Any childminders who only took a short time off after having their own baby?

[Caramelchoo]

I'm trying to work out whether I'm being realistic about the idea of only taking a few weeks off if my partner and I decide to have a baby.

Finances are the only thing stopping us from ttc right now and as I'm nearing 40 time is running out!

Maternity allowance will not be sufficient to live on during that time so I'm thinking that I could return to work after a month off.

Would love to know how any others have coped with this...

I'd recommend getting a good sling so you can carry baby and also learn to breastfeed in the sling so you aren't stuck to the sofa when cluster feeding. Something like a Beco sling is possible to breastfeed in. I figured it out by about three weeks with my second! When baby has good head control learn how to carry baby on your back, then you will be able to play, carry a toddler, help with toileting, prep food etc whilst baby is on your back. Useful during those unsettled periods.

When I was a CM (a good while ago now, I had my mindee back when dd3 was three weeks.
I only one mindee though who was three and at the same nursery as dd2, so I only had him in the afternoons after nursery pick up

I'm a cm and took full maternity leave. I guess I was partly lucky as we could manage on dhs pay and savings for the time I was on maternity allowance, but also I would have hated to have to share myself between my new baby and other children that weren't mine. The time I had with just my children was really precious to me.
Those that went back very quickly, I wonder if money was the main driving force to returning so quickly. If you could have, would you have spent longer off work?

The cm I knew who planned to go back after two weeks actually took 2 months off as the baby wasn't as easy as her elder two had been and she misjudged just how much family life would change. Her parents were partly sympathetic but it was also difficult for them as she kept extending meaning they had to alter their plans Constantly. Had they have know it was 2 months at the start it would have been much easier to sort.

Maryann you are right in my case. It was money. We could have made it work if we had properly planned the pregnancy & had a maternity fund that we had paid into. However the other factor to me was worrying about losing all the little ones. This was a massive worry of mine. I was concerned DP would struggle to be the only one bringing money in & the thought I could lose some little ones terrified me.

I really wish I could have that time back & even to an extent now I really hate working full time. Really hoping to change my days soon to give my children some time. I'm struggling with housework & paperwork on weekends as is. Be nice to have a family downtime day

I had 2 weeks off when I had DC3. I was home educating DC1 and 2 and had 4 part time mindees. It was mad but happy and fine, baby was breast-fed 3 hourly which worked very well (and I repeated with DC4 when he came along, though I'd stopped CM then).

When dd7 was born I had dd age 4, ds age 2 and dd twins 11 month olds at home. Obviously it's different when they are not your own dc but it sounds perfectly possible to me.

I had 2 weeks off-my daughter was 10 days old when I went back to work. I had a 5 year old DS who I had to take to school, so thought I may as well get paid to take the others to school!
However, I do have a childminder friend who did the school run in the morning whilst in the early stages of labour, went to hospital, gave birth and was back at school to collect the children in the afternoon!True story!!