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New Moms Returning to Work

Your pregnancy is over, and it seems as if most of the hard work is done. Yet you must still deal with childcare arrangements if you choose to return to work. You'll soon realize that balancing a family and a career requires organization and flexibility.

Whether to continue working outside the home after the baby's birth is one decision that many mothers wish they didn't have to make. However, due to financial necessity, staying home is not an option for many women.

In the 1950s and early 1960s, few women with children under the age of 6 worked outside the home. Today, a woman's salary may not be expendable. Returning to work after having a baby is as common as staying home.

The Cost of Working: Is It Worth It?
Add up the following to find your total "working cost":

• cost of childcare
• cost of formula, if you will not continue breastfeeding when you return to work
• cost of duplicate equipment between home and childcare
• increase in taxes due to second income
• cost of travel to and from work
• cost of meals eaten out
• cost of extras, such as dry cleaning, clothing, other things you need if you work
• cost of any "treats" you reward yourself with, such as eating out, buying convenience foods, having someone clean the house for you

Follow steps 1-3 to determine what you are really earning. The bottom-line figure could surprise you.

1. Add together your take-home pay and benefits.
2. Deduct total working costs that you determined from the list above.
3. Divide this number by the total number of hours you spend away from home. This gives you a figure that represents how much you are making for each hour you are away from home and baby.

About 60% of all mothers work outside the home. Returning to work is more common than staying home.

If You Decide To Stay At Home
You may decide to stay home with your baby. If you do, the change from going out each day to work to staying at home can be traumatic. You may find staying at home isn't as easy as you thought it would be. It's true you won't have to worry about going to work or coming home to fix meals and do housework, but you may find staying home means less companionship, less money and the loss of your daily work routine.

If you have worked full time, you may not have met many people in your area. It's hard to make friends in your own neighborhood when you work all day. You may find your community soon becomes a substitute for your workplace. Don't bury yourself in motherhood and exclude all other activities. Make an effort to get out, meet people and get involved in new experiences with your baby.

Studies have shown that some women who left jobs to stay at home with baby were more distressed than new mothers who returned to work. Staying home may not be as easy as you think!

Stay in touch with your colleagues at work. Drop in to see them, or go out to lunch with a group. Call them, and stay on top of what is happening in your field. Before You Return To Work
If you decide to return to work, there are some things you can do to make the transition from home to career easier and more successful. Use what works for you in your particular situation.

When you plan to return to work, begin your work routine 1 week before you go back to establish your schedule. Get up at the time you normally would, feed your baby, make and eat your own breakfast, fix your lunch, pack your briefcase and pack baby's diaper bag. You may be surprised how long it takes to accomplish all these tasks.

2 Weeks Before You Return to Work
Experiment with various feeding techniques before you make any final decisions. You may decide to continue breastfeeding your baby. You can do this fairly easily if you are close to work or your job offers daycare services, allowing you to visit your baby when it's time to feed her. If these are not options, you will have to pump your breasts; using a dual-action pump gets the job done twice as fast. If you decide to switch to formula, eliminate one nursing every couple of days, beginning with the early-evening feeding. Switch to formula for day feedings. Eliminate the first and last feedings of the day as your final switch to formula.

Examine your wardrobe, and try clothes on! You may be larger in size (it's natural), or your body shape may have changed somewhat, making some clothes fit differently. Be sure you also try on shoes. If you intend to breastfeed or pump your breasts during working hours, you may need clothes that allow you to do this easily.

Finalize daycare arrangements. Visit the place you have planned to leave your child to check it out again and to make sure they have enrolled your child. It's also a good idea to have "sick-baby" arrangements in case your child gets sick and you can't take her to daycare. If you use a babysitter, you may need an alternate sitter in case your sitter gets sick. See Childcare Decisions for New Moms.

Evaluate your needs at home. Will you be able to eliminate certain chores or adapt yourself to accepting different standards? You may not realize how valuable your time will be when you're at home—you probably won't want to spend your time keeping everything sparkling. Can you do chores more efficiently, such as cooking ahead for the week or shopping only once a week? Can you hire someone to do some cleaning for you? 1 Week Before You Return to Work
Begin your work routine this week. Get up at the time you normally rise when you are going to work. Feed your baby on the new schedule. Make and eat your own breakfast. Allow time to pack a lunch and fill baby's diaper bag.

Make a list of all the supplies. You will need a lot of things for baby at home and at daycare. Consider diapers, formula, baby clothes, extra bottles, a second car seat and anything else you may need for your baby's care and comfort.

