If you have a job, sooner or later you will have to return to it ending your maternity leave. So it happened to me as well.
While I dreaded getting back to work weeks before the actual day by waking up to cry in the middle of the night, it turned out to be not so difficult on the actual day. My husband taking a month off from work right when I was getting back to work was HUGE help in my transition back to work. Plus, the assumption that babies as young as 3-3.5 months do not realize when mommy or daddy are out for the day.
So I set off to work on a Wednesday hoping a shorter week will make my transition easy and in fact it did. On getting back home from my first day back at work, my daughter started crying the minute she saw me. I won't deny that it hurt! But on researching online, I found one article saying that is just the way babies show their love and how much they missed you while you were away. I stopped reading or searching further online as that answer assured me the most. And I would not want to believe any thing other than that:) She was fine the following few days and life continued. Some of the things I realized on getting back to work are the following.
Time is Precious!
You start valuing time a lot more. If you had ever complained about not having enough time before, you will realize how wrong you were and begin to master the art of time management. The only thing you will no longer have time to do is 'idle'. I realized this on the few mornings I would wake up at 5.30AM just to exercise before feeding my daughter and rushing to work.
Respect for all my fellow working (and pumping) Moms!
Pumping every 2-3 hours at work involves a lot more than one would imagine at first. I am lucky to have a mother's room equipped with a fridge at work as it gives me the privacy and convenience to pump/store milk multiple times every day. Context switching between work and pumping is not easy as you loose valuable time in between and experience a set back every time you get into a working mode. I used a handsfree bra to hold my pump which made it possible for me to continue working while I pumped but just getting to the pumping room, plugging my pump, timing my pumping, storing milk does take some time off your work every few hours. Plus, your peers may wonder where you disappear every few hours though you will stop worrying about these things very soon.
Exhaustion
Pumping takes a lot of your energy and it is not a calorie burner for nothing. Juggling between home, work through traffic can be exhausting at least for the initial few days. My work calendar is blocked 30 min three times a day as private for my pumping sessions but there are still times when I have to squeeze in time to pump in between meetings. If you want to continue feeding breastmilk to your baby for a long time, it is important to continue pumping often to keep up the milk supply.
Value baby time a whole lot more
I realized I value every moment with my daughter a lot more now than before as I am very conscious of the time I spend with her now. I try to truly be there with her both physically and mentally once I get back home. You start valuing every little moment with your baby like reading books, bath, snuggle and cuddle time.
While I dreaded getting back to work weeks before the actual day by waking up to cry in the middle of the night, it turned out to be not so difficult on the actual day. My husband taking a month off from work right when I was getting back to work was HUGE help in my transition back to work. Plus, the assumption that babies as young as 3-3.5 months do not realize when mommy or daddy are out for the day.
So I set off to work on a Wednesday hoping a shorter week will make my transition easy and in fact it did. On getting back home from my first day back at work, my daughter started crying the minute she saw me. I won't deny that it hurt! But on researching online, I found one article saying that is just the way babies show their love and how much they missed you while you were away. I stopped reading or searching further online as that answer assured me the most. And I would not want to believe any thing other than that:) She was fine the following few days and life continued. Some of the things I realized on getting back to work are the following.
Time is Precious!
You start valuing time a lot more. If you had ever complained about not having enough time before, you will realize how wrong you were and begin to master the art of time management. The only thing you will no longer have time to do is 'idle'. I realized this on the few mornings I would wake up at 5.30AM just to exercise before feeding my daughter and rushing to work.
Respect for all my fellow working (and pumping) Moms!
Pumping every 2-3 hours at work involves a lot more than one would imagine at first. I am lucky to have a mother's room equipped with a fridge at work as it gives me the privacy and convenience to pump/store milk multiple times every day. Context switching between work and pumping is not easy as you loose valuable time in between and experience a set back every time you get into a working mode. I used a handsfree bra to hold my pump which made it possible for me to continue working while I pumped but just getting to the pumping room, plugging my pump, timing my pumping, storing milk does take some time off your work every few hours. Plus, your peers may wonder where you disappear every few hours though you will stop worrying about these things very soon.
Exhaustion
Pumping takes a lot of your energy and it is not a calorie burner for nothing. Juggling between home, work through traffic can be exhausting at least for the initial few days. My work calendar is blocked 30 min three times a day as private for my pumping sessions but there are still times when I have to squeeze in time to pump in between meetings. If you want to continue feeding breastmilk to your baby for a long time, it is important to continue pumping often to keep up the milk supply.
Value baby time a whole lot more
I realized I value every moment with my daughter a lot more now than before as I am very conscious of the time I spend with her now. I try to truly be there with her both physically and mentally once I get back home. You start valuing every little moment with your baby like reading books, bath, snuggle and cuddle time.
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