This letter was originally published in The Straits Times on 22 April 2021.

Journalist Malavika Menon’s column, “Hard choice between career and motherhood” (April 18), resonated with me as a new mother who values her career as a social worker.

My daughter is only five months old, and various obstacles have already cropped up for me.

One obstacle I have faced is the unequal amount of parental leave my partner and I have received.

My partner used all our shared parental leave, giving him a total of 30 days, while I had three months.

He had to return to work during my maternity leave, which meant I had to carry my baby more, going against my physiotherapist’s advice to not lift heavy things three months after the caesarean delivery.

Another issue concerns the question of working from home or returning to the office.

Both my partner and I have been lucky enough to work from home during the pandemic.

I experience a condition in which I feel a burst of negative emotions right before breastfeeding, and having my partner’s presence at home is very helpful for me to cope.

And though my partner sometimes finds working from home challenging, the flexibility and reduced travel time have given him more time with our child and equal involvement in her care.

However, the gradual return to working in the office has made us anxious about how our parenting situation might have to evolve.