How much maternity leave are you having/did you take?

gizmodo_2

Hello,

Soon to be TTC and been doing lots of planning regarding finances. I was just wondering what length of maternity leave people on average take.

For some reason I always thought I'd have a month, mainly because I didn't see how I could afford anymore than that. But now that the time has come I think I want 6 months. I think I would regret going back to work so early as I think these early times will be very precious. It would be nice to be a SAHM but that is never going to happen unless OH gets a huge pay rise.

Would love to hear peoples experiences. Did you regret taking too little time? Did you get bored taking too much time? How did you cope financially? I'm planning on saving like mad and for each £500 I save will mean I can afford another month at home with baby.

inkie

I had the full 12 months off both times - and that was 13 and 10 years ago and would have had more time off than that if I could! We saved during both pregnancies to enable me to stay off - we didn't use the money in the end, and had our conservatory built with it.

I found plenty of things to do - I was also fininshing my degree off during my second mat leave and so would trundle along to the lectures with DD2 in tow (breastfeeding). If you are going to be TTC, then why not start saving now i you can rather than waiting until you are TTC or during your pregnancy.

joanie

I took 7.5 months - was only supposed to take 6 but my blood pressure went too high and the doc signed me off work so my employer put me staight onto maternity leave as it was within the timescale where they could do this.....

When I went off I had saved all my holidays so was able to add them onto the end of my maternity leave and therefore get full pay while off!!!

Rather than use all 29 days in one go in the end I decided to go back 2 month earlier and use my holidays at the rate of 2 per week to work part time for 3 months but get paid full time :j :j :j .

luckily we had money put aside and by being careful the money side of things wasn't too important other than being careful not to waste it on trivial things.

As it turned out going back was the best thing for me.... i had a bit of post natal depression (sept 11th happened when baby was 6 weeks old) and i spent weeks walking around genuinely scared there was going to be a war and we would all be killed! Going back gave me something else to focus on and I managed to get things in perspective (although I am still a worrier!)

gizmodo_2

Thanks inkie. We're going to start trying in March, but yes we're saving from now. We hope to save £400 a month. OH can get at least £100 overtime a month, we already save £200, and the other £100 will hopefully come from me Mystery Shopping, although £100 is a bit optimistic. Got £1000 already which I thought would be sensible to keep for buying a car seat, cot etc.

From what I understand I won't be able to do any mystery shopping during maternity leave. Is this correct?

gizmodo_2

Thanks joanie. Wow 29 days holiday? I only get 21 But saving them for part time is a good idea.

amandada

I took 18 months with my dd (who's now 11), although only 6 months of that was paid, and when I had my son (now 6) I HAD to go back when he was 29 weeks old, despite not being ready at all.
We saved both times all through pregnancy, so I was able to take the maximum amount of unpaid leave each time.

Krystaltips

I worked for some unscrupulous wotsits when I had DD and they very kindly let me go within weeks of finding out I was pregnant... My original plan was to find work when she was 6 months old... And I put it back to 9 months... and somehow 5 years have passed and baby No2 is on the way...

shelley_crow

I was only entitled to 6 paid months off, i had to start the leave early and had to returned to work when DS was 20 weeks old.

Any future children, i will take as long as i can afford off, i hated goin back so early. Although this was almost 4 years ago, it's still quite a sore subject.

All the best with TTC x

Janepig

I had just over six months after having DD (although I had a couple of weeks annual leave before she was born), and I had 9 months with DS, although I had no time off before he was born - I did plan to, but I left work on Christmas Eve (I was due to finish on 12th January), went into labour on Christmas Morning and he was born five weeks early in the early hours of Boxing day. So I was able to add the leave I would have taken to the end of my maternity leave, and I was also given five days bank holidays back too.

What I found useful the first time around (didn't get a chance to do it second time :rolleyes:) and one of my colleagues who has just left to have a baby did it, is to take perhaps one or two days a week off (annual leave) in the few weeks before you finish to have the baby. It eases you into to finishing imo.

I was glad to go back to work both times though - obviously there's the guilt thing and all that, and if I'd really wanted to, although financially it would have been tough, I'd have stayed home. But I enjoy my job and it, and the social side of it, keeps me sane (or possibly insane ), so working part time leaves me feeling like I really do have the best of both worlds.

Jxx

Js_Other_Half

I took 12 months off - although some of that was unpaid. Bear in mind that paid maternity leave is now 9 months on SMP, and will be going up to 12 months at some point - probably April 2010.

Becles

I think a month is too short. I would wait until you get your check up at 6-8 weeks after birth just to make sure your insides have recovered!

It's also hard work in the first few weeks. The bleeding down below can take 4-8 weeks to go away, and your baby will be waking for night feeds for some weeks after birth. How will you cope with working, not feeling 100% and not getting a proper night's sleep?

Sorry to put a downer on it, but there's no way I'd have coped with going back to work after a month with any of mine.

With my eldest, I gave up work shortly after finding I was pregnant and went back part time when he was 15 months old. I was intending being a SAHM but we needed the money!

I think I took around 5 months off when I had my second, then 9 months with the third. I took advantage of the full period of maternity pay both times.