Going back to work after Maternity Leave

Sour Lemon · Apr 14, 2021

2 hours ago, PsychedNurse21 said:

I am a baby nurse (about 6 months of experience) and I went into my career pregnant with my baby girl. We didn’t plan it but that’s life I suppose, we are happy. I was blessed with 12 weeks (unpaid) leave and I’ve enjoyed every second of it. I do miss my job. I work on a detox unit and I love it. But I love my time at home with her more. My question is, what are some tips on coping when going back to work? Those who have went back after leave, do you feel like you miss a lot? I’m working Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 7a-7p when I go back. Everyone is telling me to do part time or try to get a clinic job but truthfully I love where I am. Just want to know that I’m not taking away from my child and her healthy development. Thanks!

Any choice you make will "take away" something, but you also get something in return.

I work one day a week since having my kids, but sometimes I think I would be more present if I had more time away from them. ? I'm also realizing that our kids need a life away from us too. My three year old loves to go to her school and see her friends and come home to tell me about it.

SmilingBluEyes · Apr 14, 2021

I went perdiem when my daughter was born. No regrets, no childcare, just worked around husband's schedule. We can maybe have it all, but not all at once.

Congratulations!

Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN · Apr 18, 2021

The baby will be happier if she has a happier mother. She'll always know who you are, no worries on that.

If you're breastfeeding, make sure to pump on your breaks at about the same time you are nursing her on your days off; the milk you pump can go in her bottle on the days you work. Give her a bottle of breast milk every day anyway (or have her dad do it) so she knows how to use a bottle nipple-- it works different from yours-- this is also good advice if for some reason you are separated for more than a few hours, like if you have to go out of town and can't take her, and she'll need to know how to do it. I didn't do that with my first and it turned out she would scream for eight hours rather than take a bottle. Willful little brat, LOL, still like that decades later. Her way or the highway...but I digress.

I was in school when I had my first. She was about 14 months when we had five days off for Thankgiving, and she nursed more often during those days just because she could, and I didn't object at all. When I went back to school on Monday I was acutely uncomfortable because in those short days my breasts thought that perhaps I had acquired another baby, and made a lot more milk. Alas, she also had the classic daycare green snotnose, and so I, not emptying my breasts as often, got a good whopping mastitis. The best thing for that is to nurse as often as possible (and take antibiotics if prescribed) but it's painful. She was alarmed when I groaned, but I told her to keep going and she sorta shrugged and did. We got over it, LOL.