Maternity & Paternity Leave: How to Prepare for and Navigate Your Return to Work

We do not return to work as exactly the same person. Between fatigue, a new family routine, separation from your baby, possible breastfeeding considerations, childcare arrangements, and shifting priorities, this period is a genuine transition.

And now that the first parents can benefit from France’s new additional birth leave, which came into effect on 1 July 2026, giving families extra time to adjust to life with a new baby, the topic is more relevant than ever: how can you prepare for your return and make the transition as smooth as possible?

1. Prepare for your return before you go back

We prepare for pregnancy, birth, and the first weeks with a baby. Returning to work deserves preparation too. The aim is not to anticipate everything, but to take time to reflect on what has changed and what you may need in order to return under the best possible conditions.

Before returning, a conversation with your manager or HR can help you discuss practical points such as your return date, your role and responsibilities, workload, working hours, possibilities for flexibility or remote working, a potential reduction in working hours, and any needs related to breastfeeding or expressing milk.

Some arrangements need to be made in advance. It is therefore useful to find out about your rights and your company’s specific procedures early enough. In France, after maternity or paternity leave, employees are entitled to return to their previous job or a similar role with pay that is at least equivalent.

For employees returning from maternity leave, the employer must also arrange a return-to-work appointment with the occupational health service. Since late 2025, a professional career review interview is also systematically offered in certain situations involving a return following family-related leave, subject to the conditions set out by French law.

Preparing for your return also means acknowledging how you actually feel: sleep deprivation, ongoing physical recovery, a potentially vulnerable postpartum period, a difficult pregnancy or birth, breastfeeding or weaning… Expressing your needs, making requests, and setting boundaries does not mean you are any less committed to your work.

2. The first few weeks: allow yourself an adjustment period

The first few weeks can be particularly intense. Returning to work often coincides with settling your baby into nursery or with a childminder, a new family routine, new time constraints, and sometimes still very fragmented nights.

The whole family is learning a new rhythm. There will inevitably be adjustments, trial and error, and new solutions to find. The goal is therefore less about immediately returning to your old routine and more about gradually building a new balance.

During this phase, it can help to protect your energy and choose your priorities. You may not be able to do everything at 100% — and that is okay. Temporarily aiming for 80%, asking for help, sharing household responsibilities and the mental load more equally with your co-parent, and protecting small pockets of time for yourself can make a real difference.

It is also worth paying attention to how much work you bring home. Reopening your laptop every evening once your baby is asleep in order to “catch up” can quickly eat into your sleep and the little recovery time you have.

When the professional context allows, a more gradual return can be discussed: greater flexibility in working hours, slightly shorter days, a workload that increases progressively, or less demanding projects at the very beginning. This is not an automatic legal entitlement, but it can be worth discussing with your employer.

3. Separation, guilt and being present

For many parents, returning to work marks the first regular separation from their baby. This can bring sadness, worry, or guilt, sometimes accompanied by a feeling that they are “abandoning” their child.

The aim is not necessarily to eliminate guilt altogether, but to give it an appropriate place. You can be happy to return to work and sad to leave your baby. Those two feelings are not contradictory.

Another challenge is learning to be present in each part of your life: as much as possible, being focused on work when you are working, and then reconnecting with your child and personal life when you return home. Thinking about work when you are with your child, and then about your child while you are working, can create a constant feeling of never being fully in the right place.

Very simple transition rituals — a few minutes of breathing, meditation, or walking between work and home — can help create that mental separation.

4. Common pitfalls to avoid

The first is setting unrealistic expectations and expecting yourself to return immediately with exactly the same availability, energy, and organisation as before. A child has arrived in the meantime — or perhaps more than one, hello to all the parents of twins!

The second is staying silent when difficulties begin to build up. Professional demands, family responsibilities, lack of sleep, and insufficient recovery time can gradually contribute to significant exhaustion. Speaking up early when things become difficult creates more opportunities to make adjustments.

Ultimately, one of the main challenges is deciding how to distribute your time and energy across the different areas that matter: work, child or children, your relationship, yourself, rest, social life… One useful exercise is to represent these different areas visually, notice where your energy is actually going, and identify what you would like to rebalance.

5. What about employers?

One of the most common mistakes is welcoming a parent back as though nothing has changed and expecting them to pick up immediately exactly where they left off. Maternity or paternity leave is not a holiday designed to ensure someone comes back fully rested.

Adjustment needs vary enormously from one parent to another. Creating space for dialogue, clarifying expectations, allowing a gradual increase in workload when possible, and remaining mindful of the constraints of this new family organisation can make the transition considerably easier.

It is also important not to focus only on the constraints. Parenthood can change the way someone approaches work, priorities, and certain situations. A returning parent has not lost their skills — quite the opposite, they may have developed new ones that can undoubtedly be valuable in the workplace. They simply need time to adjust.

Three things to remember

1. Be kind to yourself. Take some of the pressure off and accept that transitions take time.
2. Speak up about your needs, expectations, and difficulties. The earlier these topics are raised, the more opportunity there is to find appropriate adjustments.
3. Set boundaries to protect your energy. The goal is not to do everything perfectly straight away, but to build a way of working and living that is sustainable over time.