Working mums – Yummy Blogger – Mummascribbles

As a working mum, some days I find it extremely difficult while on others it’s nice to be able to sit and have a hot cup of tea without having to wipe a nose or change a nappy! I know there are a heck of a lot of working mums out there, some love it, some hate it, others are somewhere in the middle. I thought it would be interesting to see exactly how others feel about being a working mum and maybe we can all learn a little something about dealing with that dreaded mummy guilt!

This week I have Heledd from Yummy Blogger answering all those working mummy questions.

Tell me a little bit about who is in your family
Me, my other half (we’ve been together for just over 4 years) and our baby W who is now 14 months old.

What age were your children when you returned to work?
Just under 9 months old

Did you return to a job away from the home or within the home?
Away from the home, office-based.

Did you choose to return or did your circumstances force you back?
I chose to return. We probably could have survived on my other half’s salary if I’d wanted to be a stay-at-home-mum, but I didn’t want to be a SAHM plus our lifestyle would be very different – with both of us working, we can look forward to holidays with our little one etc.

Did you return to work full or part time?
4 days a week, so somewhere between full and part time! Our days are quite long too – 8 hour days. I work Mon-Thurs and it is lovely to have every Friday off to spend with baby W, just the 2 of us – although I always have a huge list of things to do on a Friday with him!

What childcare do you have in place and how did you go about choosing it?
We have a childminder – I found her on childcare.co.uk and just knew straight away that she was the one! You can read more about it here.

Unfortunately she will be moving away at some point this year, so I’ve started looking for a new childminder – I have a few potentials lined up but it will be hard to match our current one. On the plus side, it feels much easier to find childcare now that baby W is older, as long as he’s surrounded by toys he’ll be happy anywhere 😉

What do you find the most difficult about being a working mum?
The tiredness – I do a full day’s work but have an hour before work with baby W, and a couple of hours after work. Then it’s all the cleaning up after him – so by the time he’s asleep (about 8pm at the mo) I just feel exhausted!

How do you deal with the working mummy guilt?
I don’t really feel it – I actually think baby W is better for me being in work, he gets to play with the childminder’s baby (of a similar age) every day which is loads of fun for him, more fun than it would be being with me every day! I think it’s really helped his development being with another baby, and his confidence/social skills – he’s good around other people, and is fearless!

How did you feel when it was time to go back to work?
Really sad that my maternity leave was over – it’s such a special, unique time! But equally I was ready to ‘get my life back’ a bit – get my brain and social skills working again.

Is your work/life balance what you want it to be or would you rather work less or more?
I’d probably work a little bit less if I could, but I can’t really in my current role.

What advice would you give to a mummy heading back to work?
I blogged about my tips here:  but basically: – be prepared – use your keeping in touch days, and settling in days with your childcare, so that you start getting used to your new routine so it’s not a huge shock and you don’t feel anxious about your first day back! – be positive – if you have a positive attitude, you have a happier life – you might be utterly depressed at the thought of working, but if you’ve made the decision that you have to return to work, I think you have to embrace it and be positive about it otherwise the negative thoughts will wear you down!

– be realistic – Work will be different to pre-baby. You won’t be able to get involved with everything. You will have to take an unexpected few days leave to look after your ill child (or your healthy child when the childminder’s baby is ill). to maximise your work/life balance, be strict with your hours and just accept that you’re not superwoman!