How long are you planning to take mat leave for?

[DreamCatcher_]

So I've just submitted my maternity leave forms for work and hoping to stop at 36 weeks.

However, this got me thinking about my return date as I started to panic about money and SMP etc. When are you planning to return to work/how long are you taking off?

I had initially planned mid April to mid December (as a teacher my accrued holidays would mean I'd go back on the pay role but not back in to work until Jan 2018), which would be 8 and a half months with DS being 7 and a half months give or take. Although my panic has caused me to think about going back in October.

 

[Trixter]

So I've just submitted my maternity leave forms for work and hoping to stop at 36 weeks.

However, this got me thinking about my return date as I started to panic about money and SMP etc. When are you planning to return to work/how long are you taking off?

I had initially planned mid April to mid December (as a teacher my accrued holidays would mean I'd go back on the pay role but not back in to work until Jan 2018), which would be 8 and a half months with DS being 7 and a half months give or take. Although my panic has caused me to think about going back in October.

I recently had to make this decision myself.

I really wanted to take a full nine months, but because SMP is only half of what I earn monthly, I can't afford to. Husband works, but his job is fairly average pay.

I've organised to take 6 months, however I've discussed with my workplace that if needs be, I can give notice and return earlier. So if it's too stressful financially, I may go back after 5 months.

Sad that finances have to influence over this wonderful time. Trust me, I wish I had all the time in the world to be home with my baby.

 

[SonnyH]

I'm taking a full year. I'm very lucky with my employer, I get 6 months full pay, then 3 months statutory. We've also been very organised- my partner and I are big savers, so we've already saved up and put away my half of the bills for the second 6 months! Plus we have a fair chunk of additional savings too, so that elimates quite a lot of money worries thankfully!

My cousin did very similar to you, she's a teacher too. She had baby on 01st April and went back literally 2 days before the Christmas holidays to get back on payroll but not actually start until Jan!

I think it depends on your financial sitiation and your childcare position when you go back. Nurseries can cost as much as your monthly wage! I'm quite worried about affording that!

 

[DreamCatcher_]

OH is starting a new job and, if it goes well, I could take the full 9 months but I'm a worrier.

SMP is about 1/3 of my wage and I'll hopefully have saved a decent amount by then. This wee one was a surprise, one month after buying a house, so our savings have recently been spent

 

[Pitbullmom29]

I'm jealous of all you ladies. I'll be lucky if I can take the full 12 weeks.

 

[broodymrs]

I get good mat pay too so I'm taking 6 months full pay, 3 months smp then all my leave which will be an extra 9 weeks. I'm actually not going back to this job but work don't know that yet! So I'll have to start looking for a job December 2017ish so baby will be 9 months old. Only going back 3 days though. If you ladies can do it our childcare has only been affordable as we got childcare vouchers

 

[jessmke]

I'm taking the full year. Luckily my OH makes significantly more money than I do so although we split our expenses 50/50 when I'm working, he makes enough to be able to pay our expenses on his own when I am on mat leave so I just need to make enough to pay my daily expenses like gas and cell phone. Things are tight when I'm on leave but neither of us would feel comfortable putting baby in daycare when less than a year old, plus I feel like it would really impede on my ability to breastfeed although I know many women figure out a way to make it work.

 

[PrettyInInk42]

As far as I understand, my province allows women to take up to a full year. I was just considering being on leave til I was done breastfeeding (6-9 months?) But then I thought I don't wanna miss my baby's first steps, so I might just take the whole year off. And I have no plans to go on leave early.

 

[MrsButterfly]

I'll be finishing work at around 36 or 37 weeks and then taking 10 months off. Would like the full year but can't afford it.

 

[HPmum2B]

When I was pregnant with my first (this is my 3rd). I assumed I would take a year off and then go back part time. The baby was planned, so we had plenty of time to save.

I feel pregnant (a little bit on purpose) with my second child when DD1 was 7 months old, and cheekily managed to stack two lots of maternity (only SMP) together and actually got 2 years off.

At the end of the two years, I half heartidly asked about returning part time, but my request was not met with much enthusiasm from my employer. The whole time I had been off, we had not spent any of our savings, and in fact where I had annual leave paid off (twice) I found we had even more than when I gave up work.

I guess not working, we had been very careful with money. Plus I no longer had any travel expenses. I no longer bought lunch every day, and nor did hubby, I had turned into a proper little house wife, making him a packed lunch. haha. We did not go out as much as we did previously (eg for dinner etc), as we now how two young children and finding a babysitter was a faff.

So I realised, we could prob afford for me to stay off work for a while longer. I had DD1 in Sept 2012... so 4+ years later I am still off work. So the savings have dissapeard, but thats more to do with house renovations. We no longer have expensive holidays. But I get to be with my girls everyday.

