Which Day to Take off Work

Having raised 3 daughters and worked with all of them, I found that they are much better off staying in a routine. I had a lady who came to my house to take care of my girls and I would often come home mid-day to late afternoon from sales appointments and would make my calls from home. I would sneak into the basement door to go to my home office to make my calls before the girls knew I was home. I really wanted to see them but once they knew I was there, they were distracted from whatever they were doing with their babysitter. Then, when I was done with my calls, I was all theirs. Three day weekends are awfully nice to have. I'd go with that plan.

does your day care have a day that has more children attending? I would take that day off.

They baby doesnt knwo the day of the week.. or whether it has been 2 or 3 days.. but if there are more kids there certain days.. she will get less attention.

I worked 4 days and took monday off .. it was pretty nice..

now I work 2 days.. that is even bettter.

I took Wednesday off when I first went back to work. I was breastfeeding and pumping. My pumping output was always kind of low, so I figured having a day midweek would help with my supply being enough.
It worked great for me, I pumped until she was 14 months and nursed a bit longer than that even.
My daughter also never really fell in love with the bottle and just made up for what she wasn't eating when I was nursing her at home.
Remember that this doesn't last forever, most babies have no problem taking solids from someone else than mom - and you are only a month away from those.
Good luck.

I have twins boys and I have them in daycare twice a week. Mondays and Thursdays. Its great for me, but I feel that if I was able to send them to daycare two days in a row it would be much easier on them. They are now 4yrs old and they have had this routine for 2 yrs now and I still feel like if they went two days in a row it would be much better for them. Since she is so young, and if your job allows it, try Wednesdays and if you feel that its not working out then switch to Mondays. Your child may react differently and not even notice. Good Luck!!

I have Fridays off and it's nice. we live 4 hours from my family, and sometimes I can just take off to visit for the weekend. My daughter loves it and so do I.

I think your intuition is correct; having two two-day chunks is more adjustment for your daughter than one four-day chunk. Babies thrive on sameness, and giving her a block of days with the caregivers will be better for her relationships with them over the long run. I can tell you that when I was working at a daycare, I would appreciate not having to "do Mondays" twice a week!

i took wednesdays off for the first year and thought it was wonderful! it was great for me, b/c i could keep our household running better, not get too behind, and not get so invested (stressed!) about work issues. i was much more even keel.

i thought it was great for my son. he only went two days without getting a lot of mom time. This was great for us being bonded and also for keeping milk supply up (esp. since i had a hard time pumping). everyday was hard to drop off and i dont think with a baby they get what the overall schedule is- pretty much every day they go to daycare is a Monday. i did notice after vacations/extended days off, it was harder, b/c the people were less familiar, so i think having less days off in between is actually an advantage that way.

When she gets older and gets to the separation anxiety age, keeping the days together may be an advantage. i had to go back to full time a little over a year, but my mom watched him part time. at that age, he had a tougher time at daycare drop offs and the daycare people said the full time kids transition faster, which would probably apply to kids going 4 days in a row.

in an ideal world, i would start with the Weds. off and switch to Mon or Fri off as your child was ready. it sounds like your daughter may be reacting differently than mine did tho, so if her Mondays are consistently worse than the other days then i would go to long weekends.

good luck with your decision and enjoy your day off- keep it as long as you can, i miss it!!!

I met a mom that had Wednesdays off which I thought was great. 2 days at work, one day at home with the baby, 2 days at work, 2 days at home with the baby. I feel like it makes the work week sooooo much more manageable for mom and baby, especially if you're pumping. Also, if you get vacation time, you can always use it for Friday or Monday and still get a 3 day weekend. Or better yet, save a couple days and get 2 days off and then you'll end up with a 5 day weekend.

Either way, you should do what works best for you. Maybe you can ask your employer if they're willing to let you do a trial with Wednesdays off and if it doesn't make a difference in fussiness for your baby, change it to Fridays.

In my experience, it is easier to have consistancy with small ones, which would mean not disrupting her daycare routine mid-week, especially if she already has issues. Why not do Mondays and see how it works? Is it possible to switch if it doesn't work out? Most babies like routines and it is always suggested, so I would do Mondays or Fridays so that the rest of the week she gets set in a routine. Good luck!

I am torned on this one as well. I know from my experiance that the more days in a row you can send your baby to daycare the better. Its hard for them to adjust when they are 2 days on 1 day off 2 days on 2 days off...its better for them to go 4 on and 3 off. However, I also feel that when my days off run together i tend to get more "projects" done and I dont spend anymore "quality" time with my kids. Its not that I don't spend quality time already, but you stated you wanted the extra day off to be with your baby. I assume that meant quality time above the normal amount. :)
I would suggest that you take the 3 day weekend (Monday's off) and make sure that day is just for you and baby. No housework, no cleaning out the closets, etc. Plan a playgroup or something special that day.

Hello R.! When my daughter (now 13) was born I worked in a place where I had Wednesday's off. I thought "What a horrible day to have off every week!". I was very wrong - it was great and I would recommend it. Knowing that you only have to work 2 days at a time is a great feeling...every other work day is a Friday :-)

I understand your concerns about your daughter adjusting but I would bet that she will quickly adjust to whichever day you choose. Kids are amazing and we often don't give them enough credit for their resiliency. If you treat it as a great arrangement (which I truly believe it could be for you), even at her young age, she will accept it and adjust accordingly. Good luck...I can't wait to hear what you decide and how it goes for you.

I am currently in the process of going down to 4 days at work as well. However, I will be taking Thursdays off. That sounds even stranger to me working 3 days and then being off and then working another day only to be off the weekend!! However, my husband works in retail. We are lucky enough that my mother watches my son on days we are both working. Sometimes its every day of the week (rarely because my husband hardly gets full weekends off) but she already usually has one or two days that we don't need her during the week so our little guy is used to the mom here one day, dad the next, and grandma the next. We chose Thursday not for routine but simply due to my husband's work schedule. He is more likely to get a Tuesday or Thursday off during the week than a weekend. If I am off on Thursdays, although he won't ALWAYS be off on Thursday with me there is more likely a chance that he will and we can have family time ... the others I can spend alone with my little man and MAYBE get a few things done around the house! ... maybe. ;-) I'm also looking forward to breaking up the week ... it will be nice knowing that I don't have to work so many days in a row and Fridays should be a breeze!!

Personally, I loved having Wednesdays off-- I had 2 day work weeks!
As for the babe, my thought is yes you might be giving her two Mondays-- but if she's reacting that way because of having to readjust, her reaction on a Monday after a 3 day weekend might be really, really hard.
Could you try taking Weds for a month or so and switch to Fridays off if it doesn't seem to work?

Every child is different and you may not know until you try out 2 different ways:
a) 3 day weekend (Weekend plus Mon or Fri)
b) Wednesday (would be a great break for you but maybe not her since she'll have to get use to you "leaving" 2 days a week verses one)
One thing for sure - the more she gets use to daycare the easier the parting will be as well (for you and her).

On the fussiness - she'll probably be somewhat fussy through the first year with schedule changes, teething; napping will continue to change (how much and when) for the next 3 yrs.