I wanted to go back to work, and it is hard with a baby!

I can’t believe that baby Rafa has turned 8 months! Time really flies by. I feel that it is so long in the meantime very short. Let me take this chance to record my journey of going back to work after having a baby.

Took my son to the office to get a Xmas photo

The first week

When he was 2.5 months old, I really really wanted to go back to work. Of course, I am the breadwinner of the house and I need money to cover all the cost of having him. But also, I was craving to regain control of my schedule, and my pace. No sleep at night and sleep under daylight is just a total torture to me. I was also very scared because I was sitting on the couch for months watching TV while feeding my baby. I knew it was going to be very difficult to adapt to the work shift, but I needed to do it!

I remember the first day I showed up to work after my maternity leave, my friends and colleagues were greeting me like, “Omg! You’re back!” “Feels like you were here yesterday, and now you’ve got a baby!” “ You recovered so fast!” It was a warm welcoming back. However, I was sooooo tired! I could barely keep my eyes open in front of my laptop.

Rafa’s dad told me that the first week was incredibly hard, what you could do was just hold on! And indeed, this is how it felt the first week. This is how amazing human beings are, we basically are capable of adapting to everything.

Around one and a half weeks later, my body adjusted to the new pace.

The nursing

One thing that really affects your performance is the nursing. For the first six months, my baby was exclusively breastfeeding, and I went back to work when he was 2.5 months old. Here in Mexico, the daycares can receive babies from 45 days, so for Rafa, we sent him to daycare starting from 2 months old.

Therefore, every day I need to go to feed him at 11 am at daycare. Although it’s only a 5-minute walking distance from my work, taking him out of class and going to the nursing room, feeding him, etc, it took a least 40 minutes to get back to work.

It’s like you’re in the middle of something when you’re sharp in the morning, but you have to stop. This is also quite bothering. Or some meeting you can’t attend because of it. In my opinion, there is no solution, only wait until the breastfeeding terminates. Meanwhile, it’s better to plan your day with this interval and let the people you work with know that you have to go.

The relations among family members

I think for most people this is the most difficult part, if you don’t have a nanny to take care of yourr baby, because everyone is so tired and needs to adapt new life. On the other hand, there are always differences of how to take care of a baby, especially in my house, there is a big cultural barrier —- my family is Chinese and Rafa’s dad’s family is Mexican. I think I will write blogs about this letter, haha. This tention also affects your working spirit and comsune your energy.

I know eventually we need to find a way to work along with my baby, but right now I still need suggetions and guidence. If you have any suggestions, please leave a comments here. Thanks for your help in advance.