Working moms: Drawbacks

You First, there's the guilt. Your heart will break on those mornings when your anxious toddler is clinging to your leg, desperate for you to stay home. And hearing the wonderful things your baby did while you were away will likely be bittersweet. Plus, shuttling from work to home and back again means you will be constantly shifting gears. Cramming in quality time with your child before and after long hours on the job can be exhausting, particularly when your baby is ill or fussy. But the area that will suffer most is "you time."

Your kids Your baby will miss you. There will be days when he falls down at daycare and will cry in the arms of someone else, wanting nothing more than to be with you. When he gets older, he'll complain that you weren't around enough (of course, if you'd stayed home, he might complain you smothered him!). Thankfully, your child will do the healthy thing  -- get very attached to the people who care for him when you're away.

Your marriage Things will fall by the wayside, and sometimes that thing will be your husband. Saying goodbye to home-cooked dinners and perfectly folded laundry may be okay for him, but he will have a harder time knowing that, at the end of the day, you're all out of hugs and want nothing more than a hot bath and a soft bed. When you're ready, hire the occasional night or weekend sitter. "Going out for a cup of coffee or a movie after the kids are in bed is a great way for working parents to reconnect without feeling like they're taking more time away from their little ones," says Claire Lerner, a director at Zero to Three, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit support group.

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