Day one - nice note or card welcoming her back.

At some point in that first week, after she has a bit of a routine established with pumping and she's been able to sort through the deluge of email, etc - take her out to lunch.

I was a hormonal, exhausted mess when I returned to work. My usually strong sense of humor was nonexistent. I'd avoid doing anything that is prank-like.

Anonymous wrote:Whatever you do don't say "I bet you really miss your baby, I man, it must be so hard to be back at work while your baby is in daycare" like our VP of HR said to me on the elevator my first day back. Grrr...

I still despise the person who said this to me.

The thing I appreciated most was my boss taking me to coffee and telling me about how his wife really struggled to go back to work and he was on my side and would cut me slack when I needed it. I am pretty tough, but any attempt at humor would have been upsetting.

I had coffee with the sweet colleague who covered for me and that was nice, she caught me up. After I came back, she actually went out on leave for a major surgery so I took over her work while she was out.

Did I miss it? Why dies this "gift" have to be funny? Was op and the mom the office clowns? Constantly pranking each other? Inside joke ?

With hormones, sleep deprivation, and parting with the baby, I dont think many of us would be in the mood to find a cow or any other reference to pumping on my desk upon return.

Do people to do this for other colleagues who have been out for a long time - surgeries, sabbaticals, paternity leave, and the like?

My supervisor, whom I’m not especially close with, asked me how I’m REALLY feeling to be back, in this empathic tone. I wasn’t about to tell my supervisor that I was ready to quit any second but needed the paycheck! Two years later, I irrationally still hold it against him.

Whatever you do don't say "I bet you really miss your baby, I man, it must be so hard to be back at work while your baby is in daycare" like our VP of HR said to me on the elevator my first day back. Grrr...

Snacks! Coffee! Don't knock on the closed door!

That's it.

My coworkers jumped on me on day 1 and honestly it was overwhelming. They wanted to see pics of my babies and a lot of complaining about work. They were trying to catch me up on projects and work gossip... it was too much.

Day 1 should just be letting her read emails and discuss things with boss. Just getting a key to the lactation room took up most of my first morning and I needed to pump every 3 hours.