My partner took one week of leave when the baby was born and kept the other two. Now everyone has an opinion. My mother says take it now, the nights are the hardest. I think it'll be harder when I go back to the store and my mother and the caregiver have to manage the handovers without me. Not sure there's a right answer. What did you do with yours 🙂
I split mine with our younger one: a few days at the start and the rest in the week my partner went back to work. That first week back is the one I would not have wanted to miss. The handovers were new for everyone, and having a second adult around who was not going anywhere took a lot of pressure off. The nights at two months were hard, but they were going to be hard either way. Is your return to the store a fixed date?
Not fixed, which is half the problem. Probably early October once the festive stock comes in. If I can pin it to a date we can plan around, that settles it I think.
Replying to @coral_window_3804
Keep it for your return. Grandmothers manage nights better than they manage handovers. Learnt that twenty years ago.
Replying to @coral_window_3804
We did the same with our daughter. My partner kept the leave for my first fortnight back, and we used it to try the routine while there was still a fallback. A few things came up that we would not have known about otherwise, like the caregiver needing a longer lunch break than we had planned. If your date moves, can the leave move with it? That is worth checking with HR.
Keep going
More from the parents who were here.