Choose your clothes. Lay clothes out the night before you go back to work. Be sure everything is OK to wear. If you continue to breastfeed, have a couple of clothing changes available at your office, and have a good supply of breast pads. Pack your diaper bag with baby's things to take to daycare. Eat a good meal, and go to bed early to get a good night's sleep.

Try on shoes you may not have worn for a while. Your shoe size may increase 1/2 to 1 full size during pregnancy. Often this increase is permanent, and your feet will remain larger, even after baby's birth.

The Day You Return to Work
If possible, choose a Thursday to return to work. It helps you get into the routine of working, but you'll only work a short week. This plan allows you to replenish your energy for the following 5-day work week. If you can start back with fewer hours, that also helps. Five hours a day for a week is a good plan, gradually increasing to 8 hours a day.

Plan easy-to-fix meals for the first few weeks after you start working. Or prepare and freeze some dishes so you don't have to cook. You might even want to get take-home food a couple of times.

Don't get upset if you feel a great loss when you return to work. It's OK to grieve and to feel some guilt when you leave your baby. You may even feel some relief to get back to work. That's OK, too.

When you return to work, some co-workers will be very supportive; others may be insensitive to how you are feeling. It's important to find ways to ease the transition from being at home to going back to work.

You may encounter some of your greatest challenges when you return home after work. You may be tired and hungry, but you probably won't be able to sit down and rest because your family will need your time and attention. You may need to arrange with your partner to share many new "baby" responsibilities.

Give your baby your total attention when you are with her. Have your partner try to do the same by having him spend some quality time with her. Also set aside some time for just you and your partner. You'll probably both need it after a full day. It's important to manage your time; you'll have many new demands on you and your resources.

Try to make a plan, and stick to it. You can't do everything, so don't try. Delegate some responsibilities to others. Do what you can, and let less important things go. You may not be able to do as much as you could before your baby was born, so you may need to change your expectations. Can You Modify Your Work Situation?
With careful exploration, you may find ways to modify your current work situation so everyone is happy—you, your boss, your partner and your baby. Examine various work schedules to determine what may suit your needs.

Some women decide to keep working but not full time. If there is some way you can cut your hours and work part time, you may be happier. It may mean less money, but your peace of mind may compensate for the monetary loss. Ask your employer if you can cut your hours or share a job with someone else. There may be another person who does the same type of job as you do in the company who would also like to work only part time.

Find out if flex-time programs are available at your company. In some cases, you can modify your work schedule; for example, you could work four 10-hour days. In other cases, you may be able to come in early and leave early, or arrive late and leave late. You may be able to set your own schedule, as long as you get your work done.

If you work part time or flex time, childcare may be harder to find. Some centers are more flexible than others, and some in-home care providers (their home or yours) welcome the break. In other cases, you may find less flexibility with a center—you usually pay on a weekly basis, whether your child is there or not. If an in-home care provider depends on the income from tending your child, a lighter schedule means less money. A third solution might be to work at home part time or full time. Many companies are now set up to allow workers (men and women) to work at home. With planning and foresight, working from home can be a positive experience for you and your baby.

Breastfeeding and Work
Breastfeeding is important to many women, and they don't want to have to stop when they return to work. It's possible to breastfeed your baby even after you return to work. If you breastfeed exclusively, you will have to pump your breasts or arrange to see your baby during the day. Or you can nurse your baby at home and feed expressed breast milk or formula when you're away. It takes a little more time, but if it's important to you, do it.

Let your supervisor know if you are breastfeeding or need to empty your breasts during the day. You can become very uncomfortable if you can't express your milk by either feeding your baby or using a breast pump.

One way to smooth the back-to-work transition for you and baby is to begin storing breast milk for a couple of weeks before you return to work. Use an electric breast pump to express milk between feedings about 2 weeks before you start work. Don't start expressing milk sooner because you may produce too much milk. A breast pump that has a double-pumping feature empties both breasts at once. Freeze expressed milk in quantities from 1 ounce to 4 ounces. This provides your caregiver with options as to how much to thaw for a particular feeding.

It may be possible to pump then store breast milk while you're at work. You may be very uncomfortable if you don't pump your breasts because your milk continues to flow in. Take a breast pump with you, and refrigerate or discard breast milk after it is pumped.

If you remain at home until your baby is between 4 and 6 months old, your baby may be able to skip the bottle and start drinking from a cup. Earlier than 4 months, she will need to learn to drink from a bottle. After 4 weeks of nursing exclusively, your baby will be ready to try a bottle without compromising your milk supply or her nursing technique. With the first bottle feedings, let someone else feed the baby the bottle when she's not too hungry. Bottlefeed her around the same time she will receive a bottle once you return to work.