To Work or Not to Work

One of the biggest choices that new mums and dads face when they have a new baby is whether to return to work after having the baby and there are so many factors to consider when making the decision.  Many parents make a decision before the baby is born based on logical factors such as finances and childcare; however these often change once the baby is born and more emotional factors sometimes take over.

Most parents, when they have a new baby have an idea about whether they can afford to live on one income so that one parent can stay at home.  If this is not possible then working part time can be an option.  Of course when you are looking at going back to work you will have to take in account that any childcare costs will be coming out of your wages, sometimes this makes it unaffordable.

If you choose to breastfeed your new baby you may want to stay at home for longer than your maternity leave, so you can continue.  There may also be other factors such as illness or erratic sleep patterns which make it very difficult to go back to work at the end of your maternity leave

The choice of childcare varies greatly in type and in cost, if you have family that are able to help out then the costs can be minimal, if you are looking at nurseries they can be very expensive and sometimes inflexible.  Childminders are often slightly cheaper and are sometimes happy to fit around work hours and can also sometimes pick up and drop off at other childcare.  If your work involves very long working days because of travel or shifts, it can be impractical to get normal childcare as they do not normally cover hours before 8am and 6pm, you can sometimes work this around your partners working hours so you can both take a share in the child care.

I have seen many mums with a new baby, who had always planned to return to work, but when it came to the time, they found it really difficult to leave their baby or were not able to get childcare they were happy with.  I think it is important to be flexible about your decision until you have had the baby and if possible be in a position where you don’t have to go back to work full time unless you want to.  This can mean a change in lifestyle, downsizing mortgages by moving or cancelling gym membership, satellite TV, managing with one family car etc.

The most important thing when you have a new baby is to plan as much as you can to give yourself choices, it may be worth looking at childcare in advance so you have plenty of time to make a decision.