Sad about maternity leave ending...coping mechanisms, anyone?

otoro98

I think the subject line says it all - next week is my last week home with DD, and I'm freaking out about leaving her (12 weeks old) with a stranger in daycare. sigh. any suggestions? I may be able to work one day a week from home, which is helpful, but I'm still sad! thanks in advance for any advice.

Artslvr

No sage words of advice, just lots of sympathy.  It's hard - but it does get better/easier once you're in a routine.  But boy I've been there - with all three of my kids.  Those first few days of daycare with all of them were a little anxious but especially with my first, since I was just starting to get to know the DCP.

Vent here.  Take it one day at a time.  It really does get better.

DCtoLowcountry

It does get better! During my last week of maternity leave, I did a slow transition into daycare (a 2-4-6-8, which someone here recommended). Monday I dropped him off for 2 hours, Tuesday for 4 hours, Wed for 6 hours - and I went to Target by myself! That convinced me I could do it. My first day back at work was a Thursday so I only had to get through Thursday and Friday before I had the weekend with DS. I'll admit the slow transition was more for me than for DS, but it helped. GL! Hope we can provide some support.

Sofka

can you start back P/T? work 2 days, then 3, then 4, then 5? it helped me to do that. It's ok to cry when you drop off your LO, we all did it! it does get better!! Call the DCP as often as you need in the first few days/weeks.

 

mssaint

LO is home with DH, not in daycare, but it was still sad to have maternity leave end. He is so close to rolling over right now, and I don't want to miss it :-(

I took some of the suggestions mentioned here - I went back for 2 days, then 3 days, then 5 days. I definitely cried on the drive in the first day or two. 

Something that helped me was that on the first day I spent some time setting up my space to include pictures of LO. I also changed my computer desktop, and brought in some photos to post on the wall in the lactation room. I also lowered my expectations of myself for the first few weeks and pretty much just sat at my desk nesting and checking gmail, and saying hi to people who stopped by. Just being at work was different enough - actually working would have been overwhelming!