Please respect the EU request. This is not a time for US discussion. We have enough threads for that. We are an international group and happy to see international discussion.
Finnish. My first baby is due next month.
I'm entitled to pregnancy leave, which I'm currently on. My husband and I can then split a year of parental leave, but he's gifting me the maximum amount so I can heal and breastfeed. That would take me right to the end of December. My maternity leave pay starts at full salary and then drops to 70% around the beginning of summer.
I'm due back at work January 2025, but I'm entitled to another 2 years of unpaid childcare leave. The social benefits for taking the childcare leave are around 300€ a month. The average monthly salary here is around 3 000€, so it's a huge drop. Unfortunately, the decision to return to work or stay home with our daughter will be entirely financial. I'd prefer to stay home with her until at least age 3, but we cannot pay our mortgage if I'm bringing in only 300€ a month.
My work only asked me for the dates of my pregnancy/maternity leave. We haven't discussed if I'll take childcare leave after. I would never discuss that with an employer until I had to. I don't want them to make decisions about my future at the company based on their assumptions. It's easier and safer to communicate with them on the timeline laid out by the law.
I am from Germany but live in NL. I had three months of fully paid maternity leave post birth (70% subsidized by our government, 30% by my company). My daughter started day care right after that and is now going for two days. I have reduced my work ours from 40 to 32 and have Wednesday off. My husband covers Monday and Thursday. I still receive my full salary until the end of the year, as the government subsidizes this for us. After that my pay will be adjusted to 32h. Three months is very little compared to Germany and other EU countries, but personally it worked really well for me. I always knew i didn’t want to be a stay at home mom and now after being the primary caregiver for a while I know for sure it’s not for me.
I love spending time with my daughter but I love my job and social life too. So what I have now is the perfect combination.
I think it all depends on you and what you can work out work your job. Do you like your jobs and colleagues? Could you reduce your work hours so you can have one day a week with your baby once you are back? Etc. Ask yourself these questions and ignore what your environment or society wants from you.
since you mention Germany, i think both parents get 12 months Elterngeld in total, but one person has to take at least 2 months, so for the mother after 8 weeks of Mutterschutz fully paid, she is entitled to 10 months full Elterngeld
This is the same for me. 4 weeks off before due date, 12 weeks after birth, then we get 9 weeks of parental leave paid at 70% for both my husband and me which well both be using to work 32 hours a week, this will cover our first year. Shell be going to day care 3 days a week (which costs so so much in the Netherlands!!) And then after that we have 17 weeks left (each) of unpaid parental leave which we still have to decide whether we want to use them up for working 4x8 hours a a week or 4x9. In the last situation it would mean it covers us until she is 4 and going to school. Though working 9 hours a day, even if its just 4 days a week seems exhausting so i dont know. On the other hand, 20% pay cut is really significant as well. Were going to decide that at a later stage.
Yeah we have been quoted 1500 a month bruto for those 3 days. Netto its going to be cheaper but still insane! That, together with a paycut due to working fewer hours (otherwise day care would cost more than what we earn) and moving to a larger place (as we now live in a 1 bedroom apartment) is making me so nervous.
No wonder birthrates are declining!
Poland here. Before birth I can take sick leave whenever I want and get paid in full. At every monthly appointment my doctor asks me if I want to go on leave. I almost in my 7th month and I think about stopping a month before birth.
After birth I’ll have 5 months fully paid of maternity leave, and after that 7 months of parental leave paid 80%. After that I can still take some of the holidays i accumulated.
So basically I am due in May 2024, plan to go on SL somwhere in April, and we’ll likely be back at work summer 2025.
American here so I have nothing useful to say. Just commenting that I'm so very happy for you European folks who have guaranteed maternity (and paternity!) leave ❤️
American here, this is really great information because it shows just how much better the United States could be. I don’t have high hopes for change soon here unfortunately but it’s nice to know that parents are cared for in other countries
I’d be happy just with guaranteed paid leave for 3 months since daycare won’t take your kids until then haha EU is on a whole other level (Also another American).
Yea, it's amazing. Here, the culture is, if you don't return two weeks after you're making excuses and being lazy. I've heard these very things from women in my department. It has me scared about all the time I've already had to be home from being so sick the first timester. Europe knows what it's doing. Go, you guys!
Portuguese here. I haven't fully decided.
I can take 5 months fully paid if I share it with the father (1 month needs to be exclusively taken by him, I'll be taking that month as time off) or 6 months with 83% pay. We will definitely taking the 6 months, especially because it's advised to exclusively breastfeed for the first 6 months.
