Mother's Day: 5 new moms tell us about leaving their babies to resume work

We asked five young moms how they navigated leaving their babies to resume work, who gave them help and how they felt about it.

"Whenever I want to leave my baby at creche to go to work, I feel guilty. When I leave, I wonder how if he is comfortable with the people around, ‘are they going to love him as I do?’ Sometimes I feel ‘do I really need to work?’ but what can I do? I have to work so that we can survive. I wonder if they will check him to know if he is feeling sick. What if he poops? Are they going to wash him with love? I just pray to God to help me and take over and help him." 

"Leaving my child with my mom to work wasn’t easy. It felt like I left a piece of my heart somewhere, I didn’t feel complete. I was less worried about his safety because my baby was with my mother, but I thought about him a lot because a child needs his mother you know."

"When I drop my baby at a caregiver’s, I close my eyes, hand him over to God and the caregiver. I try not to panic or worry. I tell myself my baby will be fine."

"I dropped my first child in the care of a house help when he was six months and dropped my second at a creche when she was four months old. I had two babies to attend to, I had to go to work and run a business. I also had my own life to deal with, I had to take care of myself. It was a lot. At the end of the day, I just told myself, ‘na God dey take care of children.’"

"I felt helpless because my natural instincts wanted me to stay longer with the child, but I didn’t have a choice. I was so worried I was checking up on the care provider frequently to be sure the child is okay."

Kudos to all the working moms out there, it is not easy but you do it.

*real names were not used in this article.