The Sunday night before your first day back is its own kind of hard. You're mentally packing a diaper bag and a laptop bag at the same time, running through a childcare schedule you haven't tested yet, and wondering if your brain still remembers how to do your job.
You have plenty of company. In 2025, 68.0% of mothers with children under 6 were in the labor force, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Going back to work after maternity leave is a transition with moving parts: your schedule, your milk supply if you're pumping, your team's expectations, and your own sense of whether this job still fits the life you're building.
A plan for your first two weeks back won't erase every rough morning. It can cut down the number of things you're figuring out for the first time on a Tuesday at 9 a.m., and it treats your return as something you get to design.
What Should You Do in the Two Weeks Before Your Return?
Start with two conversations: one about your schedule, one about your first-week priorities. Both go better before your return date than on day one, when you're already stretched thin.
Two Weeks Out: Confirm Your Schedule and Request a Check-In
Email your manager roughly two weeks before your return date to confirm the basics: start date, start time, and whether anything about your role or team has changed while you were out. Ask for a short check-in call, 15 to 20 minutes, before your first day.
Use that call to find out what you'd otherwise discover by surprise: a new teammate, a shifted deadline, a reorganized project list. It also gives your manager a chance to loop you in before you're at your desk trying to piece it together.
If you drafted a handoff and return plan before your leave started (this guide to what you're actually entitled to on maternity leave walks through one), pull it back out and use it as the agenda.
One Week Out: Ask for a Phased Return and Set Priorities
A phased return, working reduced hours or fewer days for your first one to two weeks, can make the transition back more manageable if your employer allows it. Some workplaces offer this informally even without a written policy, so ask directly before you assume the answer is no.
Under the FMLA, you can take bonding leave intermittently or on a reduced schedule only if you and your employer agree. Since nothing about it is automatic, raise it early.
If a phased return is off the table, ask whether your first week can be lighter on meetings, so you have room to get reoriented. Before the call, write down your top three priorities for week one.
Trying to catch up on everything at once is how the first week back turns into the most overwhelming one.
What Can You Say to Your Manager?
A short, direct email works better than a long one. Try something like:
"Hi [Name], I'm looking forward to being back on [date]. Before then, could we grab 15 minutes to go over anything that's changed and talk through what my first couple of weeks could look like? I'd love to ease back in if that's possible on our team."
If you want to ask about a phased schedule specifically, you can add: "Would it be possible to come back at [X hours/days] for the first two weeks before returning to my full schedule?"
This puts the ask in writing, gives your manager time to think it through, and shows you're planning your return with care. If you want more help with the wording, these scripts for requesting flexibility without overexplaining keep the ask tied to the work you'll keep delivering.
Your Two-Week Return Plan at a Glance
- 14 days out: Email your manager to confirm your start date and time, and request a 15- to 20-minute check-in call.
- 10 days out: Have the check-in call. Ask what changed, what's urgent, and whether a phased schedule or a lighter first week is possible.
- 7 days out: Do a full dry run of your morning routine and confirm backup childcare.
- 5 days out: If you're pumping, confirm your pumping space, book it if needed, and pack your pumping and milk storage kit.
- 2 days out: Write down your top three priorities for week one and block your calendar for pump breaks, pickup, and focused work.
- Day 1: Ask for a short written recap of projects and priorities.
- Day 10 to 14: Check in with yourself and your manager about what's working and what needs to change.
How Will Childcare and Feeding Work During the Workday?
Test your routine before your first day, while there's still time to fix what breaks. The version of your morning in your head rarely matches what happens at 7 a.m. with a baby who didn't sleep well.
Test the Daily Routine and Arrange Backup Childcare
Run a full dry run of your morning at least once before your return date: wake-up, feeding, drop-off, and commute, timed as it would be on a workday. This surfaces problems while you still have room to fix them, like a tighter drop-off window than you thought or a pumping session that needs to happen earlier.
Line up backup childcare before you need it. A sick day, a daycare closure, or a nanny calling out shouldn't be the first time you're scrambling for a plan B. If you'll be working from home some or all of the week, this guide to keeping your career momentum visible as a work-from-home mom covers backup plans and how to tell your manager what your availability looks like.
