Feeling Blue about returning to work

[ShayaLight]

Dear all,

I guess I should start this by saying I don’t know if there’s any solution to this post. I think I’m mostly sharing it to offload feelings..

I’m starting to feel progressively down about the idea of finding a job now my LO is turning 1. I always knew I would have to do this but hoped to find something part time so I could continue to spend time with LO at least one day in the week.

The reality of finding this has been challenging and I don’t know if it’s hormone related given LO is my first child or just pre work blues but I’m feeling really down about not being around LO as often, missing milestones etc and I’m not even in work yet!

I know parents do this a lot earlier than I will be (my parents did) I just feel so attached to LO and that there’s so much pressure to be back in work soon and I’m feeling the loss of being near LO already.

I don’t truly know what I’m looking for in sharing this, I don’t think I ever appreciated how hard it must be for working parents before becoming one.

Do you need to return to work yet? Are you going back to a previous job after maternity? Or is the pressure from household need/partner?

Quite often the money you earn is eaten in nursery costs unless you have family/partner to care for them around work hours. It is probably worth it to keep a career going but not worth it so much if it’s just a ‘job’. There is a lot of pressure from society these days to return to work but it isn’t always best for mum and baby until the child is a bit older.