Bored of maternity leave!!

[Cooper11111]

Am I alone??

I think loads of you have it down to a T! It depends on the type of person you are. My two best friends are off with babies, and while that is wonderful it's not the same as us meeting up regularly as each other rather than mothers. The routine is monotonous and a hard slog, trapped in a 3-4 hour routine of repetitiveness! I do many of the things suggested in the replies but I just don't find them intellectually stimulating. I took a year off with my first and the plan was 7 months with this one but she was prem so I get 6 extra weeks. I think I would like to have gone back to work day after birth and then took a year off when both 6 months

They ALL make me feel inadequate Last! Maybe we should start a Broken and Frumpy New Mums Club.

The only thing I always do is put on make up and a hat (bobble/beret) if my hairs unwashed.
I'm stealth broken.

You are definitely not alone. This is my second maternity leave and I'm as bored this time as last time. DD2 is 6mo.

I don't like baby and mother groups. I did lots last time with DD1 but it's not my thing. And DD1 cried all the time in them. I'm just not the chit chat type.

And you guys described it to a tee with Groundhog Day. Never ending house work and feeding. I might be busy but it's totally non stimulating.

I went back full time after last maternity leave and I bloody love it. I love being busy, and being valued. I'm taking a year off because DD1 was hospitalised with bronchiolitis a week after starting nursery at 7mo. I felt guilty about it. DD2 will be starting at 12mo.

I'm reading JavaScript books in the evenings when both are asleep. This keeps my mind going. Make me feel more human.

...this is mainly rebellion after being told through pregnancy I would "let myself go" and never wear make up again. Stubborn.

I hated mat leave and nearly every night when DH came home I asked if he would quit and let me go back to work. (We were planning on this anyway, assuming he enjoyed his additional pat leave, so it wasn't completely random.) I had made lots of friends at NCT and went to lots of groups, but the boring repetitiveness of the day got to me. DD wouldn't nap more than 30 minutes so I never got anything done. I was also seriously sleep deprived. I'm a much better mummy now that I can go to my intellectually stimulating job everyday and come home to cuddles, baths and story time. DH, on the other hand, loves being a SAHD and doesn't miss work at all.

I'm bored. But I also dont want to go back to work yet. I can see how mat leave might get better now though. DS1 is 7 mths and up until a fortnight ago had never slept through. I had 2 months of him waking every hour of the night and I would lie in bed thinking that mat leave was just a competition to see who could do the most in the day on the fewest hours of sleep; i was barely functioning but full of guilt if I didn't at least take him out for some fresh air. He also only naps for 30 mins at a time in the day so I cant 'sleep when the baby sleeps' or get very much done at all in my 30 minute slots. Now he's sleeping through I'm feeling better but sleep deprivation is a killer and those women who prance around full of the joys of Spring being on mat leave either have a baby who sleeps well or are telling porkies.

First mat leave - great til 7mo in then I think I got delayed PND and I hated weaning, felt I was stuck at home.
Now 5mo into second mat leave and was dreading it. In fact, telling myself each day that no one said looking after a baby and a toddler was going to be fun, helps. Just need to get through. There may be one or two moments each day that I don't want to stick my head in a bucket of cement, and that's enough to get through! It'll be a difficult year but spring is on its way.... Plus second time round I have DS1 to chat to

Incredibly boring much more so second time round

Started working from home as soon as I possibly could

I do enough playgroups with the toddler I absolutely am not doing baby specific ones while toddler is at the childminder God it's annoying when people say oh go to galleries blah blah

When you have been up all night Brest feeding or have a baby to look after and are basically shattered te last thing I wanted to do was travel into Central London and walk for hours round f-ing galleries

I wanted to either sleep or just get some balance back in my life

I love my baby and toddler but god almighty I don't want to spend every day with them

I am so so much happier now I am working part time ..

Okay.... Sorry my suggestions got so shouted down. I'm on my third. Obviously if you're depressed/sleep deprived then that's a whole other issue. I'm not saying maternity leave is some blissful opportunity to wander around galleries and clearly if you've got PND then none of those suggestions are helpful at all (but the OP never said she did...?). I didn't read every comment but was merely responding to the thread title and the OP's initial comment. Thought it might be helpful but this is clearly just somewhere where you all want to moan about the tedium and relentlessness of looking after young babies. Which is fine. But no need to shout me down for trying to give the OP a few ideas before she goes back to work.

With all 3 of my DS's (my youngest is now 5 months old) I took the first 8 months off. Whilst I agree there are days where you can feel incredibly trapped and unstimulated, now that I'm at number 3 I appreciate it a thousand times more - because I know how fleeting it is. My eldest two are 7 and 9 now and the time has whizzed by. So all I was trying to say was - before you go back to work try TRY to appreciate/enjoy this brief time as much as you can. I wish I had more with the first. I moaned so much for his first year - wishing I was back at work, wishing I was out with my friends etc, was also suffering mild PND. Wish I'd just seen what I can see now. That it's over like that. And I WISH I'd got out the house more and not worried about bloody routines. I'm not doing any of that this time round. So much freer. Nor am I doing any mother and baby groups.

Anyway, good luck to all of you.

penguins totally agree about the first baby once thing.

Interesting mn blog of the day - about baby hood v older kids. Seems it isn't that rare to find the early months confounding! reciperifle.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/courgetti-and-bolognese.html?m=1 (it looks like it's about pasta...).

I was bored terribly up until Christmas because she was a sleepy baby. Then February she became mobile and now its great fun chasing her and helping her climb etc etc. Its been so much fun watching her develop I'm taking a further year off to stay home with her.

My baby is 4 month and I am very bored. I go to Baby Sensory and try to entertain my baby but I find it tedious and boring. My partner also works away so I am alone all week so I have all day and then all night clllllll week with the baby. I have started to dread Monday when my partner leaves and feel like I am stuck doing the same thing every week! I hate feeling like this!

I'm loving maternity leave - mostly - but looking after my baby is exhausting and she is a good sleeper! I am quite looking forward to going back to work but also loving having the summer off. I also have two dogs so we are in the park at least twice a day, so factor that in with three meals and rhyme time or something like that then I'm not having much spare time! Definitely not bored more shattered!