If You're Pumping, Check the Space, Breaks, and Milk Storage
Nearly all employees covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act have the right to reasonable break time and a private space, other than a bathroom, to pump breast milk for up to one year after their child's birth. The space must be shielded from view and free from intrusion by coworkers and the public, and the protections apply to employees who telework as well.
Your pumping logistics checklist:
- Confirm where the pumping space is, whether it's shared, and whether you need to book it.
- If you telework, make sure no employer-required video system, such as a webcam or web conferencing platform, can observe you during pump breaks.
- Block recurring pump breaks on your calendar at the times your body and your baby's schedule need them.
- Pack a cooler bag, ice packs, spare pump parts, and labels for bottles or bags.
- Decide where you'll store milk during the day and how you'll get it home.
If your workplace hasn't designated a pumping space yet, you have the right to ask HR directly where that space will be.
When Could a Lactation Consultant Help?
A lactation consultant can help if your supply drops after returning to work, if pumping output doesn't match what your baby needs, or if you're troubleshooting a new feeding routine that includes bottles. International Board Certified Lactation Consultants, or IBCLCs, hold a specialist credential in lactation care.
Many hospitals, pediatric offices, and insurance plans offer access to a lactation consultant, so check your coverage before you're in the middle of a feeding problem at 2 a.m.
What Should Your First Weeks at Work Look Like?
Your first weeks back are for getting oriented. Trying to prove you haven't lost a step usually backfires into exhaustion by Thursday, so aim to get a clear picture of the work before you try to clear the backlog.
Get a Clear Update on Projects and Expectations
Ask your manager directly what changed while you were out: which projects moved forward, which stalled, and what's considered urgent now. It's a practical question, and most managers would rather answer it upfront than watch you guess.
A short written recap from your manager, even five bullet points, can save you hours of piecing things together from old emails.
Protect Time for Feeding, Pickup, and Focused Work
Block your calendar for pump breaks, pickup times, and any windows you need for focused work, the same way you'd block time for a meeting. Under FMLA, an employee returning from leave must be able to go back to the same job or a virtually identical one with the same pay, benefits, and other terms, and should usually be able to return to the original schedule and work location.
That makes your original hours and work location a reasonable starting point for the conversation, and you can raise them without apology. If meetings keep getting scheduled over your blocked time, say so directly: "I have a hard stop at 5:15 for pickup. Can we move this to earlier in the day?"
Revisit What Isn't Working After the First Two Weeks
Set a specific date, about two weeks after your return, to check in with yourself and your manager about what's working and what isn't. A schedule that looked reasonable on paper might fall apart once you're living it, and knowing that early is useful.
Use that check-in to ask for small adjustments: a different pump break time, fewer early meetings, or a shift in which days you work from home if that's an option.
What Flexibility and Workplace Protections Can You Ask About?
You can ask about your leave balance, pumping accommodations, and options like reduced hours or remote work. Knowing which protections apply to your employer gives you a stronger starting point for those conversations.
Check Your Leave, Pay, and Return-to-Work Policies
Confirm what leave you have left and how your return date interacts with it. FMLA entitles eligible employees to up to 12 workweeks of job-protected leave, which you can use to bond with a new baby during the 12 months after birth; in some cases, you may be entitled to more than 12 weeks of bonding leave if it spans two consecutive 12-month leave years.
FMLA coverage depends on employer size and your hours worked, so check with HR about whether you qualify before assuming a policy applies. While you're there, confirm when any leave benefits stop and when your regular paycheck and benefit deductions restart, so the first pay period back has no surprises.
Understand Pumping Accommodations Where You Work
The PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act, signed into law in December 2022, extended break time and space protections to nearly all FLSA-covered employees, per the Department of Labor's nursing mothers fact sheet. One exception to know: employers with fewer than 50 employees don't have to meet the break time and space requirements if doing so would impose an undue hardship. If you work for a small company, ask early what it can provide.
If your employer offers paid breaks and you use them to pump, you must be paid for that break time the same way other employees are paid. If you do any work while pumping, like answering emails, that time must be paid too.
