LO is 3 months old and, while I am treasuring this time and I know it will be hard to put him in daycare, I am starting to miss work. I am sure there is more I could do to find SAH satisfying but it's lonely and I miss the mental stimulation.
I feel blessed that I can stay home until 6 months but...
Anyway, when were you ready to go back?
nectarine / 2148 posts
I started feeling ready around 3 months. But, having a June baby it's been so hot this summer I felt like I could never get outside so I wanted to get back to work just as an excuse to leave the house. Three months was when our routine really settled in.
pomegranate / 3113 posts
Around 10-11 weeks, I was ready to go back for a couple half-days a week. I went back FT at 13 weeks but if I could do it over, I'd have tried to arrange to work PT for a couple months.
GOLD / eggplant / 11517 posts
Immediately, ha! I remember DH going back to work after a week and I was jealous. But that was in the early days when everything was so extremely challenging. By the time my 3 month maternity leave was over I felt like I was finally getting my footing and didn't want to go back.
nectarine / 2173 posts
I went back at 8 weeks but work was light for the first few weeks. Around 11 weeks I felt pretty good about it. I could not have done 6 months!
cantaloupe / 6131 posts
Take my opinion with a grain of salt because my son was extremely colicky with reflux, but I didn't feel like he had a predictable enough schedule or disposition until he was at LEAST 5-6 months old. I think I could have handled going to work at 6 months, but really felt ready at 9 months. Unfortunately, we bought a house when DS was 9 months, so we had to handle renovations and moving and all that, so I took the full year. I was definitely ready at 1 year!
pomelo / 5258 posts
@gingerbebe: I was the opposite. I could have gone back at 6 weeks with my colicky baby. I needed a break so badly. With #2 I've enjoyed the baby period so much more. I could have gone back at 3 months. I took 4 months for each.
pear / 1521 posts
I went back at 6 months and although I have been really happy to be working again it's been hard in terms of parenting because she sleeps way worse now than she did when she was 3 months old. I don't know if I had gone back earlier if she would have developed a better routine or what (and be napping better at daycare now!). So even though I was personally ready (without realizing it), I think next time I'd want to stay home 9-10 months so we can really develop a routine and sleep train if necessary.
apricot / 329 posts
I went back at 3 months and hated. every. day. back at work. I cried all the way to work for weeks on end, and randomly during the day. Luckily I have my own office. But I missed my baby so much and felt deprived of the "good part" of her babyhood, having ushered her safely through the difficult first three months. She got suddenly much easier and more fun just as I was going back to work and I still (a year later) regret going back when I did.
When my baby was around 9 months old and I had been back to work for five months, I suddenly felt that I would have been ready to return to work at that point. In retrospect I wish I had taken 6 months off at least. It wasn't feasible in my situation, but I do regret it. You don't get those months back.
I had agreed to an even shorter maternity leave with my boss, though (thinking I would be happy to get away from a baby--not being a baby person at all) and I changed my mind once my baby was born, so even taking three months off was a compromise on my company's part.
It is amazing how different my reaction to motherhood was than I had expected! I am a career-driven person through and through and waited until my mid-30s to even try for a baby. I figured I'd be RUNNING back to work! I was so wrong. I even tried to figure out a way to be a SAHM, and still may at some point. It's so incredible how our own reactions can surprise us!
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22646 posts
With ds1 I was ready to go back at 12 weeks when I started work again! My flex schedule and having my mom as our primary care made the transition really easy for me and I desperately needed the mental stimulation after leave from nov - feb in cold cold Michigan.
This time I'm going back in three weeks after 14 weeks off and wish I had more time!! It's been amazing to have a summer baby and be out and about w the boys and seeing ds1 off to school etc. it also stems from
The fact that I've had an amazing pp recovery this time and felt like "Me" again pretty quickly without needing work! I'll be working from home again but it's very much bittersweet this time whereas I was excited to go back last time!
pomegranate / 3595 posts
I go back Monday after twelve weeks off. It is what it is. I know I can do it because I did it with LO1 but I've been thinking about how much I am going to miss LO2!
