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How Many Months Maternity leave did you take?

Just wondering whether anyone only took 5/6/7 months?
What are your thoughts?

Thanks

Replies

  • watching with interest as I will only be taking 4months x
  • Thanks Coco, I am thinking 6 months?! tough call
  • i'm have nearly taken 7 (been off since begin of feb) Lo will be 6 and half months before i return fulltime. It depends on your circumstances but i don't really have a choice image xx
  • I took 6 months and went back pt when lo was 5 months old. Honestly it was fine, the nursery I put her in are fab and she has gone from strength to strength and I needed to be back at work for my sanity !
  • I go back in end of september, so little one will be 6 1/2 months and thats how long I will have taken maternity leave, as i went into labour on my second day off!!
    But i have to go back to work, dont really have a choice image
  • I am taking 7 and a half months, people keep saying "poor baby" - it really annoys me because a) i have to go back to work as i am not prepared to live of OHs salary alone, he doesnt earn enough and i earn more than him, would it be better if i became a social dweller??!!... and b) i have been on maternity leave now for a few weeks and its already driving me insane, it doesnt make you a bad person to want to be a mummy and also have a life of your own x
  • Oh i am so glad to hear people who are wanting to go back to work!

    I am G/C cos im only 7ish weeks pg but i have already worked out how much time i'd take off which if i had some holiday weeks to ill be taking around 7 months maternity with the last 5 weeks doing 2days a week 'keep in touch day' to get me back into work and LO into nursery.

  • I originally intended to take 5 1/2 months, as I felt we couldn't afford for me to be off work any longer, but when it came to going back to work I put the date back for another 6 weeks, the latest I possibly could financially wise and even then I found it difficult to go back. I am the main breadwinner so I have gone back fulltime and my partner is now part time.
    I have always enjoyed my job, but the change from being at home all day every day with my dd, going to all the baby groups, meeting up with other mums to full on fulltime work (I'm a teacher too so it isn't just a case of 9-5) was too much too soon, my mind was still constantly on her and I ended up just feeling like I was making a poor attempt at everything, my job, being a mum, running a home.
    I am currently on summer holidays and really enjoying the time with my daughter. She is just coming up to 1 and now I feel so much better about being apart from her, I'm looking forward to going back to work in September so I can prove to myself that I am still a good teacher as well as a mum.
    Basically, I think what I'm trying to say is you probably won't know how much maternity leave you want to take until your baby is born and subject to financial constraints take as much as you need so you are better able to cope when you go back. Keep in touch with work and from my experiences it is apparently a lot easier to say you are going to be off for the whole year and come back earlier than it is to give a date and try to make it later; or that might be just in teaching!
  • Hey becksf77, i'm also a teacher going back september i'm dreading it image. I'm pleased that you are finding it easier now, i'm worrying that my mind won't be on teaching! have you any tips?? how old was your lo when you went back to work?? thanks x
  • Sorry long post coming up!

    My daughter was 6 1/2 months when I went back after the feb half term. I think part of the problem was being off from Sept the kids thought the maternity cover was their real teacher and I was the supply when I got back, so they all tried it on as usual! I think it also just took a while to get back into the swing of things and as well as being tired I found I most definitely had less patience. As things weren't going so well at school all I could think of was how I wanted to be at home with my daughter, so I didn't put the required effort in to make things better and it was a vicious cycle.

    Looking back, I wish I had been more organised, planned more lessons before I went back and kept up with marking. Most importantly, I wouldn't expect to just waltz back in and everything just be exactly the same as before in terms of relationships with the kids. I teach at a big school (1500 pupils) and although I felt I just slotted back in with colleagues and day to day life to some of the kids I was a completely new face who arrived and acted like she owned the place!

    I don't know what age group you teach (I'm secondary) but maybe a good piece of advice is to treat it as if you're starting at a new school? Your baby will be absolutely fine in whatever childcare you have chosen and will in fact probably benefit from interacting with and getting to know other adults/children, and it makes the time you do get to spend with them better. Mind you, none of that will change the fact that you will be thinking about them a lot and particularly at the beginning, not be fully concentrating on teaching! Thats why I say I wish I had been more organised and planned more before I went back.

