum-of-two and holding down a job (and actually cleaning the house and getting the shopping done and all the other things that come with being an adult) is pretty full on. In fact; according to research, being a working mum means, timewise, you are not only holding down one full-time job, but two. And then some. According to a new American study, the average mum works a whopping 98 hours per week - in other words;  more than twice the average working week of 39 hours. Yikes. No wonder you are so tired! To investigate just how much work motherhood entails, the US researchers looked at the exhausting schedules of 2000 working mums, who all had children aged five to 12. On average, they found that for mums, their work day starts at 6.23am and ends at 8.31pm. In other words; a pretty hefty stint. As for free time, it seems tasks are where it's at – and weekends are a whirlwind of activity and catching up on chores we didn't have time to do during the week. And as for me-time? Well; we struggle to remember the last time that happened. How about you? This is what Casey Lewis, Health and Nutrition Lead at Welch’s, the juice company that commissioned the survey, had to say: “The results of the survey highlight just how demanding the role of mum can be and the non-stop barrage of tasks it consists of.” The good news? Us mamas have a certain set of 'life-savers' we can rely on when the going gets a little too tough, it seems. And we bet you'll reckognize some of the items on this list: Wine (yup!), grandparents or a reliable babysitter, Netflix, wet wipes (God, how did we ever live without wet-wipes in our lives?!), healthy snacks and juices, toys and iPads. And let's not forget naps and coffee – also, to us mums, total miracle workers, I think we can agree.