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People are always talking about what to do during your third trimester and what to get done before the baby arrives!
Today though we are going to talk about what to do before your maternity leave ends. This is for the moms that will be returning to work and sending their baby or babies to daycare.
It’s a tough thing to do so let’s get you as prepared as possible!
I also want to start by saying if you are getting help from family or friends that is great! Some of these things could be delegated to helpers.
If you are a mom doing it all on your own that is amazing. Do not feel pressured to complete everything on this list! These are just ideas of things that could be helpful for you!
And finally, every mom has a different birth experience! If you are recovering from a rough birth you may need a lot of rest before getting to anything on this list.
Finding Your Rhythm
In the early days, you just had a baby. Your focus is on recovering and learning about your baby.
Your job is to care for this new, tiny little being.
I don’t want this to be overlooked.
After time has gone by you may start to get antsy and look towards what you can do next.
Appointments/Errands
Once you are feeling able to get out and about you can start running various errands.
You are going to make your usual trips to the gas station and grocery store of course, but let’s talk about a few things that would be wise to do before heading back to work.
-Car Oil Change
-Furnace and AC Home Maintenance
-Hair Cut
-Dentist Appointment
-Upcoming Holiday Shopping
-Baby Doctor Appointments
Look at what is coming right around the corner. If your maternity leave ends in October maybe you go ahead and do your Christmas shopping. If you are at home during March maybe you should go ahead and purchase your children’s Easter clothes as well as swimsuits for summer.
For tips on what to get for baby’s first Christmas click to read, How to Best Shop for Baby’s First Christmas.
Get ahead wherever possible.
When it comes to appointments they will depend on your baby. An oil change for example could be really easy with some newborns, while others may find it to be a struggle.
You may also be able to take advantage of help.
The dentist is not an appointment where you can hold your baby. This is one that maybe you can go to when you have your spouse or a grandparent at home to stay with the baby.
And if you truly don’t want to be away from your baby, maybe someone can go with you and stay with the baby in the car or lobby.
Get Yourself Ready
You may need to spend some time on yourself before returning to work.
Start getting dressed for the day and maybe do your hair if you haven’t been doing so. Start finding your routine for waking up on time and tending to the baby.
Come up with easy meals to pack for lunch at work.
Find a rhythm as close as possible to what a real workday will look like. Slowly start adopting that schedule.
Try on your work clothes! You just had a baby and they may not fit yet.
If you have hopes to lose a bit more baby weight in the future you don’t have to buy a ton.
Start by purchasing a few pants that fit for now.
Make sure you at least have a week’s worth of clothing to get by.
Don’t worry about frequently doing laundry. You are going to be running loads anyway with a new baby.
If you are going to be using a breast pump at work you may need to find shirts that will work well for this.
If you are going to be a pumper you may want to contact your employer if you do not know where and when you will be able to pump. Find out the situation so you can be prepared.
Preparing Baby
Near the end of your maternity leave, you are going to want to start preparing your baby for daycare.
If you are a breastfeeding mom you need to make sure your baby is familiar and comfortable with a bottle.
You need to check in with your daycare. Find out which items you are responsible for providing and make a shopping list.
Also, ask about the daily schedule. If your baby is still quite young, they likely won’t be on too strict of a schedule. It will probably be baby led for the most part.
Still, find out what the general schedule or daily rhythm will be for your baby at daycare. You can start working towards a general schedule.
For example, while on maternity leave your baby may nurse at 4 am and 9 am. Once you are back to work you are going to need them to nurse at 6 am and then head to daycare. Start trying to work toward this change. If possible, do it slowly over time.
For more tips on how to get ready for daycare check out Smooth Transitions: How to Get Your Child Prepared for Daycare Success.
Stock up on baby items in general before returning to work. Make sure you have plenty of wipes and diapers at home.
And finally, before returning to work make sure you have the baby book up to date. It is very easy to get behind. Life is going to get busy when you head back to work.
Household Tasks Before Returning to Work
Did you create a cleaning list during your third trimester?
You probably haven’t needed to do much from this list, but after 8/12 weeks some of these areas probably need to be tended to again.
Again, don’t push yourself if you are still deep in recovery!
Think about some of those areas you wanted to clean before your baby arrived and tackle them again before returning to work.
Before your baby arrived you may have done some meal prep, well let’s look at that again!
What is going to be your new normal routine? If you and your partner are both working and you now have a baby, who is in charge of grocery shopping and cooking meals? Will you be packing your lunch or lunches daily?
Consider making a two-week meal plan. You could just focus on the 5 work days. Then you only need to come up with 10 meals. This could help simplify life when first returning to work. You could make a grocery list to go along with the ten meals.
You may want to prepare breakfast, lunch, dinner, or even snacks.
One way I prepare meals is by cooking meat in advance. I will cook and freeze ground beef, ground sausage, pulled pork, and shredded chicken.
I can then pull these meats out of the freezer and make a quick meal.
In the last week or so before returning to work, make a large grocery store run. Stock up on anything and everything you need.
Another thing to work on is morning and evening routines. Start figuring out how each evening you can get from dinner to bedtime smoothly and orderly. A growing phrase is “closing the kitchen.”
I love this concept!
After dinner, you get everything cleaned up, wiped down, and put away.
You may turn off the lights signaling the kitchen is closed for the night.
And finally, find systems of organization in your home. Find evening and morning routines that get your family ready to tackle the day.
Find small areas of routine and organization. An area to work on is your entryway or mudroom. Make this area function for you. Have places for all the items you need to get out the door in the morning.
This could mean adding hooks, shelves, baskets, and bins.
Start using this system and continue tweaking it over time to find what keeps the area most organized.
Final Week To-Do
In your final week or so of maternity leave, you are going to want to get a lot of stuff done to get ahead. Right now you have the time at home to do so. Once you are back at work you are going to be busy.
Your evenings are going to be busy!
So first off get done any last-minute appointments.
Like I said before, take the time to grocery shop and meal plan.
Stock up on household items like diapers, toilet paper, and paper towels.
When it comes to cleaning you are going to want to be caught up on laundry. Get all the towels and sheets washed.
Consider other jobs that are important to you. One for me would be to sweep out my car. I love a clean car!
Think about what tasks you can do before going back to work.
Also don’t forget to work on those other things we touched on earlier like starting to get dressed daily and getting your baby on a similar routine to daycare or to what a day waking up for daycare will look like.
Conclusion
The beginning of your maternity leave is all about taking care of yourself and your baby. Take this time to rest and recover!
If you do need to return to work and do not plan to stay home full time you are going to want to start tackling some cleaning and general prep work.
Get yourself, baby, and home off to a great start when you have to return to work.
Good luck with your maternity leave and transition back into work.
Check Out My Articles
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