Life After Maternity Leave

My time is almost up. In just over a week, I will be back to work full time. I have been blessed with a job that gave me a long (unpaid, of course) maternity leave, followed by a reduced work-week schedule. Joy’s post at the Green Baby Guide this week got me thinking about ways to handle the transition.

Initially, I dreaded the return from maternity leave to part-time work. I thought of how much I would miss my baby, wondered how I would manage to get myself ready and out the door on time in the morning. I imagined breaking down crying in front of my coworkers from the stress of it all, and I worried that my milk supply would diminish.

But it wasn’t bad. I found some ways to juggle my time, continue to provide breast milk, and spend quality time with my son. I’ve gotten used to this, and I like my part time schedule. I pump 3 times during a full work day to maintain my milk supply and provide milk for the bottles.

A few things that helped me transition from full-time mommy to part-time work:

• Pictures of my baby in the office

• Adding a lamp with soft lighting. When I turn off the fluorescent overhead lights and turn on my lamp, it’s a different world in my office, one that helps me relax and feel comfortable as I pump.

• Phone calls home while pumping. My son loves to “talk” on the phone, and I love to hear his babble and button-pressing.

• A great babysitter. We have similar values and she loves spending time with my son. I know that he is safe and well-nurtured during the day. She helps with housework during his naps, so my husband and I come home to a clean kitchen and have more time to spend as a family.

Next Step: Working full-time

Now that I face a new transition to even more time away from home, I’m having those same fears I faced a few months ago. Working part-time is one thing, but full-time? How will I have time to get anything done at home? Will I miss all of my son’s upcoming milestones. . . his first steps, new words, new games?

I have weighed the options, and the bottom line is, with my husband in full-time graduate school, we need my income. I enjoy my career. The expense of full-time babysitting is going to hurt, but still leaves us enough to live on. My job is a full-time position, and that fact would be difficult to change. So back to work it is.

My Full-Time Work Survival Plan includes the strategies above, plus:

• Cooking and freezing meals over the weekend, so we can skip weeknight cooking and spend more time together.

• Getting up EARLY before my son awakens. This will be tricky, as he’s an early riser. It will take some discipline to get to bed early to get enough sleep. But getting ready for work once he awakens is slow and stressful. I think the time to start getting ready in peace will be worth it.

• Exercise. I’ve let this slide lately, but even though it takes time from my day, I sleep better, feel more energy, and it makes me happy. Oh, and I discovered that a few minutes of stretching and yoga poses before pumping at work helps me make more milk.

• Buy baby food. When starting solids, I made all of my son’s foods. Then I discovered jarred food. They make his dinner prep quick and easy, so I picked the most nutritious ones and stocked up for weeknight meals.

• Lots of weekend nursing. To help my milk production keep up, I’ll nurse him more often than he’d normally take a bottle. I don’t think he’ll object!

If you are a breastfeeding mom preparing to work outside the home, I’ve found a couple good resources. The first, Nursing Mother, Working Mother, is a book I have flipped through but haven’t read. And I just came across another called The Milk Memos that I would love to read. . . someday. When I have more time.