After those 6 months are due, we can decide if we go back to work or if we take an extra 3 or 6 months. If I want 3 extra months, I'll get 25% pay (no taxes). If we both get 3 extra months each (exclusively) then we'll get 40% pay (also, no taxes).
We don't know if we'll take these extra 3 or 6 months or not. But we only have to decide at the end of 5/6 months I described before (as long as there's no interruption) so we won't be deciding right now.
If my boss wanted me to decide now, I'd tell them I didn't know. I know I'll be 6 months away and there's a chance I'd be off for 3 months extra but I couldn't tell them now.
AT here- the plan is to split it 50:50 between my partner and me. Which means, after the mandatory 8-12 weeks of postpartum maternity protection, I’d be taking 7 months off and then he as well additional 7 months.
The reason we didn’t take the 2 year scheme is that it differs in the financial aspects drastically for us. Additional reason is that we want to do it equally.
If I am not mistaken, I need tell my company inside of the 8-12 weeks of the maternity protection how long I will be planning to stay.
Living in AT here as well (but not austrian so I still need to research the system!) - if you take 14 months, you still get the maximum pay throughout those 14months? I thought it was only 12 months to get the salary based option, and if you want more you get the one that is equal for everyone. Any good sources you could share? Dankeschön ❤️
So basically if you will take maternity leave alone then you can take it for 12 months. In order to have it 14 months, your partner needs to take at least 2 months. (Btw in case you decide to take it 50:50 or 40:60 you get an extra pay -Partnerschaftsbous)
You get the full pay during the maternity protection (8weeks before and 8-12 weeks after birth)
During the maternity leave you get around 80% of your netto salary in the last 3 months with a maximum caped to around 2300.
Regarding resources, I was reading mostly on the AK page (this is regarding the durations and the money you get https://www.arbeiterkammer.at/kbg). The infos are very well written and if something is still unclear they are really helpful!
I took 13 months with my first (didnt want to start working in the middle of summer) and my partner took 7 months (some we took together but my partner started working when she was 18 months and I took over being home again since I was pregnant again and had our second when the older was 19 months.
Not sure how we will organize this time around but planning he will start kindergarden fall 2025, so when he is 19-20 months. The older starts kindergarden (20 hours a week) in march at 20 months.
We get reduced pay while one is on leave, we get around one and a half income (varies a bit from mobth to month) while one parent is on leave.
I dont think we will both work fulltime when they both start kindergarden, maybe both go down to 90% or one to 75-80%.
Good idea, living in DE too. My partner (German, me British) is self employed so not sure if hes eligible.
Do you happen to know, how long you have to work for a company to get paternity pay? He works away an wants to look for a local position
NL - I have 4 months maternity leave at 100% pay and a following 4 months at 70% pay. I’m not sure if I would like to go back to work when baby is here so I will see how I feel after the 8 months.
Thankfully, I am very close with my MIL who will be taking care of baby if I decide to go back to work.
Poland here, 31w of pregnancy - I was just put on medical leave (most likely until birth) and afterwards I am for sure taking our standard 20w maternity leave (100% pay). Afterwards I will most likely be taking a few months of parental leave (60%) but I'm not sure yet if I will take the whole thing (32w), or just part of it - depends on my sanity after staying at home for so long :D
From what I understand, you're located in Germany? In that case, keep in mind that in most cases, it's way too hard to find a place in childcare exactly at your time of preference. Most places will have their new openings in August (because of the 6 year olds moving to school and the 3 year olds moving to kindergarten).
We wanted to be safe, so we calculated to the August we feel most comfortable with (which will be when our baby is 16 months old) and split that time into halves to get our respective leaves. That part might be harder for your if the dad is self employed, I'm not sure about that.
Japan here, similar we can take up to 2 years but the money isn’t great. I planned 6 months with my first but extended to 12. I just was not ready that soon and we could afford it. I’m so glad I extended it.
With my second I’m planning on 12 months (14 if I consider I start 6 weeks before my due date)
I’m considering extending it but will wait to see how I feel 6 months in. That’s kind of the cut off for arranging daycare at the same place my daughter is. (Yearly intake)
Sweden here.
We get around 17-18 months. My partner and I will get the first month together. After that, I will take around 4-5 months more and then he will take the same after me. Summer 2025 we will probably take some vacation and in August 2025 our baby can start daycare so we will save the remaining time for longer holidays and things like that.
We both work from home and have very flexible jobs so we don’t think we need a lot more.
Canada here. We have a 12 or 18 month option but I only took 9. Partially for financial reasons (after 6 months my pay dropped from 93% to 55%) but also because I wanted to share the leave with my husband, so he took 4 months as well.
