Can't put it off any longer, 2 weeks today I'm back to work  I'm trying very hard not to overthink it but just wondered if any of you fabulous working mummies have any tips or advice on the logistics of it all. I'm lucky in that E will be with my parents and I'm going back 4 days and using annual leave for the first few weeks so I'll be doing 3 day weeks until June. I'm just trying to figure out the whole up and out routine as we sometimes struggle now to get places on time! And we're still not dressed now at 10am 

I'll have to leave at 7am to drop E off and get public transport to work and be there for 8:15, I don't drive. Do you get your LO's up, fed and dressed before you leave or does your childcare provider do that? Or is it just a day by day thing? How do you make it easier to manage everything? How do you fit in housework etc. I'm barely keeping ontop of it now and we're in a 2 up 2 down! 

My main tip would be to make sure everything is ready the night before so it's just a matter of getting you and them up, showered, dressed etc.  

C does get breakfast at his nursery if he's there before 8.30am, although he also has breakfast before he goes - he likes his breakfast

We couldn't manage the cleaning, we were spending our one day a week together doing it (MrDD works on a Saturday, so Sunday is the only day we had together) so we decided to pay for a cleaner each week and I'm so glad we did!!  It make such a difference not having to worry about that.  Ironing usually gets done in the evening in front of the tv, and washing as and when.

You do get into a routine pretty quickly, we're usually out the house well within an hour of waking, and it could be much quicker without C having breakfast, but then days when we don't have to go anywhere we can struggle to get out before midday!

Thanks Deedee I suppose that's the thing, when you have to go you just have to do it! I'm sure I'll be a mess the first week but we'll get into a routine hopefully. Eek it's really scary thinking about going back!

TBH, I was so ready to go back, although I'd been off just under 12 months so longer than you have - I really couldn't be a SAHM and admire anyone that is.

I think in a way I am ready, and I never expected to be. Just think E needs more of a 'structure' now that us being in a fixed routine will give him iyswim? And H says it will give me chance to miss him and have the nice bits when I come home that at the moment he gets! E tends to get quite cranky at teatime and as soon as H walsk in it's big smiles and playtime for Daddy who then wants to know why I'm dazed and exhausted on the settee!  I don't think it'll be easy, but financially we don't have any option so it's not a decision I've had to make it's just had to be done.

My advice would be do everything upstairs before you even go downstairs. S has breakfast at nursery so i just plonked him in front of the tv whilst I ate my breakfast. He'd have a milk before we left though.

He also has tea at nursery.

You soon get into a routine. As others have said, try and get everything ready the night before.

Good luck!

Thank you WH that's good advice about the upstairs/downstairs thing! xx

My MIL had O when I was at work. O would be dropped off at 7am in his PJs (and all-in-one fleece during the winter) and MIL would give him breakfast and dress him. Make sure everything is really the night before, including your work stuff. The anticipation of going back is worse than the actual event x

Thanks DS, did you stock your MIL up with nappies/milk/food etc every week rather than packing a bag every night?

My MIL supplies all of that herself though we have offered. The bag contained O's clothes (including spares) and creams for his eczema.

I pack G's lunch and get our clothes ready the night before. Bath before bed too. In the morning my routine is:

I get up, use the loo.

Pull back G's curtains and start to wake her up.

Brush my teeth/have a wash etc.

Make sure G is waking up!

Get dressed.

Get G dressed, washed, teeth brushed.

Put lunches in bags.

Out the door!

I have it down to 40 mins now! Childminder gives G breakfast and i have a cereal bar on the way to work and proper breakfast when i get there (2 hour commute from home to Lobdon).

In the evenings my childminder gives G her tea, so i pick her up, we have some quality time reading, chatting etc (and just us spending time together - no chores!). Then bath, story, bed. Once G is in bed i get mine and H's tea and make lunch for next day then chill in front of tv for an hour or so.

It sounds chaotic but we are 3 years into the routine now and it works really well.

I would say try and keep your routine the same each day you work so LO knows what to ecpect.

