Part time working pattern & small baby - need advice please

[ButteryJam]

Hi,

I'll be going back to work after my baby is 6 months old, it is my 1st child and that is why I'm so clueless. I work mainly from home (in the office one day every two months). I'm quite sure I want to go back part time at least for 6 months. My child has the option to go to two local nurseries.

I'm not sure which working pattern would suit me best and hence which nursery. Should I work two full days a week, or should I do half a day every day (and book an additional afternoon for that 'going in work day'), or should I do one full day and two half days?

For those of you that are working part time and have left such a small baby at nursery or work in a nursery, what works best in your experience? Also, does am work better or pm? The timings are 7am-1am or 1am-6pm or of course a full day.

Thank you very much in advance for all your help!

I do full days but that is because of travel time - and also I can't work out how lunch fits in, or the lunchtime nap when they go down to one nap a day.

My daughter started nursery at 11 months - so a bit older. But I do find that the full days are just a bit too much for her and would rather put her in for shorter days, but it's not possible

I do two full days as I find half days very short by the time you have dropped them off and picked up again etc,

I have 2DCs and over the years I have worked various combinations of half says, full days, long days, school hr says . In your situation I would go for 2 normal length days to give you a good chunk of time to get some work done plus you would have 5 full free days with DD.

My DCs have always done half days. Its more of a pain re. travel time (depending where the nursery is I guess), but I think shorter days are much better for them when they are tiny.

Mine did 8 - 1 every day. They had lunch at nursery just before 12, and then either had a short nap immediately after (before I picked them up), or as they got older they had a nap as soon as I got them home (allowing me to get on with a bit more work/housework). When tiny, they also had a sleep at about 9am.

I find it nice (especially in the summer) to have the afternoons free every day for trips to park, and it has worked VERY well now they are both in school.

I think you also need to factor in how you work and the type of work it is. Do you sometimes need a full day to work on an issue?

Really depends on whether it's the kind of job where visibility and contactability are an issue. I've found colleagues 'get' full days much more, whereas half-days get very blurry and open to stretching goodwill, sometimes to the point of resentment for all. However, if you are working largely on your own with manageable workload, half-days could work. I'd advise having at least 1 full day to get things done, and give LO a better chance at settling. I went back to work after DC2 when he was 7mo, 2 full days, it was fine.

Thank you ladies for all your advice :)

Hi my baby started at 7 months and does two full days which i liked as it got him used to it and i can get a lot of work in those days leaving me five days with him.although now hes two i would like him to do half days for him socialise more days but i cant as work doesnt fit in for doing that.he didnt seem bothred by full days at any point though x

My baby went to nursery for two full days a week from 4 months of age. It cut down on travel time, gave me a wedge of time to actually get some work done, gave us some full days together so we weren't rushing around, etc. I also chose for her to be in the nursery for Mondays and Thursdays so I didn't miss her too much and she didn't get too tired with consecutive days. I also talked to the nursery to ensure we were both keeping her to the same schedule as much as possible.