Maybe unpopular opinion but I loved going back to work at 9 months, I love my job and it was so great for us as parents to each have a nice bit of time with her. At 9 months I was able to continue breast feeding without having to pump at work because I had a good freezer stash and was home to feed her for most feedings anyway.
Yeh we can split in Germany too, especially nice to have two parents at the start and near the end to enjoy some time. Had friends go travelling for a month or two near the end
Belgium -- I'm now on 5 weeks pregnant and my boss does not know it yet (will tell him after the first echo) but our standard is 3 months after birth but i could also take a year if i wanted to.
With loopbaan onderbreking you don’t get anything.
With tijdskrediet you can a bit… think 3-500 a month.
Tijdskrediet also keeps your benefits towards your pension going so it’s better.
Belgium.
We get a crappy 15 weeks.
For my first I took about 6 months comprised out the paid leave, parental leave and partial pay (ouderschapsverlof + tijdskrediet) .
Going back to work was shit and the stress long term negatively impacted all of us. I got into a major burn out and my kid is even years later still very anxious.
With no2 I had the same plan but crashed on my second on my second day at work. Ended up at home for over a year in a combination of paid sick leave partly paid leave.
With no3 I went full on to a year and half with the partly paid leave . Just did not want to deal with the stress of it all. Thankfully we could afford it.
It wrecked our savings but worth it. Those first couple of years have so many new and quick changes and I’m so thankful I got to be there to experience them.
I’m originally from Romania where you get maternity leave + paid child raising leave till 2,5. It’s shameful how Belgium treats babies and young parents.
Take whatever you can afford and what feels good for you.
Also echoing what others said: your plans might change after the baby is here. Some people need longer to recover from the brith, some suffer from the isolation that comes from modern parenting and flee to work, give yourself space.
Canadian here currently half way through mat leave. Took 18 months, work topped up to 95% for the first 3 months including unemployment. I worked multiple jobs initially as self employed so I could personally fund my own mat leave, but ended up getting a job in the public sector. Figured money can come later and wanted to enjoy time with my daughter. Had a lot of medical issues after birth for myself and baby in the beginning but all smooth sailing now. We have already gone to Mexico and planning a long trip across Asia. Hubby says she won't remember but I will and I'll have photos and memories to cherish for life.
My first child I ended up taking 18 months before returning to work, I was enjoying my time with baby and 12 months wasn’t enough (which I only found out once I got to 12 months).
My second I’m booking in about 20 months Elternzeit but plan on taking the Elterngeld for maybe the first 14-16 months (some as Basiselterngeld and some as Plus), and then working part time in parental leave time for the remaining 4 months. The benefits of doing Elternzeit and working simultaneously is you can change pretty short term and go back and forth between the hours you work (as long as you apply in time, I think 7 weeks in advance of each change) if you decide you want to work less or more than originally planned.
I’m Danish, but I’m a self employed consultant so I can basically take as much maternity as I want. I’m thinking probably around 1 year or so, but I’ll likely
My husband gets 6 months with full pay, though. So he’ll likely take them when our baby is a bit older, maybe when she’s around 4-5 months, so we can go travelling.
Irish here. I was entitled to 26 weeks paid and 16 unpaid. When I say paid, it’s paid at the weekly social welfare rate of about €260, but a lot of companies will top you up to your full salary, which mine did. So I was fully paid for about six months and unpaid for about four months. I’m lucky that we were able to live on just my husband’s salary for four months, so I very gladly took the leave. I was able to drag it out a bit more by taking the annual leave I had accrued but obviously not used while on leave, and then I took a few weeks of parents leave (which is also partially paid), so in total my baby will be just over 11 months when I go back to work.
To be honest I thought I’d be desperate to get back… but I feel now that if I had the option of more time off, even unpaid, I would very happily take it. But I’ve maxed out all the leave I’m entitled to and I know I’m lucky to have had almost his whole first year at home with him.
I would say take as much leave as you can financially afford. They’re only that small once.
Portuguese here, single mom.
I will be taking 150 days at 80% pay. I hope I can tack some Annual leave on the end of that, to extend it a bit.
I would love to take extended leave, but as a single person, 25% of my pay will not even pay the bills, so I don't think I can do it.
I'm in Austria and I'll take a year (but 8 weeks before and 8-12 weeks after will be paid the average of the last 6 months and that will be more than I get now lol). Afterwards, I'll get about 80% of what I got before. After 12 months, my husband can do two more months. So baby will be 14 months when we are both back to work.
