How many days to keep dc1 in nursery when I'm on mat leave?

[bluebeanie]

My husband and I work full time with a short commute. Dc1 has been in full time at nursery since she was 7 months old and really enjoys it.

I am due dc2 in January. Dc1 will be 2.4. I have full pay mat leave for 6 months and then I will stick on a month of holiday, so I'll have 7 months off again.

I was thinking of keeping dc1 in for 3 days a weeks during this time to keep her place/routine/get time with dc2, but enjoy some time with the both of them. I'd appreciate your thoughts please?

Just to note for context, we have no family support nearby. I suffered PND and anxiety last mat leave and for my mental health, I find working full time with us using flexi/annual leave (2 Fridays a month in addition to longer periods) to be at home a good balance for us. Dh will be using a lot of his annual leave to take a day off most weeks during my mat leave.

Thank you

If you can afford it stick with whatever you do now to keep the routine the same as best you can

I'm keeping DS in nursery four days a week while I'm on mat leave. He loves it and I don't want to mess with his routine.

I highly recommend 3 days a week if you can afford it. A leisurely pick-up time and showing off your sibling seems to go down well with 3yos too.

We've kept DS1 at nursery for his normal 4 days a week while I've been in mat leave, and personally I never even considered doing otherwise. DS1 thrives at nursery, we didn't want to interrupt his routine only for him to have to settle back into a new one after my mat leave was over, and I frankly didn't think I could cope with both of them at home. (Like you, I also struggled with my mental health last time around. Being at home with DS2 has been a much more relaxed experience! )

We kept ds1 5 days till ds2 got to 5 months and then 4 days
If u can do 3 days at nursery at least it's a fab balance for all of u
And u can always drop him off late and pick him up early which is what I did
xx

We kept 4yo dd on the 2 full days plus 2 afternoons pattern that she had while I was working. I kind of planned to drop her hours down at some point but it never really happened and now it's only a few weeks until she starts school.

She has waaay more fun at nursery with her friends that she does at home with me and dd2. I can't (and don't know how to) play mums and dads quite like her 4yo friends. We have more time together than apart and lots of mornings which is when everyone's at their best so I kind of think this is a win win for us.

We kept up three days a week.(he was just over 4 though so cheaper) Though have taken him out now as he starts school in sept so at home full time.
I was told if doing three days to do ties, weds and Thursday so you would have long weekends, but in retrospect I think having 4 home days meant the Tuesday was really hard as he was out out routine.

Ds was already in for 3 days when I went on Mat leave again. We left it at that (luckily early years funding and CCV (paid by employer when I went onto amp) covered it).

Gave ds time with his peers, gave me timeouts the baby. But we still had 4 days a week together, seemed like a good balance. It's tough looking after 2 small children, with no family around.

Thanks all

Can you keep the place full time, you don't have to use it all but just in case. Especially with no other help around.

I thought I'd take dd1 out of her fill time place at cm when baby arrived, but was so glad I hadn't reduced her time because I have found it much harder than I thought with both of them.

Dd2 is now 3.5 mo and just this last week I've done a late drop off and early pick up with dd1. Still a struggle though as dd2 still feeding every couple of hours and dd1 is a handful and when I have them both on my own I just don't think I'm doing either of them( or me ) justice.

Good luck and enjoy your baby!