    Are you going back full time? Anyway, hope this helps!
  • I'm currently on maternity leave and was thinking about going back beginning of January term (I work in a pre-school so thought it would be easier to start at the beginning of term!) I've been off since the beginning of the easter holidays and I'm really starting to dread going back to work and putting baby emily into nursery, even though it's only going to be next door from me and in the same building! Emily's 11 weeks and still fully breast feeding, so we've really bonded, and the thought of leaving her even for a few hours makes me feel so anxious, dont know how I'm going to cope, but like alot of families, we simply can't live on 1 wage
  • I went back when my DD was 17 weeks old and I regretted it. I felt pressure to go back from my head as she only had 4 weeks off when she had her daughter ( a number of years ago!) This time I'm planning on about 9 months...depends on finances as I am the main earner. Hopefully our mortgage will come down so it'll be easier to stay off longer when our fixed deal ends in October.
    xxx
  • I'm the main wage earner too and am really torn between keeping us afloat next time and wanting to take as much maternity leave as poss. It's really bad I know but there are times when I really resent the fact that I've worked hard, got my qualifications, got a good job and my partner hasn't finished any of the 3 college or uni courses he has started but gets the reward of being the one who can go part time and spend time with DD, whilst I worry about earning enough money for us to survive and rushing back from mat leave before I'm ready.

    I wouldn't be without him but sometimes I just wish that instead of being the strong independent woman who deals with everything for a while I could be a stay at home mum and not have to worry about earning money!

    Sorry, rant over!
  • Im taking 6.5mths. Going back to work for 3days for 30hrs as DH works 4days during the summer months. I will then go back full time in September.

    This way we don't have to pay for nursery fee's for a few extra months and get of that crap maternity pay!

  • Becksf77 - I feel for you hun, my OH is 10 years younger than me and such a hard worker and I think by the time he is my age he will be earning on the same level as I am now. However it does mean that I dont know if I can afford to say off work for longer than 3 months with our first baby due in March 2011. I do resent it abit as friends of mine were able to take 12 months off and then go back part time - I wont have that luxury.xx
  • With my ds1 I went back when he was 4months old so had 5months mat leave. This time went back when ds2 was 3 1/2 months old as had to start mat leave earlier due to illness. I only wnet back because I couldnt afford to have any longer off as my mat pay had been reduced to smp by then. I am also the key earner in our house (also a teacher) and we cant survive without our money. not ideal but necessary to survive.
  • I wouldn't be without him but sometimes I just wish that instead of being the strong independent woman who deals with everything for a while I could be a stay at home mum and not have to worry about earning money!

    Sorry, rant over!

    It could have been me wrote that. I really don't want to have to go back to work but will only be able to afford about 6 - 7 months off.
  • Just bumping this back up image my circumstances are a little different as I am a student, I am due May next year and Will be due to go on my 3rd and final placement in September. My heart is telling me to defer the placement till the end of the year, which would mean me finishing my degree later than planned, and also I would have to do it alongside my regular job.

    However my head tells me to go ahead and do it and get it out the way while im on maternity leave. I kinda want to wait to see how I feel but dont have the luxuary as we will have to fill paperwork out for my placement before baby is due. Guess I will have to just speak to uni and see what they suggest xxxx
  • Hmmm reading through the internet, it seems in UK, maternity leave is always above 5 months.... I don't understand this. Usually in France, people take an average of 3 months and EU directive is arougd 12-14 weeks....

    We are thinking of sharing the leave  as it is supposed to be, not like in the old old age, tarting with myself for 4 weeks..... then partner then the grand mother... then nanny... is this crasy to still want to work 8 hours a day ?

    I grew up with parents and nanny and works perfectly fine..... why 4, 5, 6 months?

  • Hi Marinette,

    I took 7 months maternity, I started at 30 weeks, as my job was not healthy for my pregnancy (long story) and I was able to relax and enjoy my pregnancy.  It was especially important for me, as it took 3 years and lots of struggling to get there.

    I found a new job to go back to, which meant I had to go back to work when my little one was 4 and a bit months.  I wish I could have stayed off for longer.  Its a personal choice, but I would have preferred to be my daughter's main carer and go through every milestone with her, rather than have my husband or mum report her developments to me every evening.  It breaks my heart to leave her 5 days a week.  Also, breast feeding is really important to me and I feel that I would be more successful at that if I was at home more. We still love breast feeding, but she does have to have some forumula as a top up sometimes, as I can't express enough in my lunch break.

    We are really lucky in the UK to get 9 months paid maternity leave, with an additional 3 months unpaid and then still able to return to the same job, so I fully intend to make the most of that if we are lucky enough to be able to concieve again.  x

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