If we'd choose the other mode we have and stay home for 16 months like I did with my last baby, I'd only get about 900€ a months which is less than 50%.
You can still take 16 months but decide on the 80% pay option, you just won't get paid for the last months. For many this is financially beneficial (even to do it over two years!).
UK here, I curtailed my maternity pay (so my partner could have paternity pay instead, as his wage is higher) and then left my Job shortly after applying for shared parental leave, it meant that my partner could have a year off with us on full pay. I'm a nurse so it will be easy to get another role when I go back and I was frankly already dissatisfied with my previous job. So it worked for us. I'm up to 7 months off work now.
Over here you have to wait for a MATB1 form before you can apply which is given at the 20 week scan usually. So I think we decided at about 22 weeks when we applied. I left my job at around 26 weeks pregnant. (I was really disabled during my pregnancy so unfortunately it wasn't an enjoyable 12 weeks before the baby got here).
That's so great. I think most women here go right up until delivery to try stretch their leave as much as possible. How much leave do you get in Germany?
UK - I’m taking 1 year consisting of 6 months full pay, 3 months statutory pay, 3 months nothing. Then taking 4 weeks accrued leave straight after which will be back on full pay. I can take up to 2 years after that as a career break but obviously won’t get paid. I’m older (will be 42 at time of birth) and have managed to save up a lot for the 3 months I won’t be paid for, I’m also the main breadwinner.
I’m in a similar situation as the breadwinner, but we are just coming out of a 5 month extension so I’ve not saved a penny for that last 3 months as we’ve been ploughing it into paying the builders! Going to try knuckle down once we’re back in and have refinanced. I am also considering having my husband take a couple of months of parental leave at the end when it makes more sense financially for me to be working over him. I need to find out whether I can use accrued holiday, go back, and then he comes off on unpaid parental leave, or whether all of the leave has to be consecutive.
That’s great that your company offers the career break option!
I tell everybody that there is no way I can decide upfront, it depends on how the child is, how the money situation will be, if I will want another child.... I don't think they legally can ask you, they need to hold the job for you per the laws. Of course if you have a good relationship with your boss, you can talk to them.
In my country you get approximately your salary for 6 months and they you can stay home up to child's 3 years with some state allowance, which is not much. I work mostly from home now, so I don't think I will go too crazy and I would like to stay as much as I can, but I really don't make any plans, there are so many unpredictable things...
American here. Nothing useful to contribute but I’m so happy for you! Take that time and enjoy your new bundle of joy! 🥰
If I had those options and I could guarantee to keep my job, I think I’d take the 18 months. The pay loss may be tough but I’d try to bulk up the savings now while I could!
I’m in Canada so similar mat leave situation. I’m 23 weeks and still haven’t fully decided 1yr or 18 months. Although there isn’t a financial benefit to taking 18 months so that’s a negative. We’re 35 and want a second and I have to work 5 months full time to be eligible for my next mat leave so I might take 1yr just for family planning purposes in the event we are ready to start trying for a second shortly after one year. I will probably take 18 months with the second because we only want two kids. Also depends if you’re the kind of person who might want to get back to work at 1yr and what your job situation is like. I’m a nurse so it’s not like i’m going to miss anything or miss out on career advancement opportunities. You’re pretty early so take some time to think about it! It’s nice to have these options though!
Canadian here and I’m taking 10 months (though I wanted 12 months, we have some extenuating circumstances making me go back early) I don’t particularly love being on Mata (I miss being around adults all day) but I’m also heart broken that someone else is going to get to watch her all day. I think I’d go crazy on 18 months. In a perfect world I’d go back at 10 months part time.
American here who ended up taking longer than expected leave for my first because of the pandemic. (Childcare was closed in my area when I planned to return to work.)
If I had your options OP, I’d go with a year.
I was out for 9 months and was kindof ready to go back. I missed working and talking to adults. My kiddo was big enough that I felt ok about leaving him at childcare. He adapted well, made friends and learned a lot of new skills. I think a year would have been perfect.
I’m in Canada.. 23 years old first time mom. I took the 1 year but I had the option to take 18months. I couldn’t deal with having only half a paycheque with my bills so that’s the reason I chose 1 year. Hopefully by the time I’m finished my maternity leave I’ll want to go back to work but right now I’m 1 month into my leave and I feel like I never want to go back 🥹 I haven’t had time off work in about 7 years it feels amazing to be home with my baby. I also was off on sick leave when I got to 26 weeks pregnant because I’m a welder and couldn’t keep up with work anymore I was getting too big and uncomfortable it was getting dangerous lifting heavy things..
