Returning to work after maternity leave is a very stressful time. It's stressful for mommy and it's stressful for baby. It's really funny because we live in a culture right now, where mom comes back to work two weeks after delivery. She's back in her jeans and her cubicle and her BMW, and on her stairmaster. People say, "Good for you." What about the baby? The longer you can stay home, the better. The more slowly you can ease back into the workforce, the better. Obviously, that can't work for everybody and they're are financial needs that families have. If it's possible to swing it, have the nanny start two or three weeks before you leave full time, so there is a transition time where the baby has both you and the nanny there. It's not like they are being left alone for ten hours a day with a stranger. Also, consider the kind of hours your leaving. Remember that babies perceive the world and the timing of the world, very differently than we do. It's based on how long they have been alive. So in other words, if you're gone ten hours, that might feel like two weeks to a baby if they are only awake ten hours a day. As you get older, time goes really fast. When you're young, time goes really slow. Remember how long you had to wait for your birthday? Remember how long you had to wait for Christmas? Waiting for mommy to come home can seem like a really, really long time. So try to ease back into the schedule little by little, extending it out over a few week period.