Loss of confidence on return to work after maternity leave

[MissB83]

I went back to work when my son was almost 12 months which was about a month ago. I am in a professional field. I took off 13 months in all, finished early as my son and I both had some health problems. A lot has happened since I was previously at work: had a traumatic birth which really affected me, had counselling and been on medication for PND. It's been a difficult year in some ways, my son has never really slept very well and I'm doing it on my own... it's definitely not been a years holiday! I did one KIT (half) day but that was it, partly because my work didn't make much effort as they knew I wouldn't be going back to my original post but nor did they allocate me to a new post until a few weeks before I went back so I effectively had no manager engage with me for almost the whole time. The new job is ok and the team/line manager are ok but I feel like I'm really struggling... I feel completely unproductive, my brain doesn't work, I get easily tired and confused and my confidence is gone. Help! is this normal?

Totally :) took me about 2 months to get back into it. You created a human, and then spent a year looking after him, deffo give yourself a break and just get into the routine of leaving lo and getting yourself to work for a bit before you worry too much about what you’re doing at work.

I'm in the same situation as you! My LO is 10 months, I've been back at work just over a month and I've been struggling. Still on medication for PND and tired all the time, I work in the financial sector and feel like I've forgotten everything I knew! I will say though that the past week I had felt a bit better and more confident, I decided to suck it up and not be afraid to ask colleagues even simple questions when I wasn't sure, which has really helped. I think it will just take time, it's a big change to deal with after so long off x