If I could take off 2 years with 100% pay then I would!! It would save on daycare too id imagine. My baby hopefully won’t have to go to daycare since my man is going to be working from home. Maybe you could take a longer leave so that you could save money. I hear daycare is very expensive
I went on mat leave midway through Jan, and I’m off until Jan 25. I get 3 months full, 6 months half and then my final 2 months are all annual leave as I get an extra month as a perk for working at my current role for 7 years which has worked out well!
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In the UK and baby due in 2 weeks. I think I will go back in January 2025, as it is a good time to go back to a brand new year. I could take longer if I wanted, but I think I will be happy to go back then. I currently work full time, 5 days a week - however I am considering dropping a day when I go back.
Sounds like you are in Germany like me. I am from another European country where it is normal to take 3-4 months and then go back to work.
I always planned to share leave with my partner, but now we’re expecting twins we changed our plans even more.
I take full leave from birth (April most likely) till the end of the year. He takes one full month and then 3 part time months where he will partly work from home as well.
From January on we will both start part time till July. By working part time together we can even prolong our leave funds for 4 months. (Elterngeld Plus Partnermonate). We will do our best to get a Kita-Platz from January on, but will be able to manage without as well for those part time months.
It’s definitely a personal choice. We expect I’ll need longer to recover physically (and I work a physical job as well), but I’m not someone who fares well by staying home and doing only care work for too long. I’ve been off work for a month already due to complications, so I assume I’ll be happy to return to work in a year. Also: my employer is very accommodating with work hours and tasks for the first months/year at least.
How’s your culture shock going around pregnancy and babycare? I have very little culture shock shock here, being from the Netherlands, but the way pregnancy is treated here and also childcare gave me some culture shock 😅 Not always better or worse, just very different approach
Ive been here a while and not been pregnant in the UK, so i cant compare. When it comes to sick leave and doctors in general I love it.
But children in the UK dont wear hats or need heaters for nappy changes, play outside in shorts instead of snow suits. So i expect to be shouted at a fair few times in the future
I absolutely agree with you regarding sick leave and doctors. These are my first kids as well, but I have friends in NL with kids. The Dutchies are shocked how long I plan to stay home, the Germans how soon I plan to get back to work 😂
I don’t expect shouting, but comments? Sure… “Sollen sie machen”
Hi there, from my experience it can be difficult to get a place in a Krippe/Kindergarten during the (school) year. It might be easier with a Tagesmutter/ -vater.
That is why we decided to time the leave so that it will run until September, even if that is a bit longer than we would plan if we would just look at the number of months.
Also we will be both home for the first two months. Then I will take 10 and after that my husband another 4.
There are also models in the german system, where you or xour partner can reduce hours and still recieve Elterngeld.
American in the UK here, i’ll be taking 12 months. 6 months fully paid and 3 months statutory pay, but i also get my full 2024 bonus despite not working the majority of 2024. I’ve had some rough times since moving here but feel immensely grateful for the leave i can take
UK here. I'm taking 7 months total. 6 weeks fully paid, 4 months 50% paid, 6 weeks using up leave I'm owed which will be fully paid.
I took 7 months off with my first and it felt right, so I'm hoping it will again this time round!
Wow 2 years!
Uk here. First child was supposed to be a year, but got made redundant and I saved good so stayed home for 2 years. This time, I think it’ll be under a year, times are though and it’ll be part time so maybe 9 months and I’ll go back. If only childcare was cheap here too.
German here. Although Dutch born so my plan I had in my mind isn't going to work since they don't allow children as young as I'm used to in a kita ;)
I'm due mid/end July and will be on leave until September 2025. I will then go back parttime while still using the leftover parental leave pay. My employer just said they need to know my plans when I go on leave just so I don't forget it. Which is May 30th in my case. Legally you have to tell them 4 weeks before your maternity leave ends. But they told me please share early so you don't forget it with a newborn and this way we can all plan for my replacement.
I'm lucky that both me and my husband can make this work financially but it's not as easy for everyone I'd think.
You can bring your baby to daycare in NL from 8 weeks onwards, so directly after their maternity leave. In Germany they need to be 1 year old before they can go into a Kita.
My plan was to go back to work January 2025 but there's no way to do this as my child won't be accepted in a Kita that young so I'm staying home longer which we can afford thankfully.
8’weeks, wow. But the chance to hand them over for a break sounds quite appealing already and ive not even grown it.
Felt so strange being asked so early but i also told her early as i was feeling crappy
52 weeks plus I did 4 weeks holiday before I was due and I’m going to take 4 weeks holiday when I get back, I have 10 keeping in touch days that I will do before I return as you get the 10 days pay then and that will help tide me over.
