Short maternity leave?

Question

I live in Europe and here we get a lot of maternity leave. Up to 2 years, paid with 75% of your income. One full year is the most common women opt for. It's shocking for me to hear that women go back to work after only a couple of weeks in the US! What do you do with the baby when you return to work so soon? What is the common practice? Here you can take the baby to a day care but when they are so little in a community they get sick all the time and you have to stay home with them. Isn't this a problem for you at work? I'm just curious how you handle things

Answer

I worked with a girl a couple years ago who came back to work literally 2 days after giving birth. She didn't have a choice. She had to be earning money or she would be homeless within a month. No paid leave here with the exception of some companies who provide it but are not required to do so. That particular girl was fortunate that she had a family member who was able to watch her baby while she was at work. I have returned to work at 6 weeks postpartum, working opposite shifts as my husband. For us that meant I left for work at 9:30 pm and got home at 7:30 pm, just to kiss him in the driveway as he left. Nap with the baby through the day time, then solid 3 hours of sleep when my husband got home at 5:30 pm. If we had paid for  daycare, I would have had about $60 left out of my paycheck every two weeks. We did this for awhile, until my mother-in-law moved in. We did some research and found a program at the local community college that required sponsorship and therefore a guaranteed job upon graduation. We used our tax return (which is substantial for very low income families in the US) to pay rent a year in advance. My husband quit his job, I worked as many hours as I could, and he went to school for 2 years. Now he earns more than we need and for the first time I get to be a stay at home mom. A journey 10 years in the making.

Answer

It's horrible in the U.S. I don't know where to begin! But what bothers me more is that many moms are accepting it as normal and going back to work even if they can stay home. When European countries provide long maternity leave they are acknowledging and honoring the mother/baby relationship. Here, the government and employers couldn't care less ... thus mothers and babies are not valued. And it's trickling down to the very mothers themselves. Some don't even recognize the injustice!

Answer

I went back to work after 7 weeks, part time. I work evenings so my husband worked days, it was the only way we could figure out avoiding the expenses of daycare. One of us was always with our son. If I had a year or two of paid leave, I certainly would have taken it.

Answer

Here it is not required for business to offer PAID maternity leave. 🙄. My job offers maternity leave for up to 12 weeks but unpaid and won't even let me get short term disability which would come out of my own paycheck! As in I'd earn it myself over time! It's so messed up here. I hope that I can take the 12 weeks and my husband and I can save enough to do so. Once I go back, my mom and sis in law are going to help keep my baby.

Answer

So how does it work in europe? In America a lot of women have a ton of kids so with these extended leaves there would be a long period of time where you never work. I get 8 weeks paid and an extra month unpaid unless you medically need more paid time off. I'd love 6 months at least. lol.

Answer

I couldn't imagine having a child in America. In Canada, we get 50 weeks maternity leave with 55% of your salary from the government. On top of free health care (including ultrasounds and prenatal appointments).

Answer

Well I need to move now... wtf. yeah generally it's 12 weeks. We are expected to return to work. if we are breastfeeding it doesn't matter. We get in home care or have family watch them because most daycares won't take them so young. god forbid your baby gets sick and you gotta miss work. did we ever say it isn't even paid? Yeah it sucks!

Answer

I'm originally from Germany myself, so I always like to joke that maybe I'll go home to have the baby and move back here after. 😄 Personally I'm getting 4 months off after baby is born (which is actually really generous here) and that's with about 50% pay. After that it's baby in daycare because I have no choice but to return to work, since my family can't afford to live on one income. I might even have to go back to work early if money is too tight.

Answer

My due date is tomorrow for our 1st baby, a little girl. I have had the same job for the last 6 years, so they let me choose how long I wanted to take off, but financially I can only take off 6 weeks. My husband and I are both in college full time. I am a physics & mathematics double major and he is going for mechanical engineering. We both have 2 years left to complete our degrees. We were a little untraditional. We had "real jobs" until I was 24 and he was 25 and we decided to go to college. So for our situation, we have to schedule all of our classes at opposite times and have to work opposite shifts as well. I am truly jealous that other countries offer paid maternity leave.

Answer

My maternity leave will be 12 weeks and we will probably hire a nanny for the first several months, then switch to daycare because it is less expensive and social for the kids.
I was always shocked by countries where women took a year or longer... I don't know how companies fund paying someone 75% if their salary as well as hiring a temp to cover their work for that long.

Short maternity leave?

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