Working mother guilts...

Daycare is not evil - you will find he will love it! How old is he?

I went back fulltime between my babies so DS was 1 when he started and he loved it. The first 2 weeks were a nightmare thou so be prepared for that.

He cried when Ieft and I cried my way to work for the first week (so remember to take your makeup in the car for touch ups before work). The second week he still cried but by then I had worked out that he atually only cried for about 2 mins and then was quite happy.

Good Luck and you will honestly enjoy your time at work and appreciate the time with your wee man more.

I bawled my eyes out the first time I left DD at the centre by herself (she was 18 months) .. she on the other hand didnt miss me.

Hmm well I've been back at work 6 weeks now and it's just getting worse and worse, so I'm no help whatsoever

But the kids do love DC, it's the evenings that are our issue, and when they get sick, as I'm the only one that can deal with them but my job is relieving for sick people, so the school would get pretty pi$$ed if I had to ring sick because of the kids all the time.

I love being away from the kids though It does make you appreciate the time with them more I reckon.

My DS is 11 months now and started DC at just over 5 months. I hated leaving him, and to this day i stll feel some what guilty. But i just keep in mind me working gives him all the things he has.
When we pull up to daycare he knows straight away and starts flapping his arms! His sleeps however are still not great at DC but he comes home and has a good sleep.

Its certainly not an evil place... if you feel it is its not the right DC. You have to be comfortable of where he is going.

All the best. Im sure your DS will be fine. Oh and if there is anything you are not happy with in what they are doing, tell them, they dont know otherwise!

It will be fine, it really will but I do agree you need to be prepared that the first few weeks are more than a bit rough.

On day one I thought about chucking it all in, but they cope so much better than we do.

The sickness side is hard but that also gets easier as time goes on.

DC is good, they are totally focussed on the kids, they perform mini miracles getting them to sleep and eat but they all do.

I went back to work 2 weeks ago. DS is 6 months old. He loves daycare and has adjusted to it wonderfully. They were really good with having us visit twice a week in the weeks before he started so he could develop relationships with the carers. They also got me to write down all his routines, likes, dislikes etc etc.

My biggest stress was how feeding would go. I am still breastfeeding him and wanted to continue. It was the mid afternoon feed that I was worried about. I tried expressing but I wasn't getting much. The dc tried feeding him the expressed milk but he wouldn't take it. So now I go in at lunch time and feed him then and hes happy to wait until night for the next one! Its amazing how well they will adjust.

I was really dreading returning to work, but really it hasn't been so bad. Night times and mornings are challenging, but I try to have as much as possible organised beforehand.

Good luck. I'm sure it will be fine.

Thanks for the support. I get so sick of people looking shocked when I say I am returning to work, or looking down their nose and telling me how "precious" those first few years are.

Teehee on the quilt comment - just reminded me the quilt I was going to make while heavily pregnant, frustrated and overdue is still sitting there - partly because DS decided to arrive 8 days early and I never got to that point. Should finish before I start work