Returning to work after ML - April 08 support

[StealthPolarBear]

Hope this is ok, i could do with some, and i think there are a few of us from a breastfeeding thread. this isn't meant to be just about feeding though.

Hopefully I can offer some support to all, having gone back to work full time after my first LO was born. The first week is pretty awful, but you soon realise that you can't function with your "mum" head on at work, so you naturally switch back into work mode, and somehow that makes the day go quicker, and also stops you from missing them/thinking about them the whole time you are there. Woe betide ANYONE though, who decides to get in the way of your leaving in time to get home for tea time/bedtime though!

Momma - it's hilarious. On the way to work, I'm a very considerate driver. But no way on earth do I stop to let ANYONE out on a junction in my mad dash to get home for bath time at 7pm...On more occasions than I care to mention I have left my car (accidentally0 unlocked (and we don't have off street parking) in my desperate bid to crash through the front door before DD started up the wooden stairs....

33kjs and all others, don't worry too much! I know it is hard, but it will be ok. I went back to work full time in October 07 (DD is 9 months now, was obviously 6mths back then) and I was heartbroken. I was in tears during the two weeks, whithin which I introduced the nanny (proper handover, like in the office when I went on ML;-)) AND phased out breast feeding. I hated the first 2 weeks, thought I could not go on much longer.
Now, I actually enjoy being back in a professional environment. I just wish I could work part time or from home and see more of the little one, but work is just not suited to that. I see her for an hour in the morning and maybe 30 minutes in the evening, before she goes to bed.
She loves her nanny, which is a great bonus and by now, she would probably miss the nanny a lot, if I suddenly stayed at home. And I know she misses me during the day and is always super happy to see me in the evening. But she is not upset when I leave...

Sorry coming into this very late but just seen sometHing that StealthPolarBear has said that caught my eye.........does anyone know the law on the followiwng: I have committed to going back to my existing job starting in April, i then got offered (did not go after it) another job that is much better hours wise, location wise etc which i really want to take. Do i have to give my full notice period? Can i just say i have changed my mind and am now not coming back? Etc etc - any help / advice gratefully received.

I'm going back to work full time at the beginning of March and starting to panic a little about settling my ds at his childminder - he'll be 10 months old then. He's started to display alarming signs of separation anxiety.