XP: Establishing Routines & Going Back to Work

Jennifer717

How old was LO when you returned to work?  I'm concerned that we won't be set in a routine by 6 weeks, especially with breastfeeding and the emotional toll of leaving my 6 wk old, but weighing the financial impact of returning at 12 weeks.  What differences do you notice between your life with LO at 6 wks vs. 12 wks?

14years

DS was 13 weeks when I returned to work. ?We didn't really have any routine before he started. ?I had tried, but he wasn't really ready. ?He had some times he generally napped and ate, but it wasn't consistent enough to call a routine. ?We also had tried a routine for bed, but he wasn't really very consistent with that either. ?It varied by about an hour every night.

As soon as he started daycare, he became much more consistent, though, just on his own. ?He started going to sleep at the same time every night and his napping at home got a lot more consistent, too. ?The timing was so close, I don't think it was just a coincidence. ?So, I don't think it's a big problem if you don't have a routine down when you go back to work. ?It'll come.

However, I will say that going back to work at 6 weeks would have been a lot harder. ?I was still pretty darn tired all the time. ?DS started sleeping much better at about 10 weeks, and things got a lot easier. ?I also BF, and BF was fine but still kind of hard sometimes at 6 weeks. ?By 3 months, it was easy as pie. ?Obviously, every one's different, and you could have a much different experience, but I was still trying to hold it together at 6 weeks. ?Things were a lot easier than the first couple of weeks, but I had a way to go to feel truly comfortable in my new role as a mom. ?By 13 weeks, I felt great, and 100% ready to go back. ?I would seriously consider putting it off a few more weeks if you can handle it financially.?