It's working for Elizabeth D
Denver , Colorado
2 children
"Work can get along without me--I even called in to one meeting from the hospital the day my first baby was born! I didn't make that mistake with #2."
Work can get along without me–I even called in to one meeting from the hospital the day my first baby was born! I didn’t make that mistake with #2.
I breastfed exclusively after my first for 12 weeks. It turned out that we deferred giving him a bottle too long–he hated it and refused the bottle completely when my spouse tried to give it to him. Finally we had to send him to day care still refusing the bottle, but he relented after a few days that were miserable for everyone. With our second we introduced the bottle–and formula–much earlier.
12 weeks. I was surprisingly sad right before finishing mat leave with #1 but after a week or 2 I was glad to be back at work.
Initially I was sad to be leaving my baby, but we had a good daycare set up and my spouse was a part-time stay-at-home dad, so there weren’t many obstacles to going back–plus we needed the money.
No, but I did have some friends/acquaintances with similar jobs and similarly-aged kids, so we commiserated and shared tips. I also used an online mom’s group extensively for advice and support.