My maternity leave the first time was stressful because LO1 was a much higher needs baby so part of me was ready to go back at 12 weeks. This time my leave has been much more peaceful so I do feel sadder. But overall my working is what us best for our family right now so I will figure it out!
pear / 1930 posts
I went back at six weeks and was totally emotionally ready at five. Then again, work has always been able to reset me. I still miss LO. I wish she could come to work with me!
eggplant / 11861 posts
I went back at 7.5 months and was NOT ready at all, but once I got back I kind of realized I missed it some!
pomegranate / 3350 posts
Still not ready. My LOs are 3 and 16 months. Maybe I'll be ready when they are both (and any others we may have) in school?
papaya / 10343 posts
About a year. That was the point where I felt like daycare might have more to offer than I did (variety, other kids) and I was no longer really worried about my primarily concern of baby days (whether she'd eat there).
wonderful grape / 20453 posts
6 months would've been ideal. I enjoyed my leave, but I was still a touch bored. Much tv was watched
cantaloupe / 6730 posts
9 months. I went back to work at 10 months and I was just itching to go back, so it was great timing for me.
persimmon / 1431 posts
I went back at 4.5 months, and I didn't feel like I was ready because I was still so sleep deprived, and didn't know how I'd handle work. But, I didn't like staying home with LO because I was always tired and had no idea what I was doing. She's now 12 months, and I wish I could work just part time so I can spend more time with her.
pomegranate / 3192 posts
Never 
I went back at 12.5 months with DS and he still seemed like such a baby. It makes me so sad that my kiddos spend more time with their daycare providers than with us 
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
When my son turned two years old. I had planned to return when he was 7 months of age, but when he was around 6 weeks, I hadn't even managed to fund a daycare and we ran out of options.
pineapple / 12566 posts
With LO1, not for a long time, like over a year. I was supposed to go back after 4 months of paid leave and I extended my leave by 4 more months (unpaid). I ended up quitting and staying at home. I was panicked by the idea of leaving my LO with a stranger. I might have felt ready by 18 months, but by then we had moved away from my old job and I was in the throes of getting my freelance business off the ground.
With LO2, I started WAH again around 4 months, but would have preferred to wait until 6 months.
nectarine / 2797 posts
I think 6 months would have been good for me. I went back after 3 and it was hard for me, LO seemed fussy most of the time I was with her and I was overwhelmed with new schedule, commute, etc.
pomegranate / 3231 posts
I really struggled with being a 24/7 mom. I went back at 12 weeks, but I was so relieved when our nanny started working half time at 10 weeks. It was harder to maintain a nursing relationship when I went back to work, but I worked from home two days per week for three more months which helped a lot. We were ultimately successful at it.
I love my son, and I like spending time with him, but I really cannot stand the chore/housekeeping/drudgery aspect of parenting. That aspect is especially acute during the newborn/infant phase, and it made me hate staying home. I was much happier once I was able to outsource a lot of that in exchange for using my brain, talking to other adults, and maintaining an income.
P.S. He's a lot more fun now (in my opinion) now that he is 18mo and walking and talking!
wonderful olive / 19353 posts
I went back after 12 weeks, and I wasn't quite ready. I kept thinking 6 months would be perfect!
wonderful kiwi / 23653 posts
I don't know when I would have been ready, but certainly NOT at 12 weeks
coconut / 8279 posts
I went back at 7 weeks and it was HARD. Lots of pressure to pump/nurse and figure out so many things. I was stressed and depressed but kept on because I had to and it worked.
If I could have gone back at 8/9 months that would have been ideal. I felt like a professional mama by then, nursing was good, sleeping was better, I was feeling healthy and happier.
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
I went back both times after 12 weeks. While it was easier the second time, it still seemed too soon to leave my baby at daycare and not see him for 10+ hours a day. I think 6 months would've been better both times.
watermelon / 14467 posts
I wasn't ready when I went back at 12 weeks. I cried so much the day before. I think six months would have been better.
grapefruit / 4988 posts
I wasn't really ready when I went back at 3 months, but that was mostly due to her poor sleeping (and my exhaustion) than anything else. 6 months would have been perfect because her sleep improved tremendously after we sleep trained at 5.5 months.
hostess / wonderful grape / 20803 posts
went back at 5.5 months with #1....was as ready as I could have been
went back (WAH) at 6.5 months with #2....it was appropriate timing even though I didn't feel as ready!
kiwi / 584 posts
with lo #1 I went back at 9 weeks and lo#2 10 weeks
it's been a struggle to be honest
I do enjoy working out of the home but I have such guilt that I'm away from them so much
kiwi / 643 posts
Never! I went back after 12 weeks but it wasn't that bad because I work part time overnights as a nurse so I'm still home all the time (we don't use daycare). I wish I didn't have to work, period.
cantaloupe / 6634 posts
@Mrs. Pickles: Awwww...hugs mama. 
You are nothing short of awesome.
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