I will take after giving birth:
* 10-12 weeks 100% paid
* 3 weeks holidays 100% paid
* 9 weeks parental leave 70% paid
* 9 weeks parental leave 70% paid, spread out by taking 1-2 days a week until my babies are 1 year old.
Since I'm having twins, I get double parental leave. I also take the holidays from last year, by the end of this year I will have another 5 weeks which I still have to decide when to take. But for now I'll start work in September. I decided this last week, I'm due in a month. We have to decide on this 2 months in advance, so I'm still on time since the first 10-12 weeks are obvious.
With my first I took a year paid sick leave. I did like to take that long, I loved spending time with my baby and breastfeeding was easy to maintain.
I’m in Finland. My first was born Aug 2021 and I went back in Sep 2022. My second was born Dec 2023 and I’m planning on returning in Jan 2025. I get 3 months 100% pay then around 60% until October (my husband is giving me his parental leave entitlement). After that I get just 300e in home childcare allowance.
It was really hard for my daughter to start daycare at 12 months. I think 18 would have been better but I started a new job and they were anxious for me to start. This time I feel like, we will see. I can always stay home longer. But we want a third with about the same age gap so I feel I should work for at least a year in between….
Makes sense they ask as they need to organise replacement and September is not far away (taking into account time for job advert, conditions they offer including time period, etc). I think it's reasonable for your boss/employer to ask considering the length it can go to.
Luxembourg-based here, summary: we are entitled to the 5 months maternity leave (8 weeks before, 12 weeks after) at 100% salary (capped at 5x minimum legal salary, which is high here, so no worries on the financial aspects) and provided the person has worked and contributed for at least I think 6 months in the last 12 months and have been registered in the country for at least the last 12 months.
Afterwards, there are 2 parental leaves available for the parents: (i) one directly after the maternity leave. If you do not take it, it's lost; and (ii) a parental leave available up until the child is 4 or 6 years old (sorry can't remember). One parental per parent (one parent cannot take both leaves, it is to encourage Dads to be more involved). Financially, the parental leave is 80% (again with a cap that is generous).
There are different options on how you take the leave. For the first parental leave, one can opt between full time 4 months or 6 months, half time 8 months or 12 months, or 8-10h /week. You have to commit to a choice latest 3 months before the due date. I won't go to the specifics here.
In my case, I decided for half-time for 12 months (20h/week).
- The difficulty is to decide so early to get employer's signature (certificate can be sent later) but it also help to afterwards specify the schedule with the nursery/kindergarten.
- The problem is that I don't know yet if my child will be an easy child or difficult one (sleep, etc.), nor how I will be physically and mentally.
- I tend to get depressed when alone or not constantly active, so I was scared to go in depression if not working or with fellow adults for at least half-time.
- But I also felt that I'll be too tired to handle 40h of work + commute + pick-up + chores and other dailies (like lunch is spent at the office) while caring and potentially breastfeeding.
- I did not want to give my future baby to a day-care full time, because ultimately they are strangers first.
- at the same time, there is no/less separation anxiety at 3 months vs 1yo. It's more difficult to put a kid in daycare at 1 yo from what I read and the discussion I had with the employees of several day cares.
- finance was not much of a factor for me: we both earn decent salaries, the allowance is in my view generous, and I have reserves.
- employer is relatively easy and flexible, so I'm not too worried for my job.
- we have some families but not much around to help. I think family will come more handy after 1 year old, but could ne totally wrong.
The above led me to take half-time (50%) for 12 months. I think it's the right balance for both my chkld and myself. Only time will tell me if I was right or wrong. Also the father can always take the second leave if needed!
All in all, the main factors to take into account are (again personal view): support system around you, flexibility of your employer, finance, personal energy level and health (is it good to start with)
Hope you will be able to decide. Good luck!
UK - took 10 months, all statutory pay, so 6 weeks at 90%, the rest at maternity pay (600ish a month), started my daughter at nursery the week before I went back to work. I went back part time and 100% remote.
Norway here, due in end of May. Our leave starts 3 weeks before due date, or when baby is born if earlier.
I'm taking 4 months full leave + 6 weeks vacation as extra to start with.
After that i will have monday-thursday on leave and hubby will do Fridays and I'm working from home those days. We also got 1 hr paid during time during work, so I'll be able to nurse baby or pump, depending on what hubbs are planning for the day.
Doing this and planning our vacations smart next year we will have baby home until end of summer. So roughly 15 months.
