Returning to work & separation anxiety.

pammi2003 · September 2012

I return to work in exactly 4 weeks and I'm already feeling separation anxiety from my little man. I mean, the longest I've been apart from him was 3 hours, how will I handle being away from him for 9 whole hours?? One good thing is that my work is only about 10 minutes away so I will be coming home on my lunch to nurse.

Another thing that worries me is how he is going to react being away from me. I've been away from him twice (Both times hubby and I went to the movies) and when we came home, my mom said he was fussy and still appeared to be hungry (even though I left plenty of expressed bm) Just this morning, hubby asked to feed him, I said fine. So after I nursed him at 10:30, hubby too him downstairs and I remained upstairs so I can read a bit. He brought him up at noon saying he was still hungry and fussy. I left him 4 oz of bm so I thought that would be plenty. I'm thinking he is currently going through a growth spurt and that is why he is constantly hungry and fussy but I wonder if he is going to act the same way when I go back to work.

I didn't nurse my daughter (which I regret so much) so I don't remember the separation anxiety being this strong.

When you returned to work, how did your LO act? Was it hard for you to be separated from him? How did you deal with it?

Thanks!

cindybaf · September 2012

Well I go back tomorrow so if you come back tuesday I'll probably answer this post by then;). I'm not looking forward to being away from my kids but it's a necessity for us and I do like what I do... I'd try leaving him a couple more times before going back to work, even if it's with family. You have plenty of time to practice and also pump up a freezer stash.

TJ1979 · September 2012

I go back to work in 3 weeks and am having the same anxiety. My work is too far away to nurse at lunch, so you are very lucky. Everyone had told me that being apart will be harder on me than on LO. GL, hopefully it isn't too bad for either of us.

WaitingOnNo2 · September 2012

I had serious separation anxiety to the point where I tried putting DD in daycare 2 1/2 days when she was 2 months old and I hated it so I kept her home with me and worked from home until she was 4 months, and even now I only put her in daycare an average of 2-3 days a week from 11-5...all the rest of the time I kill myself to work with her at home so we can be together.

I'm MUCH more bonded to her than DS, who I only nursed for 3 weeks. I handed him over to daycare like a hot potato to get a "break" going back to work.

lisac1017 · October 2012

I'm not sure exactly how old your LO will be when you go back. Before I had DS I planned to return to work at 6 weeks. I ended up not returning until 5.5 months b/c I wanted to be home with him so much. Even then, I was supposed to return full time but went in my 2nd day asking for part time b/c of the separation anxiety. It was so hard for me to think about not being able to bf him all day long. So I worked part time til he turned 8 months. He does great without me and when you see that your LO is still thriving even when you're not there it will help. But I still hate being away from him and get depressed every Sunday night after I've nursed him to sleep. I just make the most I every minute I have with him and ask either DH or the sitter to send me updates throughout the day. It sucks buy we do what we have to and I just hope it gets easier too. Good luck. The first day will be the hardest but getting home to him will be that much sweeter.

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