Going back to work, days, nursery, etc

[LouisLitt]

I've only been on maternity leave a couple of months but have sent some enquiries to local nurseries and I think I kind of need to start thinking already about what I plan on doing since they are asking which days I want.
How to decide? I told my employer before I went on maternity I would most likely come back part-time. I have read a lot of the time when you do 4 days at work you end up doing full-time work except you're paid less. So probably 3 days working and my mum would do a day.
Any thoughts welcome. Is it better for them to do 2 consecutive days at nursery?

I can’t believe the best part of a year is considered little notice! I’m lucky to have a very flexible employer I’ve emailed my manager asking for a chat. I’d happily work Fridays and have that as a nursery day, in fact, Fridays are quiet at work so it would be a good day to get things done.

@louislitt when you consider that many people spend 2 years plus planning a wedding it doesn't seem that crazy that you'd be planning for childcare more than a year in advance.

If you have a child at a nursery who is say 2 or 3 and then get pregnant again you put your baby down for the same nursery while pregnant to ensure both together. That with the ratio required for babies means many places are low on spaces.

I went back 3 days, Monday to Wednesday. I struggle with a non-Monday start, I just never get the week right. Tue-Thurs is a no-go at work, they don’t want people basically blocking others from taking long weekends.

It worked for me, two days off in a row means that others do have to cover your work properly, when I work 4 days I find that often is work left behind as it is seemed I can catch up on return. It took a couple of talks to my colleagues about this to sort it out in the end.

It may be worth negotiating a permanent work from home day once a week if that’s possible. I find that I still do more work as I don’t commute but have more time to for DD and are more relaxed in the late afternoon.