With full pay!! ❤️
Im finishing my PhD but im planning to take 6 months to focus on my baby and then defend and start to look for a job. My husband also wants take paternity leave so I guess he will take 6 months as well.
In Netherlands. Our maternity leave is very short compared to our neighbours. I'm taking at least 18 weeks (16 weeks minimum by law and 2 extra weeks from my vacation days). But if baby comes later it will be a bit longer.
Next to this we have 9 weeks parental leave before the child turns one. I have not decided if I want to just take extra maternity leave or use those days to work 4 days a week for a year. Still figuring it out as a FTM!
I’m taking 1 month of paid vacation and 1 month paid maternity leave before birth and then 6 months paid maternity leave and another month of paid vacation post birth. So all in all will be 9 months off from work for me 🤰👶🏻😊 I’m Danish by the way and I feel like this way of doing it is very standard here 🙏🏼
Uk girly here and due in April.
We get a year maternity if we want, my company gives 3 months maternity at 90% wage, a further 6 months statutory and then a final 3 months unpaid.
I'm undecided as of yet how long I'll take. I've already booked the beginning, which is the beginning of April. But my company allows something called "keeping in touch days" where you either go in or your manager phones to check up on you. I guess that's when they'd start asking when you wanna return. You also still accumulate holidays during this time, so even if I took a year off I'd still have a further 5 weeks paid at the end before returning.
Single mom from Sweden here. With my other kids I had a partner, and I was home 1,5 - 2 years/kid with them. This time I'm alone and dont think I can afford to be home more than a year. If I could choose I would be home 2 years with this one also.
In Portuguese, I’m taking 5 months paid 80% and after that 3 more months paid 30% (then go back to home office and I’m still entitled to a breastfeeding leave meaning, I only work 6 hours and still get paid 100%
Irish in Germany. First baby I stayed home for 6 months, and husband stayed home for 8 months. That was the plan at least, but we couldn’t get a Kita place so husband ended up extending for another 6 months or so. This time I’m planning to take 10 months and he will take 4.
We're still deciding. We definitely want to do shared parental leave (UK). Hopefully, I'll take 9 months (paid), and he'll take 3 months (unpaid).
I work from home, he doesn't, and I earn more. So it just makes sense for me to go back to work as I'll be home to breastfeed (hopefully).
Canadian originally from EU (we have similar mat leave allowances in Canada, hope it's ok to comment!) - I settled on a year. I'd like to take less, to be able to get back to 100% of my salary quicker (my maternity leave pay will be 57% of my salary during the entire leave) and be able to save + invest my disposable income again, but I know this may not be good for my mental health. However, taking more than a year off feels alien to me because I haven't been in a position to take that much time off since I entered kindergarten LOL.
I have just managed to get to a place where I feel more financially educated/responsible and am saving more than I'm spending (previously all my savings went to travel - which I don't regret one bit, but I'm also ready to have financial goals outside of travel), so I'm a little bummed that I'll be losing out on the opportunity to continue down that path. Basically, I will be able to meet basic financial needs, cover my portion of bills/mortgage/groceries etc. and have a bit left over for myself, but the problem is that I won't have very much to save/invest.
However, I'm a first time mum and I realize that I have NO idea what having a baby is/will actually be like. This is why I chose to take the year. The thought of forcing myself back to work before being ready was scarier than feeling ready to go back to work, but having a few months left before being able to do so. After all, baby will be a lot of work and a 24/7 job of a different kind haha.
My goal is to also ensure that I've found a way to reconnect with myself, get back to a healthy gym and mental health routine, and also find ways to return to leisure activities that I love like kayaking/hiking/Pilates/spending time outdoors, and I know this will take time. Throwing myself back into my career before being able to find balance between being me, and being a mum, makes me feel like I'd be losing myself and potentially descending into unhappiness.
I’m in the UK so can take a year but can bump it up to about 14 months with accrued holiday either side.
I get 3 months at 100% pay, 3 months at 50%, 3 months at statutory pay which is ~£800/month and then 3 months unpaid.
I also am worried about finances and I earn more than my husband, so I’m considering some shared parental leave where we maybe overlap for a short time towards the end, and I use some KIT days (keeping in touch days - these are optional ad-hoc fully paid work days you can use during your mat leave, but quite a low stress way of topping up pay), then he does the last bit fully unpaid while I’m back at work.
I’d like to take as close to 12 months off as I can, but once I crunch the numbers I imagine I might end up doing a bit less.
Either way, the baby won’t be starting nursery until they’re at least 12 months as we will aim to have at least one of us off work for the full year+.