Explore Reduced Hours, Remote Work, or More Time Off
Reduced or intermittent schedules for bonding time are available under FMLA only if you and your employer agree to them, so raise this as a specific request. If a reduced schedule isn't approved, ask about alternatives: a later start time, a compressed week, or remote days that cut commuting time around pickup and drop-off.
Whether any of these options make sense for you depends on your role, your finances, and how much flexibility your workplace already offers other employees. A customer-facing role with set hours has less room to shift than a project-based role with more autonomy over when the work gets done.
What If You're Not Ready to Go Back?
Feeling unready is common, and it helps to separate ordinary first-week overwhelm from a deeper sense that this job or schedule no longer fits. Both happen, and they call for different responses.
Make Room for Mixed Feelings Without Judging Your Decision
Missing your baby during the workday and feeling glad to use your brain on something else can both be true in the same afternoon. That mix of feelings is normal and says nothing about whether you made the right choice to return.
Give yourself the first week or two before deciding whether something is a passing adjustment or a real problem. Judging the whole transition from day one or two tends to overstate how hard the rest of it will be.
Separate First-Week Stress From a Longer-Term Mismatch
First-week stress usually looks like exhaustion, logistics problems, and a steep re-entry curve that eases as routines settle in. A longer-term mismatch looks different: persistent dread, a schedule that structurally doesn't work with childcare, or a role that no longer fits your priorities, no matter how smoothly the logistics run.
If what you're feeling goes beyond adjustment, pay attention. Crying more than usual, feeling angry, feeling distant from your baby, or doubting your ability to care for your baby can be signs of postpartum depression, which is more intense and lasts longer than the "baby blues," according to the CDC's information on depression during and after pregnancy. The CDC notes that depression is treatable and recommends contacting your healthcare provider as soon as possible.
You can also call or text the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline at 1-833-TLC-MAMA (1-833-852-6262). It's free, confidential, and available 24/7 in English and Spanish.
Compare the Practical Costs of Staying, Changing Jobs, or Leaving
Staying means keeping your current pay, benefits, and FMLA job protections, while leaving or changing jobs resets some of that. If you leave your job, you give up the protections FMLA offers for that role, like the right to return to the same or an equivalent position.
A job change might solve a scheduling mismatch but could mean giving up tenure, accrued leave, or a relationship with a manager who already understands your situation. If the problem is the shape of the job itself, compare roles by the kind of control they give you over when, where, and how you work; this rundown of flexible jobs for work-life balance sorts options that way.
If you're considering stepping away from paid work entirely, weigh your savings, your partner's income if applicable, and how long a gap you can realistically afford, and look at what a 90-day money plan for returning after a career break involves so you know what re-entry could cost later.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I say in an email before returning from maternity leave?
Keep it short and specific: confirm your return date, ask for a brief check-in call before day one, and mention anything you want to discuss, like a phased schedule or pumping logistics. A simple message like "I'm looking forward to being back on [date]. Could we talk through anything that's changed before then?" works well.
Can I ask to come back part-time after maternity leave?
You can ask, but federal law doesn't guarantee it. FMLA allows reduced or intermittent schedules for bonding time only if you and your employer agree, so raise it directly with your manager or HR before your return date.
How do I keep breastfeeding when I go back to work?
Nearly all employees covered by the FLSA have the right to reasonable break time and a private, non-bathroom space to pump for up to one year after birth. Test your pumping schedule, confirm the space at work, and make a milk storage plan before your first day to make the transition more manageable.
Is it normal to feel depressed about going back to work after maternity leave?
Mixed emotions are common, but crying more than usual, feeling angry, or feeling distant from your baby can be signs of postpartum depression, which is more intense and lasts longer than the baby blues. The CDC says depression is treatable and recommends contacting a healthcare provider as soon as possible.
What happens if I decide not to return after maternity leave?
If you don't return, you typically give up the job protections tied to your FMLA leave, including the right to come back to the same or an equivalent position. The financial and benefits impact depends on your employer and situation, so review your options with HR before making a final decision.
Your first two weeks back set the pattern for the months after, and you get to shape them. For weekday advice on asking for what you need at work, negotiating flexibility, and building a career that fits the rest of your life, sign up for the Girlboss daily newsletter.
