Back to work

If you work outside your home, you will need to make childcare and possibly breastfeeding arrangements well before you are due back. Good nurseries or creches have waiting lists in many counties and even if you go for a childminder, you need to think about this well ahead as they also get booked up in advance.

Your options are:

• Full day care in a nursery/creche
• Half a day or less in a playgroup, Montessori or Naoinrai (when the baby reaches 2 years of age)
• A childminder in your home or their home (half or full day)
• A family member.

The first thing you can do is to ask around for recommendations from family and friends. When you have drawn up your list of options, visit creches and/or interview childminders (visit them in their home if they are looking after your baby there and ask for references). If you don’t have any recommendation to rely on, get information from your local health board or childminding advisory officer.

If you are breastfeeding and want to continue to do so, you can express breast milk at work and refrigerate it. You need to contact your employer early on to request:

• Breaks to express
• A private place to do so
• A fridge to store breast milk.

If it’s not easy or possible for you to do so, you can feed your baby before you go to work and when you come back. If your baby is quite young and needs more milk feeds during the day, you can build up a supply in the freezer for a childminder to give. Discuss your options with your healthcare professional or visit a breastfeeding group to see how other breastfeeding mums have coped with this.