Working moms..I need advice :)?

[CamsMommy]

I go back to work in mid August and my son will be 3 months old. I have a few questions for working moms!

*How long did it take you to get used to not being around your little one all day?

*How hard was it to manage housework and the baby at the same time? (my husband is a teacher and football coach so he will be at football practices and coaches mtgs until late during the first part of the school year)

*Do you have any suggestions or routines that work for you? (certain days you do laundry, ways to split up chores w/ hubby)

Any advice you all can give would be great!! Stay at home mom advocates...please spare me the lecture. Financially we have no choice. As teachers w/ tons of debt.. it's only practical that I go to work!!

[BlazeBaby]

well for house work the chores were already split into days and divided between me and my husband...

sadly i couldnt be away from my son for long... i worked as a photographer at picture people and i saw too many young kids so i had to quit i couldnt take it... luckily my husband was able to work 2 jobs for me

[AngelaB]

I was a working mom with both my first and second children. With the first one, I had read somewhere that babies on a schedule grew up more secure. I had never been around kids so I thought it sounded like good advice and I did that with my first when she was 6 weeks old. She got fed every 3 hours, she went to bed at 7:30, she slept in her own bed. Now I was a single mom with my first so I was kind of looking forward to going back to work. I had a schedule for everything though. I did a load of laundry each night after baby went to bed and I didn't have to do any on the weekends. I mean, this kid pooped on a schedule.

Now I don't know if this was a good thing or a bad thing, but I know that both of my kids get meals on a schedule, they both go to bed with no trouble at all, and they seem pretty happy so I must be doing something right. The best advice I can give is to stick to a schedule. Make it convenient for you so that you have a life and be sure to enlist the help of hubby!

[Ang]

I went back to work at 30 hours a week instead of 40 so we wouldn't have to pay for daycare. It was hard at first, actually I had to go on medication for anxiety because I will flippin out about being away from her! hopefully you're not going to be that bad, i'm sure there's a happy medium LOL.
I do laundry some in the evening when she takes her nap which is also when i wash bottles -a never ending chore! but most of the laundry gets done on weekends. You'll get a routine eventually that works for you. good luck!

[aayi2008]

Its hard. Only time will tell u what works best for u. I started work 3 months back. I'm working from home until august ( will be back workign frm the office after august ..sigh ) and have my mum helping me with the baby .. but I still find it hard to not run and pick up my baby when he cries when I'm working ... especially when I'm in meetings. My mother leaves in 2 days and I'll be in the same boat as you since I'll have to manage everything myself. I have a baby sitter coming over from next week.. so she will be helping me take care of the baby when I'm working. Hers what I'll be doing. Wake up my baby at 6.. feed him twice until 9am. I breastfeed. Then drop him off at the babysitter's. Pick him up at 5pm and then just feed him and play with him until 7pm. During that time, I'll do the laundry and clean up the place a littel when my little one is playing or sleeping. After 7pm, my hubby comes home.. so then we'll cook together. Thats what I plan to do .. I hope it works out !!!!

[LM]

i went back to work - couldn't be away and quit. So I am not the best person to help you. But if it doesn't work don't feel bad.

Good luck

[SamanthaG]

I worked after my first two. I cooked three/four extra big batch dishes on the weekend and cut and prepared quick sides to serve with it for dinners. For example cooked Jambalya, Chicken and dumplings, baked chicken and prepped a large salad, corn bread batter or something I could cook and serve quickly with it during the week.

I would freeze half of the extra big batch and we would eat some of each dish for dinner. Then on the weekend I would start the whole process over within 6 weeks I had a variety of frozen food that was easy to thaw and prepare.

Then when the freezer was full I could take a break from cooking and I could take out a dish to thaw in the fridge the night before and prep and store a side in the fridge. Then when I got home from work within 15 minutes I could have dinner ready. When I was out of frozen meals then I would start a six week cooking cycle again.

[BeckyW]

When I went back to work in April I picked up only part time so that we wouldn't have to use a daycare. It was hard at first, but it just kept getting easier. As for managing housework and the baby, that too gets easier with time. I learned a trick... if you bag up the garbage and put it right in front of the door, hubby will take it outside when he gets home so that he doesn't have to walk around it or over it! That way you can stay inside with the baby! Also, I just do other little chores around the house while she is sleeping, like dishes, load of laundry, garbage, etc... Take advantage of those naps! Good luck with it and just talk to your hubby about what you want him to do, or just ask him to help out when he sees something that needs to be done!