I wish I were one of those people who didn’t have to sleep at all, because there’s always so much happening. I’ve always been excited to get up and do all the things I haven’t managed the day before. But all that’s on hold now, as my life has been taken over by a small person who requires a lot of attention and waiting on: Arlo, who’s seven months old and has the skill of waking not at 4.59am, or 5.01, but at 5am exactly, with false starts in the night. My sleep is constantly broken. I thought those 3½ years of early shifts for breakfast TV — waking at 3.20am — would be great training for having a baby. Getting up for a bulletin is one thing, but getting up for a baby who gives me constant bulletins is another! But I’m delighted when I see him.

After we’ve “row, row, rowed your boat” a few times, I’ll give him some milk. I’m still using up my own milk from the freezer, as I’ve stopped breast-feeding, but we are moving on to formula. I have to have a cup of English breakfast tea first thing, or a sachet of cappuccino for energy, and I always have honey with rice cakes. If I live to be 100 my secret will be honey — I cannot start a day without it. I am a bit of a honey connoisseur, and it has to be a Portuguese honey called Rosmaninho [rosemary], which a friend brings me. Failing that, it’s Summer Honey, from Norway — my mother-in-law’s Norwegian.

After more entertaining and jumping around, I’ll make Arlo some mashed banana and baby rice. I’ll look at this great plate of food and think: “How am I going to get all this into your mouth, and how long will it take? Because actually I’d like to go out today.” His big thing is blowing food everywhere.

If I’m going out professionally I won’t be dressed at this point. I’ve a lovely lady called Margherita who I’ve known 12 years, and she comes in during the mix of feeding him, getting the washing on, dressing and getting him back to sleep at 9.15am, sometimes in the pram so that I can walk Molly and Benson, our Tibetan terriers, in Bishop’s Park. My husband, Justin, calls them “Tibetan terrorists” on account of their desire to chew anything in sight. I am a member of a gym, but I would happily pay three times the fee not to go, although I have started doing Bikram yoga, which makes me feel fantastic. I try to go Mondays and Wednesdays, after Margherita arrives.

I leave for work at midday, Monday to Thursday, so I have the mornings and all day Friday with Arlo. I drive myself from our house in Fulham to the Sky studios in Isleworth, and I find that really lovely and peaceful after a frenetic morning — 30 minutes to be quiet and listen to Classic FM. Then it’s straight to make-up. It’s like going through this magic revolving door — I go in as a mum, then someone straightens my hair and does fantastic make-up, enabling me to get my head together over the newspapers and come out all professional. I don’t have one particular beauty product — not good at all that — and finding a minute to put on mascara is a big deal these days. Recently one of the make-up ladies recommended a cream called Environ, from South Africa, but I haven’t turned into a supermodel yet, or seen any lines disappearing, sadly. Occasionally I have had a stylist for clothes, but

I know my body and what suits me better than anyone. I hate shopping and trying things on. The best person to go with is Justin. He’s completely honest, but he does require a lot of stroking and tea and cakes in between. I find Harvey Nichols way too trendy and terrifying, so I’ll go to Selfridges.

Lunch is at work or on the way. I’m more of a grazer than someone for sitting at a proper meal, so I’ll snack constantly on popcorn or cheese and crackers. Terrible!

After the meeting to go through the running order and the stories of the day, I do the 4.30 news promo before going into the newsroom until 5.30. By 6.30 I’m home. I used to stick around for the 7 o’clock programme, but I decided to return to work earlier than normal and cut my hours, so that I have the best of both worlds, and for now I’m working part-time.

By 7.30 I’ll have put Arlo to sleep, by which point Justin’s home — he’s in private equity — so we’ll have time together and find something to eat. One of the first things my mother asked Justin was: “Do you cook? Otherwise you’ll starve.” I’ve never been a good cook. I’m more of a baker, so Justin is used to all the cakes, especially cheesecake. He’s amazing, though — he can whip up something from nothing, so we’ll have soup or omelettes, or we’ll grill some organic salmon. He also plays the piano and sings beautifully, and when he’s happy he’ll play, and that’s lovely.

I’ve never been a huge telly watcher, but I’d watch eight or nine hours of news in a day. Nowadays if I get to stay awake until 10pm, I might catch the headlines. But I’m so exhausted sometimes I don’t remember shutting my eyes.

Natasha presents Five News from Monday to Thursday at 5pm

Interview by Deborah Moore.

Photograph by Will Sanders

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