X

I get bag packed (including milk made up in the fridge) the night before. I also shower and sort my clothes the night before.

In the morning, I get up at 5:45am, go to the loo, get my breakfast and then get dressed. usually E starts waking up during this so I go in and change her nappy, then bring her downstairs if I'm still mid-breakfast.

Then give her a bottle, back upstairs to get her dressed and teeth brushed, make up on. Then handover over to H who drops her off. I leave the house at 7am latest.

Nursery give her breakfast. but if she is up early, she will have some fruit whilst I eat mine.

Cleaning is donw on my day off and at weekends but is nowehere near my old standard!

My top tip is to put a dressing gown on over your work clothes to protect them from snot etc. It sound smanic, but we got into the swing quite quickly really and now it seems really easy x

Thanks ladies, MM and AP thanks for the routine timings, I'll probably do similar. I have to change into uniform at work anyway so that's not an issue but good thinking on the dressing gown AP! xx

Echo what everyone else says about getting everything ready the night before and AP's tip re the dressing gown (saved me from a sick or snot splattered suit on many occasion). You are lucky that if your parents are are taking him you don't strictly need to get him dressed/ breakfasted in the same way you'd need to if you were sending him to a more formal childcare setting so that buys you some flexibility. We also have the rule that once everyone is up and dressed and downstairs no one goes back upstairs for anything (duplicate toothbrushes are in the downstairs loo). You so quickly get in the swing of it.

Our mornings look like this:

6:00am alarm - i jump in shower. H jumps in at 6:10am once he has made me a cuppa! We are both dressed, hair done and ready for the day by 6:30am.

6:30am - get the twins up, give them their morning bottle and get them dressed. H takes them downstairs whilst i get our eldest up and dressed.

7:00am everyone downstairs, i do my eldest's hair and then leave the house.

By 8am my H has given them all breakfast, changed dirty bums and taken them to the childminders. Once i leave at 7:00am no one goes back upstairs.

Evenings are a bit trickier as H has to do dinner and bathtime on his own which can sometimes be quite hard work then I am back for milk and stories.

My tip is always to have a back-up plan in the forefront of your mind if things go wrong - i.e. what would you do if your parents were ill/ go on holiday etc. That way it isn't a such a shock when things don't go to plan. Good luck! I love being a working mummy.    

I've been back almost a year now and the thought of it was so much worse than the reality. A goes to nursery, although H does the morning drop off so I can get into the office early and leave early to do the pick up. He has breakfast at nursery, although we give him milk first thing. His bag only needs repacking if he's had a change of clothes or if he needs more nappies (we send a box at a time so only every other month). We have to get him dressed but I'd be tempted to let your childcare do that if you can.

Re the house, I find it's less messy and dirty on the the days we work do needs less doing. H does help out and wash up on my work days, I might give the bathroom a quick once over whilst A is in the bath one evening, otherwise it's tidy as we go and cleaning done in a couple of hours at the weekend.

WEES about doing stuff the night before, though I'm quite lucky in that nursery provide breakfast and all nappies and wipes etc so I don't need to worry about providing those. I order to cut down on getting ready time, I have breakfast at my desk and do my make up on the train.

If your LO is with your parents, I'd be getting them to do as much as possible!

Thanks everybody for taking the time to type all this out, I really appreciate it 

Some great advice here and things I hadn't considered, will let you know how we get on! xx

I think I do similar to what others have suggested. I make sure both mine & her clothes are ready for the morning (it's easier now but when the mornings were dark the outfits for my daughter didn't always match well!!). I also have her breakfast packed in her bag ready with my lunch. I get up around 6.20 & get myself ready then go into her & wake her at 6.30 & bf her (this can take 20-30mins some days!!) then get her ready then hopefully we can be out by 7am. I take her into work with me in the sling whilst I get my classroom ready then drop her off at her nursery just after 8am & they give her breakfast. I went back to work when she was 7 months old & in that time we've had a few sleepless nights & on those occasions I've taken her to nursery in her babygro & they've creamed her & dressed her for me.

Good luck x