Objective To explore the potential categories of nurses′ work stress at the early stage of return to work after postpartum, and then to analyze the influencing factors of potential categories, in order to provide references for the development of precise interventions for the nurses′ stress of return to the work after the postpartum.Methods Convenience sampling was used to select 200 nurses at the initial stage of return to work after postpartum in 14 tertiary hospitals in Jiangsu Province.The work pressure scale for the postpartum nurses who returned work, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 21 (DASS-21) were applied to conduct the questionnaire surveys among the respondents.Latent profile analysis was performed to identify the categories of the nurses′ stress at the early stage of return to work after the postpartum, and then we analyzed the factors influencing the potential categories of the work stress.Results The work stress characteristics of nurses at the early stage of return to work after postpartum were categorized into 3 potential categories: low stress group (26.0%), medium stress group (50.0%), and high stress group (24.0%).The results of regression analysis showed that the age, average daily hours of childcare, transfer on return to work, sleep quality, and depressive symptoms were the influential factors for different potential categories of work stress in the initial stage of return to work after the postpartum (all P＜0.05).Conclusion There is potential heterogeneity in the nurses′ work stress of return to work in the early stage after postpartum.Nursing managers can implement precise interventions according to different potential categories and influencing factors to help the nurses effectively cope with nursing work stress of return to work after postpartum.