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Returning to work after the birth of your first child
14 October 2009
By Jennifer Loconto
Returning to work after the birth of your first child is difficult. Will baby be okay at nursery? How soon should I come back? Full-time or part-time? What about breastfeeding? Which nursery is best? Can I afford a nursery place? How will I concentrate at work? Everyone confronts these questions and adapts in their own way. There really is no “right way” to make the transition, but I’d like to share with you my own recent experience. I personally didn’t want to come back to work. As soon as I met my baby, I just couldn’t see myself leaving him with someone else while I spent the day in the lab. On the other hand, I was tempted by the money, so I came back after six months maternity leave. Initially, I used my accrued annual leave to work half-days, thinking this would be a gentler way to introduce my son to nursery. As he was just over six-months old, there was no separation anxiety. He had eyes only for the new toys and the other children. The nursery staff told me, “The baby will be fine; it’s just the parents that need comforting!” It’s a huge weight off my mind to know that he enjoys his time at nursery- stories, songs, even painting! I can concentrate on my research project and appreciate the break from nappy changing! Now that I’m back, I have no regrets about returning to work. In fact, my main motivation to come to work is so my son can join his friends at nursery for a few hours each day. But are my chosen hours sustainable? Can I be a part-time post-doc?
Sarah Davies15 October 2009 at 07:50 PM
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Plenty of lecturing staff I know are part-time because of childcare commitments - I don't see why this shouldn't work for researchers as well?
Tennie Videler17 October 2009 at 07:40 PM
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I have some experience on this one: I worked as a member of research staff (or postdoc…) part time for six years after the birth of my children. I’ll be blunt: this required some compromises but I am very glad I had the choice. Some factors were somewhat nebulous, such as maybe not being taken as seriously, or not seen as committed to science, or people just not being sure when you are in. Others were down to my particular logistics, which involved working shorter days, which forced me to choose projects where the lab work could be done in those time chunks (but then you have to choose your projects somehow!) On the plus side, many fellowships counted the maximum postdoctoral experience allowed pro rata. Many fellowships are happy for you to use them part time (mine got stretched over a longer time…) and I was a named researcher on a grant working part-time too. For it to work you need a supportive PI and/or head of department and I was lucky I did. I am happy to discuss this further and look forward to hearing of other people’s experiences.
David Proctor02 November 2009 at 09:39 PM
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A few resources come to mind that are related to this topic, but all are science-focused (sorry) Mums in Science http://www.mumsinscience.net/ also http://twitter.com/mumsinscience Returning to Science by Sarah Webb http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2009_10_30/caredit.a0900133 Mothers in Science (PDF) by Ottoline Leyser http://www.york.ac.uk/res/chong/pdfs/MothersInScience_bk_finalWeb.pdf hmm... other Women in STEM links
David Proctor02 November 2009 at 09:39 PM
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That didn't work.