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Six Tips to Make Going Back to Work Easier:

1. Deal with your feelings.

Talk openly with your partner or a friend about your fears, joys, frustrations, or anxieties. Get as much rest as possible. Re-evaluate your priorities. Identify what needs to be done right away and what can be passed to someone else or dropped.

If possible, start as early as you can and visit different types of settings to find what is best for your family. Bring a checklist on each visit; ask about waiting lists and deposits. Child care centers typically have waiting lists. Family home providers may have only a month or two advance notice when they have openings.

2. Do a trial run.

If possible, begin child care several weeks before you go back to work. Start with a couple of hours. Then slowly increase the time to allow both you and your child to adjust.

3. Breast feed or formula?

If you have been nursing until now, you have many options. You can breast feed exclusively, expressing milk at work. You can formula feed exclusively, weaning your baby before returning to work. Or you can use formula during the day, and nurse in the evenings and mornings.

For further information, please contact:

La Leche League - Provides support and information on breast feeding. Phone number: 1-800-LaLeche
www.lalecheleague.org/ab.html

Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies - has lots of helpful information about breastfeeding and going back to work.
www.hmhbwa.org/forfamilies/breastfeeding/working.htm

"Breastfeeding's Worth It" information:
www.hmhbwa.org/forprof/materials/BCW_packet.htm

4. Organize.

Pack everything you need the night before. If possible, have one bag that only goes to child care. Buy duplicates of essential items so you keep one in your child’s bag and one at home. Choose a spot where you always place items that go to child care. This is especially helpful if you share drop off and pick up responsibilities. Buy a daily calendar planner so both you and the provider can write down what your child eats and when, nap times, bowel movements, accomplishments, and other information.

5. Most important, keep your sense of humor!

6. Tomorrow will always bring something new.