Juggling work and toddlers takes a toll on Oz mums’ health

MELBOURNE - Seventy per cent of working mothers juggle between office and kids, hence leaving them feeling rushed and under pressure, revealed a survey.

The Australian Work and Life Index study found that the work-family juggling act is taking its toll on the health of female workers across Australia.

An Aussie mum Nadia Odorico recently returned to a demanding job as a patent attorney following the birth of her two children

“I really had to learn to be quite regimented with the hours of work and to be as efficient as possible. I’ve reduced the amount of chat time at work and I shut my door a lot more now,” the Age quoted her as saying.

She said that she is lucky her employer, Griffiths Hack, has been supportive, allowing her the flexibility of a four-day week, but she still finds herself finishing off work at home.

“Trying to balance being a good mum with being a good patent attorney is really hard. You want to make sure your children don’t miss out on anything and that’s why I’ve asked for a day off a week and on that day I’ll take my daughter swimming … I definitely do feel stressed, particularly in the beginning when my son wasn’t sleeping, so on top of the stress there was the sleep deprivation,” she said.

A few months ago she was diagnosed with Graves’ disease, an auto-immune condition that affects thyroid function.

“I lost lots of weight, it made me anxious and I truly believe that stress had something to do with it because you feel like you’re being torn from all directions,” she said.

Without the help of her mother, who looks after the children on the two days they are not in childcare, holding down her job would be almost impossible.

“There’s more of an expectation on women these days because we are expected to perform to the same extent as men, and that’s what we’ve asked for … but now we do have to live up to it as well as all of the other things we need to do as mothers,” she added. (ANI)