Find a way to ease yourself back in
You don’t want to take on too much stress at work straight away. Find a way to ease yourself back in – this could mean taking on reduced hours or taking on basic duties.
It’s likely that your employer will not expect you to take on any big jobs straight away. Use this as an opportunity to readjust. In some cases, retraining may be necessary (particularly if there have been big changes at work while you’ve been gone).
Make sure you’re mentally and physically ready
If you’re still battling postpartum depression or recovering from birth injuries, you probably don’t want to be returning to work any time soon. Focus on getting yourself mentally and physically well before taking on the mental and physical demands of work.
Make sure that you’re also starting to get a decent amount of sleep per night. If your little one is still waking up multiple times in the night, returning to work might be too much of a strain.
Take advantage of your new working mom rights
As a new mom, you can usually ask your employer for certain privileges that other employees may not be able to ask for. This could include the ability to work from home or the ability to work flexible hours to better fit around childcare. This could help to make juggling childcare and motherhood easier.
Make sure that you’re still getting your free time
On top of working and looking after your child, it’s important that you’re also getting time to yourself. This includes time to see friends, time to commit to hobbies and time to relax. You and your partner may be able to find ways of sharing time with your little one so that each of you also gets time to yourself. Alternatively, friends and family may be able to help babysit for short periods. You won’t get much free time at first, however as your little gets older and is less dependent on you, you’ll find that your free time increases and juggling work and motherhood will become a lot easier.
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