Returning to work DD 9 months old - too early?

[KLG3101]

I went back to work when DD1 was 11 months (part time 3 days a week and home for tea time). Worked perfectly. After I got used to it there was very little guilt and DD is coming in leaps and bounds.

DD2 I plan to return at 9 months. Because of holidays I’ll have 3 weeks off with her a month after I return (big birthday) so it’s kbly 6 extra weeks working compared to DD1 but I feel SO guilty already. Same hours - 3 days a week.

Did anyone go back PT wgen DC was 9 months and get on OK?

Went back at 9 months with all 3 of mine. Absolutely fine

Apologies for iPhone typos!!!

Went back full time at 6 months. No problem.

Whats everyone's opinion of returning to work after four months?

Went back full time when DD was 8 months. I was still bf. Managed to bf until she was 2, and now she’s 4 and very attached to me. It did her no harm at all.

On a similar theme, DD1 is due today. I am self-employed and work from home. I am taking all of January off work, and hope to resume work in February.

• It is essentially a part-time job, where I can put in as many or as few hours as I like. Let's say I can average 10 hours of paid work a week.

• I can work any time I like. Evenings, weekends, whenever. From my sofa.

• I have family available for childcare when I need it.

Am I being ridiculous thinking I'll be able to return to part-time self-employment when DD is 1 or 2 months old?

I went back at 9 months. Worked well for us.

Don’t feel guilty.

Hi jivebunny I'm very much like you, work from home on the sofa with my laptop whatever hours I like etc.

I thought I'd be able to work at one or two months with my second child (I had a office job with my first so did the usual maternity leave etc) and honestly I couldn't. Unlike my first, who would sleep all day if I let him, my second only ever napped for 20-30 minutes at a time. By the time I'd got my laptop booted up etc she would be waking up again.

So really it probably depends on your child but don't be surprised if it isn't possible. By the time she was 4 months I felt awake enough to work in the evenings but I did very little in comparison to before she was born.

remember that maternity leave used to be much shorter!
Most of the mothers on here with older children would have gone back to work way before their DC were 9 months!

I went back after 3 months, before maternity entitlement was as generous as it is now and we needed the money. It worked out fine and DS was happy with his childcare, but if I had the choice of going back later I would these days.

I went back at nine months first time.
Going back at six months this time.
You're doing fine, stop beating yourself up.

Thank you Fitz

I will only be taking 3 months off as I'm self employed. I would love 9 months off with my baby.

Thank you all so much. Need to give myself a chance I think. I’m incredibly lucky to take 9 months and will remind myself that.

Regards 4 months I think I’d struggle and found there was a sleep regression stage which was horrendous with DD1 however if needs must then needs must and your DC will be absolutely fine. They’ll never remember!

I went back at 9 months. Worked brilliantly.

3 months for me with dc1; same as my mum friends who had their first baby about 26 years ago. Lengthy maternity leave is a relatively recent thing. 9 months would seem like an age to me! Your child will be fine.

I went back at two months; I was overseas and we only had six weeks of maternity leave, all paid for by the company. If you stayed less than a year after that, you paid back the six weeks on a pro rata basis. It was ok because everyone else did it - I never met a SAHP in the nine years I worked there. Here, I might have taken longer off.

I went back when ds was 4.5 months, and tbh it was fine. He settled beautifully at nursery, we continued to co sleep and bf, and things between dh and me were really equal.