Baby in nursery - do you still get any awake time with them?

[MyBabyIsPerfect]

Hi, I will need to return to work full time when my baby is around 1 year old. He will need to go to nursery 5 days a week.

My question is, for those of you that have a 1 year old in nursery 5 days a week, so you actually get to spend any time with them during the week while they are awake? Just now he wakes up at 7 and goes to sleep at 7, so I’m thinking I’ll hardly see him except on weekends 😭 but I have no choice.

Depends what hours you work. I work normally 8-4, so will have the afternoon with baby after nursery

I work 8-5 Dow e only have an hour in the evening , but me and DH make sure this hour is all about our LO...
No phones ect and just play...
nursery do dinner for LO and we have our dinner and do chores after he is asleep.

We always make sure on weekends we do something with him that's fun and there is always one of us playing with him.

We are first timers and only been back a t work 3 months so I don't know if this is maintainable 😛

I'm in this situation - i hardly see 20 month DS during the week.
I have a decent commute so arrive home at 6.45pm at the very earliest, DS sleeps at 7.30pm, so I spend max 45 mins with him each evening. I just try to do all housework weekday evenings so I don't waste any time with him at weekends.

Also, just try not to think of it as you have no choice. I know people who can't afford to be a SAHP but do so anyway (by massively cutting back, running up debt etc). Entirely their choice.

Personally i would prefer to work full time and have a little bit of spare cash each month, and although I wish I could see more of DS I think of it this way. I have made this choice and I have to live with the fact that i have chosen financial security over extra time with DS. Difficult choice but still a choice all the same.

I'm a teacher and always leave work before 4, so the latest I collect 15mo DS is 4:30. He goes to bed at 6:30. I try to do nice things in that time but it's a bit of a squeeze and he's usually tired. We have a nice routine going though (we go to park/shop most days, then have dinner, then bath, some TV and a story then bed).

It's not ideal but he loves nursery and has learned so much since he started there. I love that he has his own relationships with the staff and children, and it's made him a lot less clingy. I miss him of course but I don't think he misses me!

I always try to do fun stuff at the weekend. Having a bit of money helps facilitate that, as well as funding our trips home to see our family which I think is really important.

You're never going to have a perfect situation. I do like our setup though, for the most part

I went back to work when dd was about 7 months, and worked hours of 8:30 to 5:30 most days (sometimes finished later).
I dropped her off and dh picked her up.

We chose a nursery that was close to both our works, and it may seem odd but I really enjoyed my commute with her! I used to catch the bus, and spent the 30-40 minute journey (quietly) singing nursery rhymes, chatting, pointing things outside the window out to her playing peekaboo etc.

Then dh would pick her up and start cooking tea with her plonked in the high chair watching him, as soon as I walked through the door she would cry to be picked up me and I would take her off for a breastfeed before dinner. Then we'd eat together and put her to bed.
She was never a good sleeper, so we got plenty of awake time with during the night too!