Best Tips for Returning Back to Work in 1 month?

jaymiegerard

Hi!  I'm working on a presentation for a corporate office about pregnancy, maternity leave, and new motherhood for working women.  Hoping you can all provide some insights!

I was hoping you could all share some "best practices" in terms of things to do to prepare for transitioning back (she's not into message boards so I offered to ask for her). 
1) What helped the transition? 
2) What should she be aware of? 
3) Was there anything you wish you knew ahead of time?
4) Did you job do anything to help you back (something she can request)?

She works a corporate job and will be returning full-time with no flex days.  She plans to pump, though her job doesn't (yet) have a place for her to do it.  Thanks in advance - I'm sure you all have lots of insights!

iverske9

I did test runs for about a week or two before (get up and see how long it took to breastfeed, pump, dress LO and me and get out of the house. I also dropped LO off a little early to see how he did. As for pumping I am in sales so I had to do it in my car, or bathrooms when I traveled. Its a pain but doable (I did for over 9 months). Tell her to practice and do as much the night before.Meal plan and include DH to coordinate

jaymiegerard

thanks!

jd614

Leave yourself ample time in the
Morning and do as much as you can the night before. Also-- don't make any rash decisions the first 6 mos. that's how long it took for me to start having more good days than bad days . If there is any option at all for part time or work from home -- ask for it . It's one thing I don't have and wish I did .

thedash

You will need freezer meals and takeout just as much if not more than you did with a newborn.

I used to eat a snack in the car on the way home from work. Our evenings were so crazy that we didn't get to eat dinner until really late. It helped to not be starving when I walked in the door.

If you can spend a little money on something to make your life easier - do it! Get a house cleaner, grocery delivery, diaper auto shipments from Amazon, whatever. You can go back to bargain shopping later but your time is really valuable right now.

Anjel_9@hotmail.com

Here is a link for the Dept of Labor laws on nursing mothers. Your company will want to make sure that they are compliant.

https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs73.htm

 

mexicolombiana

1) What helped the transition?  

Personally I didn't need a "test run" or anything like that.  I just jumped right back into it.  What helped the transition was giving myself ample time in the morning to get ready and to prepare as much as possible at night.  

2) What should she be aware of?  

If she's breastfeeding she should make sure she's pumping OFTEN at work.  She will need uninterrupted pumping time in a nice private place.  She should schedule her pumping times and make sure nobody bothers her during that time. 

3) Was there anything you wish you knew ahead of time?

I wish I had known how easy it is for caregivers to overfeed a breastfed baby.  This happened with my first and I struggled to keep up.  I think my aunt was overfeeding her. 

4) Did you job do anything to help you back (something she can request)?

Just a nice, quiet and private pumping location with NO interruptions while pumping!

Carnation77

1) What helped the transition?  

My first week back I worked M,W,F and DH took half-days M and W so we slowly built up how much time DS spent at daycare.  I go BF DS twice a day because his daycare is less than 5 minutes from my office.

2) What should she be aware of?  

Exhaustion but what can you do?  Forgetting a pump part if she pumps.

3) Was there anything you wish you knew ahead of time?  

Load the car the night before as much as possible.

4) Did you job do anything to help you back (something she can request)?  

Gave me an empty office to pump in and gives me a lot of flexibility with my time so I can go BF and pump.  Allowed me to come back every other day at first.

newenglander71

1) What helped the transition?  

I couldn't do flex time either, and my job would never be officially PT, so I arranged my maternity leave so that I came back PT under our maternity leave policy.  We get 32 weeks of ML (unpaid - have to use sick time or PTO), so I was out FT 16 weeks and then was back PT for the last 16 weeks.  It helped tremendously.

2) What should she be aware of?  

That no matter how much you plan, it can feel overwhelming at first.

3) Was there anything you wish you knew ahead of time?  

That the initial feeling of I can't do this, don't want to work at all anymore and leave my child, etc definitely fades after a couple weeks and you start to get back into the groove.

4) Did you job do anything to help you back (something she can request)? 
They were just really understanding about the transition back.  Understood initially if I was a few minutes late because I was still working on how to make my mornings work...things like that.  That's nothing you can request though.