ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the preparations involved in returning to work. This includes obtaining childcare and the various childcare options. A review of the myriad normal emotional responses, from not wanting to return at all, to being anxious to get back into the clinic are included. The logistics of pumping at work and the laws that surround and protect breastfeeding and pumping in various countries are included in this chapter. A discussion of some of the challenges of being a working parent, including the motherhood penalty and having to miss work because of childhood illness, is included. Ways to support working parents and ways for working parents to find support are described. Practice profiles include stories about setting boundaries and going back to work, overcoming self-doubt, finding childcare, and pumping, with advice from each veterinarian on how to navigate these challenges.
