Why Returning To Work After Maternity Leave Feels So Much Harder Than You Expected
Motherkind
Zoe Blaskey
4.8 • 863 Ratings
🗓️ 25 May 2026
⏱️ 8 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Returning to work after having a baby isn't just a practical transition - for many mothers, it can feel like returning as a completely different person.You expected to feel rusty. You didn't expect to question your confidence, your identity, or whether you're still capable of doing the job you once knew so well.In this Moment, Zoe sits down with Joeli Brearley, founder of Pregnant Then Screwed, to unpack one of the most overlooked parts of motherhood: the return-to-work transition.Joeli shares why this period can feel so overwhelming, how matrescence and brain changes can affect our confidence and sense of self, and why so many mothers believe they're failing when, in reality, the systems around them are failing them.This episode is a powerful reminder that if returning to work felt harder than you expected, there was never anything wrong with you.
💡 In this Moment, you'll learn:
Why returning to work after maternity leave can feel so emotionally challenging
The surprising brain changes of matrescence and how they affect confidence
Why do so many mothers struggle socially and professionally after having a baby
The hidden leadership skills motherhood develops
What better support for mothers could actually look like
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If you enjoyed this episode, you can listen to the full episode - The Exhausted Mother’s Guide to A Successful Return to Work with Joeli Brearley
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey Sainsbury's. We get through so many snacks. Have you got anything to help me save? |
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| 0:14.4 | on thousands of the products your family loves. So you can snack away knowing you're saving money. |
| 0:20.0 | Sainsbury's, good food for all of us. |
| 0:22.1 | Selected products, Aldi Price Match, not in NI. |
| 0:24.3 | Nectar prices require nectar account. |
| 0:25.8 | Terms at sainsbrees.co.com slash LD. Price Match and nectar. |
| 0:32.3 | Hello, hello. Welcome back to Motherkind. |
| 0:34.4 | It is me, your host, Zoe. |
| 0:36.8 | It is half term in the UK. I hope that you are managing to breathe through the intensity of the juggle and everything that comes with time of school. It's a Monday. So this is your chance for a Motherkind moment. And this is a clip from the incredible Jolie Brearley, founder of Growthathsbert, unbelievable campaigner here in the UK and across the world for parental rights. |
| 0:59.7 | And in this clip, in this moment, she talks about how difficult she found her maternity leave experience. |
| 1:06.0 | And I wanted to share this today because I want to normalise that for you. |
| 1:09.8 | There is nothing wrong with you if you found |
| 1:12.5 | that maternity leave difficult. There is nothing wrong with you if you were desperate to get back to |
| 1:17.5 | work. There's also nothing wrong with you absolutely loved it. All experiences are welcome. |
| 1:21.5 | But this morning in this clip Jolie talks about how hard she found it. And I hope that someone needs to hear this this |
| 1:29.5 | morning and maybe you take a deep breath and you feel seen and you feel understood and you feel a |
| 1:34.6 | little bit less alone. Here it is. We talked about this return to work moment and I really want to |
| 1:43.8 | dive into that because I think, as you said, |
| 1:47.6 | you know, it is this moment that's absolutely critical in a mother's kind of path through her |
| 1:55.1 | matressant's journey. Yeah. And yet is pretty underlooked. You know, there's lots of organisations paying lip service, I think, to that return moment. But actually, you know, what does real support look like? And so why is that moment so critical do you think? And then two follow-up questions is what do the organisations who get it |
... |
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