Any advice for coping with first day back at work?

thinkofthat

Monday is my first day back, and while I am sort of looking forward to it, I am really sad and anxious about leaving her.  Any tips?  She'll be starting day care.  We have already spent time with her teachers and in the infant room, so I am fairly secure about my choice.  Just worried about separation anxiety,

thinkofthat

Forgot to mention, she;'s ten weeks old.

mrserinpa

I started last week.  Mostly, I just tried to stay busy and not think about it too much.  My son seemed a little overwhelmed when I picked him up the first day, but at 2 weeks in, he is really thriving (aside from my sleep question that I just posted).  He's happy and smiling most of the time.  You'll get through it!  Good luck.

JssBB6

I have no advice but I'm going back to work next week and am panicked about it especially after visiting her daycare.  It didn't make me feel better like I was hoping.  DH sister agreed to watch her so I'm thankful for that.  But I'm so axious about EVERYTHING that is involved with leaving her so I could use some advice too!

madhatter2003

Just know it gets better. This is my 2nd time going back to work. Yesterday was hard, but I'm so busy getting back into the swing of things that you just deal with it. Yes there are tears, and I'd love to be at home, but being at work is nice in it's own way....I get to have 'adult' conversation, etc.

Meg_Meg

I just went back to work on Monday.  I think it really helped me to have my clothes ready for the week and his close ready each night for the next day. I packed my diaper bag before I went to bed and even put everything in the car before I went to sleep.  That way I wasn't scrambling each morning to get things ready.

 

Good luck!

SportyChic24

I just recently went back to work and it was tough the first day, then the second day a little better and so on. My first day at work though I spent pretty much the morning talking with people I had not seen in a while, talking about my daughter and showing pictures of her, putting pictures by my desk. Then my boss was super nice and let me leave an hour early to go pick her up which was nice. In the morning at home though I made sure to get up a little earlier than planned just so I could spend some time with her in the morning before rushing out the door. Also I just tried to dive into work the second and third day to keep my mind busy but as soon as friday hit I was getting a little on edge to leave. Hope it goes ok for you, Good Luck!

xmasbabymama

I'm pretty sure my boss asked my team to leave me alone for the first couple of days just so I could get used to being back. I was in kind of a bad mood, so I appreciated being able to hole up in my cube and not have to answer a lot of questions about how hard it was to leave her. You could mention something like that to yours, depending upon your relationship.

I also get my clothes ready for the week, make lunches ahead of time. I have a bowl that I fill with soap as soon as I get home to soak dirty bottles and nipples and pump equipment. I also have dinners that I can just pop in the oven or quickly assemble. And I have index cards with lists of everything that needs to get done so I can just pull them out instead of rewriting lists every day. I try to do a load of laundry every night when DD goes down then I throw it into the dryer as I go to bed so I can fold it in the AM. Basically, I don't know what is going to happen on a given day so I try to stay as ahead of everything as I can so if DD throws a fit or is up a lot at night, etc. etc., I am prepared and don't have to scramble. You'll find a routine though.

 Good luck - it's not as terrible as it seems the weekend before.

slpgrad34

1. Keep Kleenex handy... you'll probably cry.

2. Try not to think about it too much.

3. Enjoy telling everyone all about your baby! If they ask, they're probably interested... most people love babies.

4. Cuddle her a lot before you leave and when you get home that night. You just won't believe how fun it is to see her big smile when she gets to see you again!! (And you'll have a big smile when you get to see her again!)

5. Enjoy the fact that you get to have some adult conversation and (hopefully) a little mental stimulation each day and not just baby duty all the time. My husband stays home with our baby boy and he is pretty jealous that I don't have to spend all day with the baby (while I'm jealous that he gets to).

 GOOD LUCK!