Worried about working full time

[Lemonelderflower]

I am on maternity leave at the moment but I will be back full time in September. My ds will be 8 and a half months.

My main worry is that he is not going to sleep well in the day meaning that he will be overtired and difficult in the evenings. But also just that it’s a long time in childcare for a young baby!

Can anyone reassure me a bit?!

I have gone back twice now and honestly it’s awful but it’s also fine.

Most childcare settings are sleep ninjas, I don’t know how they do it but they can get multiple children to nap all at the same time. Honestly my DC is a nightmare for naps and refuses but they are an angel at nursery. My other DC was an awful eater but ate everything at nursery!

You can set a rule for sleep, they must have 1 hour in the morning or they can only have 1 hour sleep total etc. You are paying for the service don’t feel bad about setting rules.

Evenings are by far my favourite time after work, my DC are always happy to see me, we have a snack, play, bath etc. Sometimes they are grumpy but not all the time.

The worst part for me is by far the illnesses they pick up when they first start, which means you either don’t sleep well as they are ill or you get the illness too.

My DC love nursery, they have made loads of friends get to do loads of things I would never do with them. It’s the mum guilt that gets you.

You got this mumma! 🥰

I went back to work full time at 9 months, doing compressed hours. Dh did drop off and pick up. Dd coped absolutely fine with the long days. Nursery got her to nap perfectly well, despite often contact napping with me in a sling.

Good luck with it all.

It’s tough I won’t lie, I went back full time when DD was 6.5 months and she went to nursery full time.
DD was hit and miss with her naps at nursery, beginning of week bad, gradually got better through the week until the end of it. Honestly you just get used to it! My colleagues at work know she’s a bad sleeper 😬 she’s only slept through once / twice and she is 20 months now.

Bugs at nursery are the worst, they are just so strict now with coughs and temps at my DDs because of covid, but every places is the same and it just is what it is.

However my DD has become such a confident little thing, she’s an august baby however so much more confident than her peers. She absolutely loves all the staff, the squeal when she sees them melts my heart as I know she loves it.
Her little face when I collect her from nursery gets me every time, personally it’s the best thing we could have done for her. Compared to where my DS was at this age (nursey once a week that he cried at constantly😬😬), no comparison.

Thank you. That’s a relief about the contact naps - I don’t actually think the nursery mind a baby falling asleep on them but then if they try to transfer ...

I’m hoping he might be able to do a couple of afternoons in august to get any bugs out of the way.

I went back full time at 8 months. It's a great time for the baby as it's usually before separation anxiety gets bad and going full time makes settling quicker. My childminder just sorted her own way of getting my daughter to nap that was different to what we used when she was home - they're professionals and they want the kids to nap :) My daughter was a terrible napper at home - much better in child care.