Back to work handhold - good experiences please!

[Aimadre]

Hi, anyone else heading back to work soon after maternity? Just looking for advice / mutual support and many of the other threads are quite old.

I’m dreading it tbh. DS will be 7 months old and staying with his dad at first (really lucky there I know).

Most worried about:

1. DS’s refusal to bottle feed. Has been ebf and will take occasional sips from bottle or doidy cup but never a full drink. I’ve left the bottle training mostly up to DH and he’s been a bit relaxed about it...
2. Finding it too tough to cope mentally and breaking down in front of coworkers/ my boss. I’ve already got quite teary answering questions about my return to work a few times (behind sunglasses fortunately!).
3. Feeling a bit resentful about DH and DS at home together but mostly that I’ll just really miss them both.
4. Concerns about pumping at work - engorgement etc. It’s not the sort of job where I can nip off to pump whenever it’s needed.
5. Sleeplessness, especially if DS reverse feeds and is up all night.

Positives:

1. I usually really enjoy my job. Hoping I will be too busy to think about anything.
2. Chatting with non-parents about non-baby-related things!

Sorry for going on a bit! Is anyone else in the same boat?

Just bumping this thread for you, OP.

And sending good wishes for your return to work.

Actually, @Aimadre, we're going to move this thread over to our Back to work topic because we think you'll get a bit more help over there.

Hang on...

Hi Op. sorry you're struggling with the impending RTW. I think all of us have felt the same as you, particularly first time round!

If your LO is 7 months now then don't worry about the bf. You can still breast feed when you're home. During the day, he will have food and drink milk/water as he needs it. It's amazing how adaptable they are when mum isn't around! I think it's harder for us tbh.

Re pumping- have you spoken to work about needing to do this and having somewhere you can go to do it? Your body will regulate to whatever feeding pattern you choose so you don't have to do it all the time, just enough to take the engorgment away. There must be an office/staff room/meeting room you can use?

I struggled going back after my first and a lovely lady in the supermarket told me that it would take at least as long as your length of time on maternity leave for things to feel like they were getting back to normal work wise. I think that's very true.

Hang in there. X

I am back to work next month and am already dreading it. Also like you I generally like my job and am choosing to return over being full time at home but just recently it's started to keep me awake at night thinking about how I'm going to manage everything...

Would love to hear some success stories too...