Being Organized and Nanny Tales

Now I am back at work I find that I am constantly 'on the go': the hours in the evening and the early morning are now almost entirely devoted to packing and unpacking work bags sterilizing pumping kit, pouring milk and cooking small pans-full of baby food.

The working mommy guilt has surfaced in my inability to let anyone else do her 'food prep' or pick her outfits for the day (hey, it could be worse!!!).  

The good news is that baby likes the nanny and so do we.  Its still taking a bit of getting used to though as we never had somebody work for us before and when it comes to child care it can be a bit of a minefield.  I've also realized that you have to pick your battles (and no care-giver is ever going to do things exactly as you might want!).   You also have to be prepared to be clear and direct in a polite way if you disagree with something (our nanny wanted to do the old thermometer up the bum trick to break a bout of constipation.... we didn't necessarily agree with this old wives tale!!! despite the good intentions.... ;)).  

Talking of old wives tales one thing that I have noticed is that I should not assume that my nanny, despite having older children of her own, knows all of the latest safety and best 'baby' practices.  I therefore made it my mission to specifically communicate on the following things pretty early on:

> always put baby to sleep on her back - ALWAYS ALWAYS!

> baby's (breast) milk must be thrown away after one hour if not finished (because of the bacteria in the saliva getting into the bottle)

> breast milk must NEVER be microwaved (destroys the nutrients)

> any water the baby drinks must be boiled first and then cooled

> NO HONEY!  (certain cultures believe that honey in the water can help the baby drink it....but honey can sometimes cause botulism in babies from what I understand and that sounds bad!)

> no salt

> no sugar

We also paid for our nanny to take an infant cpr course.  For a relatively small outlay (the one we did cost $75) you can have some peace of mind knowing that your care-giver has at least been trained on the basics.  These courses also tend to share up to date baby safety information and tips on babyproofing so you also get these added benefits.  Even if the care-giver says they have done infant cpr before I would send them on the course so that you can be sure (and hey, a refresher does nobody any harm).

Final tip on the subject of the nanny... we started leaving our digital camera with her during the day so that she can take pictures of the baby out and about.  We've really enjoyed the funny little shots that the nanny has taken of them doing their things!  

Summer's over...back to work

So after the most wonderful summer with the little one I am now counting down the last two weeks before I need to return to work.  Not an easy decision but I've decided to give it a go and see how things work out.

One thing that I have found very helpful is planning out the practical things that will help transition all of us smoothly.

I've searched high and low on the web, asked other moms and checked out 'This is How We Do It' from the library (I won't review it now but in a few words, its quite old-fashioned and lots of anecdotes about the authors life, not the practical list I wanted!!!).

Here are the 'going back to work' tips and tricks that I have thought worth while (note, I breastfeed and plan to continue so obviously some of these won't make sense for formula fed baba's):

> Plan your return date to be on a Wednesday/Thursday so that you don't have a full week the first week.  I am going back on a Thursday and am sure those two days will go very quickly.

> Start pumping... NOW!  The sooner the better really, I have spent the past month stocking up the freezer with as much milk as I can make.  I added a pumping session per day to cater for an additional 4-5oz of milk which I freeze straight off.  I also discovered Lasinoh breast milk storage bags (previously used Medela); the Lasinoh ones can be frozen flat as they are a more flexible plastic and also have double zips so less chance of a leak.  Because you can freeze them flat they don't take up as much space which is great when you start to get to 50 bags in there!

> Buy additional accesories for your breast pump.  For me this meant an additional breast shield so that I can pump twice a day at work without cleaning the kit.  I am worried that I will have little time to pump as it is so do not want to have to concern myself with cleaning equipment as well.  

> Check on your offices lactation facilities.  I called our office nurse ahead of time and we have a new lactation room with fridge and storage - find out what kind of facilities you can expect, it will help you plan what you will need.  If you have minimal facilities then remember you can buy cleaning wipes and a battery operated pump and use the ladies room at a push!  

> Write up a schedule for your caregiver.  I have made a 'daily schedule' for the baby with timings of everything and also I made a sheet which has space for the caregiver to write in how many wet diapers, how many bowel movements and how much food the baby consumes per day.  I feel that I need this level of information in case the baby gets sick (and its also a good way for me to see if I think there is a problem , i.e. baby not eating enough in the day).  Make sure there is a list of emergency numbers available for the nanny/caregiver.  

> Make some meals for the adults of the family.  My husband and I spent a happy weekend cooking some favorite dishes that are easy to heat up and freezing them.  This way our diet will not suffer if we are having a tough week and are too tired to cook.  Especially whenyou are still  breastfeeding its important to keep your body well nourished and not rely on convenience foods every night.  I'm going to try and make my lunch as well so that I don't need to worry about finding something on the run during the day.

> Stock up on household items/baby basics.  Now that you won't be able to visit buy buy baby and babies r us during the quiet week days its time to stock up so that a. the caregiver has a plentiful supply and b. you don't spend all the precious weekend time doing errands.  We stocked up on toilet paper, kitchen towels, washing liquid etc for the house and then diapers, breastmilk bags, wet wipes etc for the baby.  I found that amazon.com and diapers.com are good for ordering bulk (and often cheaper too).  For household stuff in the city I like Home Depot as they sell the bulk sizes for paper towels, toilet rolls etc and also have a good selection of cleaning products.

> Decide what is most important to you and try and schedule around it.  So, for example, I want to give my daughter her last feed of the day and put her to bed.  I will then be happy to go back online if needed to finish my work but it means I will need to leave the office at 5.30pm and no later...I know this will be hard but this is a priority for me.  I also want to pick out her outfits each day as I think that will help me feel connected to her (so I'm going to do that each evening when I am getting my office clothes ready too).  

> Agree with your partner what will happen if the baby gets sick (or the nanny gets sick!).  What will you do?  Who will stay home?  We haven't figured this out yet but I think its an important conversation to have...we don't want to be having it at 6.30am one morning when we are both knackered and due in work!!!

Whilst these things won't make it any easier to leave my precious girl on my first day back (and I know I will be an emotional wreck), at least I can rest easy knowing that the practical things are taken care of which will be one less worry.  Going back to work after having a baby is hard enough!!!