Does anyone else feel this kind of guilt?
I’m going back to work in a couple of weeks—just two days a week—and my 8½-month-old has started her settling-in sessions at nursery. Yesterday was her second one, and it honestly broke my heart.
She’s breastfed but will take expressed milk from a bottle (as long as it’s not from me). When I picked her up, she was absolutely screaming—she’d clearly been crying for a while. Her hair was damp with tears, her eyes were red, and she was so upset. She’d refused her bottle, even though the staff member trying to feed her was a breastfeeding mam herself, and she’d just woken up from a nap too.
She’ll only be going once a week, as my mother-in-law will have her on the other day I’m working. But I can’t shake the feeling that I’m being cruel… I just don’t know if she’s going to settle. Once she gets really worked up, she’ll only calm down with someone she knows, and it took me a good 10 minutes to soothe her after I picked her up.
My mother-in-law has offered to have her both days, and I’ve said I’ll consider it if she doesn’t settle at nursery after a month—especially since my little one absolutely loves being with her.
But I keep questioning myself… am I making the right decision sending her to nursery at all? 🤍