i hate my job since coming back from mat leave

[ekkiethump]

I have been back from mat leave for 10 months now and i am increasingly finding that i hate my job/working. i used to love my job before having a baby (now 17months old).
i work part time 2 and half days per week now but used to work FT. i dont feel part of work anymore and always sensitive to others comments thinking that i am not pulling my weight and everyone thinks i am skiving. am struggling to get all my work done as dont have as much time as i used to to do all my paperwork and essentially doing more than half of my previous job.
i just cant commit like i used to do to my job and feel like i am failing at my job. i think everyone at work getting annoyed with me whinging about difficulties in juggling everything.
does anyone else feel like this?

p.s cant give up my job because i just cant ever imagine it. have trained for years and years to get to this level.

If you can't give up your job, you're struggling to get everything done and don't feel part of work anymore, have you considered increasing your hours?

It sucks really.

I have found it very difficult and still do even after years of juggling, now DCs are in (mid-late) primary school. So do all my colleagues who have kids. We have lots of whinge fests. We used to get along well, but now sometimes have big rows about holidays, and I usually miss Xmas lunches, leaving dos etc. as they are always held on days I don't work or when school hols have begun. I've got more thick skinned about people thinking I am skiving, and it even more now I do lots more work from home-I don't really care what they think anymore TBH! I guess that is the benefit of being cut out of the social side.

Only my line manager matters and he sees I pull more than my weight which is what most working mums actually do in my experience.

Also a DC always manages to be ill when I have something on that matters to me, like being on an interview panel for someone who will be working closely with me-twice so far!

You can try increasing hours but beware, I had a colleague who did that and found it impossible to continue once dd started school (yes unbelievably it gets harder and harder not easier). When she tried to go back down she got constructive dismissal instead-no right to go up then down again.

I went back to work (new job) when DS1 was one, I started on three days but went up to four when he was two and found it far easier, I had felt quite marginalised before. Habanera's point is a worry though, I hadn't known that,

Yes absolutely you can't just increase and decrease your hours when you like, that would be impossible for employers!

On the other hand you can put in a flexible working request once every 12 months so could request to reduce again that way.

I'm really feeling like this at the moment. Been back nearly 6months, 2 days a week - and similar sort of situation, years training to get to here and no chance of getting back in if I take time out.

I'm really struggling too. Once you have got kids, it's like having 2 jobs. But worth sticking it out for when they go to school?

I also feel exactly like this - about the same story, came back to work in January after having dc2. I just hate work now. I can't concentrate, I AM failing at my job, but I don't care enough any more to find a real solution for that. Well, I've looked but I can't find one. So, I suppose it's not that I don't care but more I can't see another way out other than to resign myself to the fact that I'm failing.
I am planning to leave. I can't see another way out for myself. But, it isn't going to be easy.
I wish you luck in your situation. Could you find a similar position in a company with more colleagues in the same situation to you - at least like that you'd have some moral support and not just criticism... Maybe same job in a different company would give you the feeling of something new - without losing what you've worked for all these years???