I guess what I am trying to say, is, wait and see, you will be surprised just how far your money can stretch, if you really want it to.

I do understand that some peoples wages only just cover bills, so I am not trying to be patronising. However much time you get off with your LO, I really hope you enjoy it!!

 

[thexfadingpat]

I'm in Canada so will get a full year.
I actually just start back this week from my son's mat leave, then will be starting my new leave in 6 months.

 

[boobee]

I get SMP and will be taking the paid 9 months off. This is what I did with my DD first time. I was lucky enough that with her being born at the start of the year, my company closed for 2 weeks at Christmas so I finished then and maternity started in the new year when I was due to go back.

I'm due in the middle of the year this time so I plan to start maternity 2 weeks before I am due but I will also have the full years holiday entitlement to take before I leave (our holidays run Jan-Dec) so I plan on taking a further 2 weeks before that. Essentially leaving work 1 month before I am due. Again I will return after the 9 Months paid ends.

My DD started childcare at 9 months old and thrived. It was a happy medium as I only went back to work 3days. I plan on doing the same this time as DD will be in preschool. I think if you can afford to take longer off then do. Unfortunately I cannot afford to, no matter how much we stretch our finances.

 

[Symphony7]

I will be taking a year unpaid. I have no paid maternity and only about 10 sick days left as of now so will not get much of any before baby comes. But I get paid through August and baby is due in June because I am on a 10 month teaching contract that gets paid 12 months so I will have about 2 1/2 months paid before my pay checks dry up. I am fortunate my husband makes enough and we have enough saved that we can comfortably have me stay home a year otherwise I'd be going back at about 10-12 weeks depending on when she comes after summer break is done.

 

[DreamCatcher_]

I went back to university 7 weeks sfter DS was born and by the time he was 4 months old I was also working two jobs, on top of studying.

DS wasn't in nursery as family helped but I still feel like I lost out on a lot of precious time, something I'm scared of happening again if the money doesn't go far.

 

[midwife1992]

I took full year off with my son and by time added annual leave on top I was off work 13 and a bit months. Went back for 2 months so didn't have to pay back enhanced maternity pay and then left to be stay at home mum, that was 5 months ago and I'm now 15 weeks with second and won't be going back to work for few years hopefully

 

[ALiKO]

Me and hubby only lived off of his pay and my pay just went up in savings. So we're already used to living off of one income as we planned our lives accordingly. So now that I am pregnant with number 2 I do not plan on going back to work after baby arrives. Possibly in the future though when baby turns 2 like I did with my 1st I'll get back into work.

 

[Wish85]

I'm in Australia and work for the Government so I get 3 months full pay/6 months half pay, then new Mum's are entitled to 18 weeks paid parental leave through Social Services but as I earn a fair bit it works out to be equivalent to half pay for me and I'll have roughly a month holidays/long service leave saved so I'm looking at maybe 8-9 months. We can have as long as we want but that's how much I'll get paid for. Any longer and it would be unpaid leave.
Then I'll return to work 4 days a week until baby goes to school.

I made the mistake last time of leaving at 36 weeks but my DS didn't come until 40+5 so I'd already used 5 weeks of my leave before baby was even born!! This time I'll work up until 38 or 39 weeks if I can. I'd rather have longer off afterwards!

 

[arturia]

I have absolutely no idea. I'm in Canada, but my situation involves a ton of variables that generally mean under the status quo, I'll be going back very quickly. But if one of two possible change scenarios happen, I'll stay out longer. There's an almost guaranteed odds at least one of them will happen, it's a matter of whether it'll happen soon enough to save my maternity leave.

tl;dr I make significantly more than dh, but he's expecting a promo that'll happen (most likely) either at the yearly raise cycle (within 6 weeks est.) or Aug when the retiree up the managerial ladder leaves. Or we divorce. That's a possibility, but I can manage maternity pay better on a single income in an apartment than in our house anyways. Mortgage is painful.

 

[ShinyShiny84]

I'm hoping to take a total of 10 months which will be 1 month's annual leave followed by 9 months SMP. I was hoping to take the full year but I would rather not over-stretch ourselves by being down to 1 income for the last 3 months. I am hoping to come back to work 4 days a week (from 5) so that is a happy compromise.

 

[Cariad_x]

I get 3 months full pay then 3 months half pay plus smp which makes up to just under my normal wage. The maternity policy has just changed as originally I'd only be entitled to 6 weeks pay so I'm pretty happy with that!

I have 6 weeks annual leave to use before I go off. I plan on taking this a week before I start mat so I'll finish at 37 weeks using annual leave till my due date. As I do 12 hour shifts I'm using the remained of my annual leave to drop a shif the. Week as of next week to take me to when I finish.

I had a year off with my first but this time around I need to go back as financially it's more affordable.