So how bad is it?

[allchik]

Would love ur views!
Returning to teaching in Sept,dd will be 8 months.
Good points- do act love my job,wrk with close mates adult company will be nice,secured wednesdays off so get to spend mid week with her,childminder is lovely,will be collecting her at 4.30 mon,tues n thurs n 3.30 fri,more pennies!
Bad points-worried dd will be sad,confused,missing her,what if she prefers childminder to me,missing out on firsts,when to get stuff done etc...

Any tips,personal thoughts would be very welcome! X

Your baby will be fine, you may feel a bit emotional but you will adjust.
Just focus on getting through the two days initially.

Get super organised and this will help things go smoothly and reduce stress. Good luck.

Organisation is key!! Meal plan, shop online etc, get a cleaner if you can afford it. Also, as you will know, teaching can be all consuming! I found I had to be quite ruthless with my time planning & for example give myself 1hr to sort resources online otherwise I'd still be up at midnight & then shattered the next day.
I'm sure your DD will love her childminder & will be fine & she'll love you just as much as she does now

Thanks for ur replies! The childminder and school are 10mins away,school finishes at 2.45 so should be able to get a big chunk done before picking her up again.
Going to try n 'do' something every Wed with her,swimming,yoga etc so it becomes quality time rather than catching up with cleaning etc. Will def look into a cleaner too.
Keep swaying from feeling excited and feeling sick!

You'll be fine, and probably relish the change of scenery. I went back when mine were 8mo and they were too young to be all that bothered! (She'll be delighted to see you when you collect her though)

Your baby will be fine - a childminder is a lovely, home setting for a baby to be - if there are other children there as well they will get bags of attention from them as well. I started DS off at 6m 2 afternoons a week with a CM, going up to 3 days when I was doing my exams. Even though I'm currently looking for work he still goes there 2 days a week and he loves it and has a far richer life than if he was with just me 5 days a week. Plus, you'll be giving them they're dinner every night so it won't be like you won't get any tie with them on the days you're working!

I went back to teaching when DS was 5 months, he went to nursery. It really was fine, and we both thrived from having different people in our days! Re firsts, that is tricky, I would suggest asking CM not to tell you if she sees first step or whatever then you can more easily convince yourself you've seen it first! To be quite honest it's so bloomin' exciting seeing them crawl or walk that it ceases to matter, or at least it did for me! Enjoy that quality time, sounds like a fab arrangement. Good luck!

Thankyou so much,you have all made me smile :)
I must admit when im with her all day a huge chunk is spent pottering around doing jobs IYSWIM,so Im looking forward to having more quality time. CM has a 13 year old and 17 yr old son who my DH taught (he knows CM) and they are lovely boys who play with the children and theyre super excited that their ex teachers baby will be at their house!
Thats a good idea re firsts.

Give yourself time. The first 3-4 months were really hard for me, she still wasn't sleeping so I was exhausted, she screamed at drop off so I felt guilty, I missed her desperately. etc

BUT - now, 7 months on, it's all good. She is sleeping through so that is fixed (for now), she smiles and waves goodbye at drop off (but is gratifyingly over excited to see me at pick up) and I don't miss her quite so much.

I don't think you really miss firsts - firsts are kind of overrated I am finding...it's hard to be sure what was actually a first word (does 'meow' count?) and first steps - well, I saw those, I think, but who can tell, she probably danced a gig while my back was turned a month before!

You'll be fine.

I do those hours. It is perfect IMO - you have morning with her getting dressed, breakfast etc then work (I love my work). After pickig her up you have time to go to the swings or at least walk home together (in the future chatting and walking along walls, stroking cats etc!) then you can play together, focused quality time, for an hour before eating together, bath and bed. I love it!

To make things run smoothly I just give DS somethjg easy for dinner, avocado on toast, cheese on toast, omelette, something like that. Then once he's in bed I cook a meal for me and DH and DS has leftovers of that in his lunchbox, so he eats the same as us just not at te same time! Don't do any cleaning oce you've picked her up, it is tempting though, leave it till she's in bed.

Good luck :)

Thanks bigkid thats a really good tip with the meals. Im feeling ok bout it I guess,think the anticipation is worse!
Im a bit confused bout brekky,at the mo she has it at 8ish (she gets up at 7ish) but we will have to leave for the CM at 7.45, so dya think I should try n bring it forward to 7.15ish,just dnt want to be rushing her. Im going to get up b4 her so im ready n have the full 45mins for her.
Also a bit worried as her routine is a bit odd lol! She has one big sleep at bout 10.30 till 12.30 n thats it,but the bubs at the CM have a mid morn nap and then a bigger afternoon sleep. Dya think she will slowly adjust to a new routine??x

Could the CM give her breakfast? I've not had to deal with that, DS wakes up really early

My daughter went to daycare at 7mths as I went back full time. She loved it, needed the extra little people to play with and I got a community of people within my local community for support and help. My daughter is still a mummy's girls and runs to me when I pick her up and it's the best feeling in the world! I felt sick the 1st day I drove away from the child member but it gets better. Now she has key friends in the neighborhood and I get help and advice from the child minder as our families live along way away. Every child is different of course but its good for her and good or me too but give it time to settle - good luck!