The Working Mom's Back-to-Work Survival Guide

Detergent, toys and wine aren’t cheap, and moms need to buy a lot of all three. So even if you’re not thrilled about going back to work, returning to that 9-5 grind is may be unavoidable. If you prepare yourself and your support network now, you can hit the ground running on that first day back. We talked to some real moms about how they made the transition with style.


Get Your Ducks in a Row

If you haven’t yet lined up childcare that you feel great about, do it now. Knowing that your baby is safe with a loving and attentive caregiver will ease your mind a ton when you return to work. Not only does that mean securing a place in a local day care or hiring a nanny, it also means figuring out rock-solid backup plans.

Jenifer Horvath, a mom of two who works as a life coach supporting working moms, suggests plotting out emergency plans for all the things that may feasibly go wrong. Your child getting sick in the middle of the day, getting stuck in traffic and being unable to pick her up from daycare on time, even spilling something or leaking breast milk on your shirt when you’re already in the car — figure out now how you’ll handle those scenarios and put plans in place to address them, like keeping spare clothes at work.

If you don’t have a partner staying at home, now’s also a great time to hire a cleaning service if possible and earmark some recipes that you can cook in bulk on the weekend and freeze for quick weeknight dinners.


Prepare Your Routine

However long it took you to get out the door in the morning pre-baby, you can safely double or triple it now. That’s why Mary Beth Ferrante, a career coach who works with new moms, suggests doing a full dress rehearsal so you can iron out the logistics of your new schedule.

“Prior to your first day back at work, do a run through, especially of your new morning routine,” Mary Beth says. “Get up when you’ll need to, get together all of the things you’ll need to bring with you to work, you may even want to re-practice your commute — especially if you’ve negotiated flexibility in your work day and will be arriving at a different time.

“Most importantly,” she says, “practice the hand off with your child care provider whether it’s day care drop off, a nanny at home or even a family member.”


Touch Base at Work
The leaving-your-child part is hard, but so is the actual work side of returning to your job after a long absence. Schedule a meeting to talk to your boss about upcoming projects, any changes that took place while you were gone and other relevant concerns.

You may always want to use this opportunity to talk about flexibility, suggests Jenifer. “For example, you can ask if you can arrive early and leave later or vice versa to avoid getting stuck in traffic or better schedule with your partner,” she says. Depending on your job, you may also ask about the possibility of working remotely a few days a week or moving to a four-day work week. Be prepared to suggest making these changes on a trial basis, Jenifer suggests.


See the Big Picture
There will be hard moments during the transition back to work, even if you’re thrilled to be getting out of the house and back to your old life. It’s really normal to feel guilt about leaving your baby or worrying about how she’ll do without you there, and getting back into professional mode can feel awkward at first.

“On the emotional side of the equation, I highly suggest that moms do their best to check their expectations at the door,” says Mary Beth. “Every person is unique so whether you get right into your groove or you cry in the bathroom for a month straight, do your best to give yourself a little bit of grace and know that like every difficult stage of caring for your baby, this too shall pass!”



Kathryn Walsh is a freelance writer specializing in parenting and travel topics. Her work has appeared on mom.me, TheBump.com, and USAToday.com.