Anyone else a little bit bored of mat leave?

[lazyhen]

OK - I understand I'm probably in the minority. DD is 3.5 months and is lovely. Sleeps through with a dream feed and I love being her Mum.... But....

OMG I'm really bored now! I'm an Occupational Therapist and never really really loved my job (I had already cut down to 30hrs per week) but now I'm serioulsy considering going back to work early. I had thought I'd go back in September for 3 days per week and use nursery at work, but today I think I've had a change of heart.

I thought if I found a childminder who could take her for 1 short day and my DH can have her on a Tuesday (as that's his day off) then I could return to work in June when she's 6 months old. Am I crazy? Am I just not getting it?

I have loads of existing friends with babies, and I have a lovely antenatal group but ARGH! How many coffee mornings can one person go to?

Right - so what am I missing? Do I just need a virtual slap for being a bad Mum?

I loved mat leave at first but after being 2 weeks late I knew it wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
I went back to work three days per week when my son was 5 months old. He had one day with hubby and 2 at a childminder. LO is now 2 and very happy and healthy and still with the same childminder and I have slowly increased to 4 days a week.
I adored and still adore my son but I just needed a bit.
Ps completely agree about the coffee mornings, however I still do one a week with the LO!!

Went back to work when ds1 was 6 months. Was readyto go backabout 4 weeks previous. Was spreading out trips to PO, shops, library etc so I never did more than one per day to make the errands last longer.

However I maternity leave with ds2 flew past as ds1 was starting playschool and there never seemed to be enough hours in the day toget anything done.

I am going back to work next week after 12 months off and I am feeling a bit sad about it. I have really enjoyed mat leave. I had a pretty stressful job before so in a way I have liked getting some time to focus on my DS and on myself and feel like I have got some perspective on life and what is important again.

It just depends on the individual doesn't it? Doesn't mean you are a bad mum if you find it boring sometimes, everyone does at some point I'm sure.

You are not crazy!!! Someone looked at me funny today cos I said I wasn;t dreading going back to work!!!

We are more than mummy's and being a mummy can also mean being a person too.

I can;t wait to tell my daughter what her parents have chosen to do and show what diferent things you can do

Go for it!!!

God no. I was climbing the walls by 4 months.....!!!! REMEMBER THE MUMSNET CODE -

A happy mummy = a happy baby

He He - thanks everybody. I have thought alot about it this evening and if I go back to work for 2 days to begin with she can have 1/2 day at childminder and 1.5 days with DH... then she can have my affection for the other 5 days. Hopefully that'll be a good balance for everyone.

I'm nervous that I'll regret it but TBH I'm definitely going back, it's just a question of when, so I don't suppose the guilt would ever disappear anyway!

Sorry to join the party late (so to speak) but I just went back to work full time a week ago today and I love it... (ssshhh!). Don't get me wrong, I look forward to weekends very much and I love coming home to see my lovely 7 month old, but I could not have coped on mat leave for one minute longer. I loved the first few months, by the end I was going stir crazy and counting hours till bedtime. Now back at work, doing a job I love while my lovely nanny does a job she loves. All good. I might be missing a mummy gene somewhere but I don't think so...

So don't feel guilty. Everyone is different.

I nearly started a thread like this lazyhen but I checked recent threads and thought I would join in on yours. Hope that's ok.

I was so relieved to hear other people putting into words how I am feeling.

dd2 is 8 months old, I am back at work in 6 weeks and I can't wait. Of course I love her, goes without saying.

I'm not bored as such, just feel really "out of things" and lonely and it has really dented my confidence being at home 2nd time round. At times I have even wondered if I have very mild pnd.

I am a mental health nurse in rl, really love my job and get a lot of job satisfaction.

I am desperate to get back to work. At home I find the housework tedious and never ending. When I am working I am more motivated and it gets done. (by dh and me)

I saw Xenia on a recent thread and she talks a lot of sense about working, I nearly hijacked the other thread to chat with her.

Lots of my friends are sahm, which works for them and I am happy for them. However this time round I have really felt that I have been intruding (with some of them) - they have all their routines and plans. In their eyes I am about to go back to work anyway, so why bother.

I have done all the "right" things whilst I have been off - I am quite involved in the NCT; go to baby music sessions, baby group etc...it just isn't working for me.

By month 3 I was saying to dh I wanted to go back. The only thing that stopped me was tiredness - she hasn't been a good sleeper. Dh would not try to persuade me either way.

Ooops sorry for long post. Got that off my chest now so to speak.

I went back to work ft when DS was 4.5 months old, and I was sooo happy to be back at work. I love being with DS, but the whole mum and baby circuit just bored me to tears, and as I was going back to work it seemed like no one was really interested in engaging with me.

Everyones different, and you just have to go with what works for your family

I went back at 10 months, and was very ready to go back, although I probably would have preferred to do less or shorter days (bit tricky financially). If I manage to have a second I might try to return sooner but for less days - I have quite good maternity leave options but anything over SMP requires us to go back for 6 months afterwards, either full or part time. I intend to move right out of London, probably back to Leeds. once I've done the minimum return to work.

I enjoyed going to groups and activities and I'd like to have the chance to do some of that and go to work some of the time.