Five things to do for the baby before returning to work

I have been at home for almost three full weeks now with the baby, and it hasn’t exactly been a vacation.   I feel like the baby needs me constantly, and when I get a moment alone I tend to fall asleep or I end up pumping out extra milk.   I have to admit that I actually wanted to go back to work on a couple days because taking care of the little one is getting pretty repetitive and I just want some time alone.  Then when I think about returning to work I also feel a bit panicked because I have no idea how I could leave the little one without missing him.  He is a little poop machine but he is also pretty adorable.  Anyway, time is passing by very quickly and before I know it it will be January, so I am writing down a list of things I need to take care of before returning to work.

1. Find childcare – This is a huge thing I need to settle before going back to work.  We are thinking of asking around in church first to see if anyone we know offers childcare or could recommend someone trustworthy.    I have been looking on Craigslist just to see what the going rate for nannies and daycares are and it seems to average around $11 to $16 an hour.  We would need at least three to four full days of care a week so that works out to be  $1500 to $2000 a month.  If we share a nanny with another family the rate is possibly a little lower.  This definitely would be our biggest expense for the baby.

2. Sign up for Flexible Spending Accounts -  I have until the end of the year to enroll in my employer’s  medical and dependent care FSAs.  The depend care FSA’s maximum contribution is $5000 for each family, but our tax rate is fairly high when you throw in state, federal, and payroll taxes so it is worthwhile to spend that childcare money pretax.

3. Add the baby as a beneficiary to various accounts –   I need to make a list of all the accounts and insurance policies I should add the baby to as a beneficiary.  We just got his Social Security number this week so this can be done online for the bulk of our accounts.

4. Add the baby to health insurance - The hubby already  did this item so the baby is now covered under his plan. We all have Kaiser HMO and so far it has been quite good and convenient for us.

5. Pump lots of milk – I want to build up a good supply of milk in the freezer before I go back to work.  Since breastmilk could last 3 months in the freezer every bit of extra milk I store now is still good in January and beyond.  The frozen milk could be thawed and eaten by the baby in 24 hours so I could give the milk to whoever the caretaker is during the day.  Even though breastmilk is freely produced from me, it takes time to pump, label, and store everything.  However, formula is quite expensive so I don’t mind putting in the work now.

For the most part, I really enjoy being a mom now, but after these three weeks I realize that I need more stimulating interaction.  The baby is cute, but he is  not doing much besides eat, poop, and sleep now.  We are also trying to stay home as much as possible so the baby doesn’t catch any diseases so each day is quite boring.  Nevertheless, we can’t wait until the kid is old enough to talk, walk, and play boardgames with us.

Share This

Related Posts