My son, Monty, is 13 months old and I am now coming to the
end of week two of being back to work. I
was lucky to have been able to take the full year of maternity leave and was
told to enjoy it because it goes by so fast and before you know it your kid is
one, at daycare, and you’re back at work. I would think to myself, how fast can a whole year possibly go by? It
seems like just yesterday I was still pregnant. But everyone was right- this has been the fastest year of my life.
In gearing up for my return to work we had to find
childcare. As most parents know this
involves getting your child on every possible daycare list as soon as you have
that treasured birth certificate in your hands.
Fast forward a year and it looked like he was not going to get in so we
started interviewing nannies, only to be notified three weeks before my return that
he did, in fact, have a daycare spot. Phew!
Now that we had jumped that hurdle, I had to wrap my head
around the fact that everyone’s routine was going to change. Monty and I weren't going to be able to start
our day at our leisurely pace, we weren’t going to be together all day every
day, and my husband was going to have to take over some duties since I’d be
working later than him. It has been a
change, but the transition has been relatively smooth. Of course having a great baby and an absolutely
wonderful husband has helped the transition, but I also found a few things that
made it a lot less stressful. Here are a
few tips I’d suggest to moms heading back to work:
1. Start the new routine a week or two before you
actually go back to work. This way it’s
not such a shock to everyone’s system and your first day back can be more
focused as opposed to worrying about if baby is ok on their first day. Monty went to daycare for a full week while I
was still off and we practiced our morning wake up and breakfast routine, he
gradually got comfortable at daycare, and I’d pop over every once in a while to
watch him play. I found this gave me
peace of mind on my first day back.
2. Prepare for the next day as much as you can after
baby goes to sleep. This saves us a lot
of time in the morning. I lay out my
clothes, and with my husband we prepare our breakfast, lunches and as much of
tomorrow night’s dinner as we can. This
makes mornings and evenings less hectic and allows us to have family before
Monty goes to bed.
3. Don’t feel bad if you enjoy being back at
work. This does not make you a bad mom
and does not mean you don’t like being a mom. Trust me...I get home as fast as I can because I miss my little guy so
much, but I also like interacting with adults and feeling productive in a way
that I have missed Our family has also stopped taking weekends for granted, as
it is now cherished time that the 3 of us spend together, as opposed to just
another day.
Just like having a baby required adjustment, so does going
back to work. Go with the flow and a new
routine that works for everyone will emerge.
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