HERE we are in February already. My lovely son is seven months old and, having accepted the adjustment of ditching the routine to becoming a mum and not being able to follow any schedule whatsoever, suddenly I have had to regain some kind of order in my life so I can return to work.

How will I find the time in my busy schedule of feeding, playing, shopping and meeting my fellow new mums for coffee to return to work three days a week?

Thanks to an ingenious new government scheme, women can now work for up to ten days during their maternity leave without terminating their leave or pay - and I started back at work one day a week last month.

It's definitely a nice way to ease yourself back into your job - I quite enjoy the adult stimulation and James gets spoilt rotten by his grandparents for the day and barely even notices I'm not there! It's almost worth being apart from him for the day just to see the excited look on his face when I walk back into the house at the end of the day.

Next month is crunch time though. I start back at work properly and James starts nursery two days a week. This is causing me much anxiety already - complete strangers looking after my baby! How will I cope? And, more importantly, how will he cope? He will have some settling-in sessions first, which I hope will put my mind at rest.

I'll let you know how we get on.