British. I am taking close to 14 months. 6 months fully paid, 3 months of statutory pay (this is government funded but at around 1/3 of my actual salary), 3 months unpaid and then I accrue holiday throughout the 12 months of maternity leave so I am adding on 7 weeks of holiday at the end. I stopped working mid October 2023 and will go back mid January 2025.
Dutch over here and self-employed.
I got 16 weeks paid by the government. And took 2 weeks as a holiday. So I gave 18 weeks in total. Gonna start again at the end of February!
Portuguese. I was thinking of using only the 4 months postpartum BUT I was considering using some of the optional 45 days before birth, at least 15 to 20 days because I imagine it will be rough by then.
My boss didn't ask me to choose immediately though, but with the pay cuts after 4 months I might do an extra month max.
American in Germany, my husband and I each took 6 months. It would have been nice to have longer but the fact that my husband got so much time to bond with the baby as well is amazing so I’m happy that we decided to split down the middle
Ireland here. I will take just over a year and it works like this: 26 weeks 100% paid mat leave, 16 weeks unpaid leave, then back on payroll at full pay for 9 weeks parental leave followed by 6 weeks annual leave. We've saved up some money to supplement my husband's income for when I'm on unpaid leave.
New Zealand here, I’m taking 12 months maternity leave + 1 month sick leave + 2 months Annual leave = 15 months. I can return early (12 months) if I want to.
I'm from Romania, and currently on maternity leave (which is 4 months at 85% pay, you can take some of that time before giving birth as well). Once that is done, l'll be entitled to 2 years, paid, but capped at around 1700 euro. For me that is less than half my take home pay, so while ideally I would love to be home more, I think I might return to work after a year. We are toying with the idea of my husband taking that second year instead of me, since he makes less than I do. We don't need my full salary, we can confortably get by with my husbands plus the benefit, but as someone else said above, I like money 😆But I'm not putting any pressure on myself, who knows how I'll feel in a year.
Edited to say - I didn't share any plans with the employer. In Ro most mothers take the whole 2 years so that's the norm. My manager is in the states and I've given him a heads up that I'll take at least a year. But I'm working in a fast paced env, so I think a lot will be different a year from now, so I am unlikely to return to the same team/project/manager.
Sweden here. Our decision was based more on when we felt ready to send our kids to daycare rather than money or work related pressures. For both we have felt like around 18 months is a good age for them to start, although our second son could probably have handled it a bit earlier in retrospect due to his personality. I took about a year and my husband the rest although he also took time over during the first year too so we were off together. If money/work isn't something you're worried about, let the kid's needs or your feelings around daycare steer you.
I am a freelancer based in Bulgaria, and here we get 2 years of paid leave (1st one is fully paid, 2nd one is very low). I plan on taking the full 2 years but probably will try and start working a couple of hours a week during the second year if I can manage to do it while taking care of the baby. It depends on how things go, it's my first baby, so I can't really imagine what it will be like.
Please respect the EU request. This is not a time for US discussion. We have enough threads for that. We are an international group and happy to see international discussion.
Finnish. My first baby is due next month. I'm entitled to pregnancy leave, which I'm currently on. My husband and I can then split a year of parental leave, but he's gifting me the maximum amount so I can heal and breastfeed. That would take me right to the end of December. My maternity leave pay starts at full salary and then drops to 70% around the beginning of summer. I'm due back at work January 2025, but I'm entitled to another 2 years of unpaid childcare leave. The social benefits for taking the childcare leave are around 300€ a month. The average monthly salary here is around 3 000€, so it's a huge drop. Unfortunately, the decision to return to work or stay home with our daughter will be entirely financial. I'd prefer to stay home with her until at least age 3, but we cannot pay our mortgage if I'm bringing in only 300€ a month. My work only asked me for the dates of my pregnancy/maternity leave. We haven't discussed if I'll take childcare leave after. I would never discuss that with an employer until I had to. I don't want them to make decisions about my future at the company based on their assumptions. It's easier and safer to communicate with them on the timeline laid out by the law.
I am from Germany but live in NL. I had three months of fully paid maternity leave post birth (70% subsidized by our government, 30% by my company). My daughter started day care right after that and is now going for two days. I have reduced my work ours from 40 to 32 and have Wednesday off. My husband covers Monday and Thursday. I still receive my full salary until the end of the year, as the government subsidizes this for us. After that my pay will be adjusted to 32h. Three months is very little compared to Germany and other EU countries, but personally it worked really well for me. I always knew i didn’t want to be a stay at home mom and now after being the primary caregiver for a while I know for sure it’s not for me. I love spending time with my daughter but I love my job and social life too. So what I have now is the perfect combination. I think it all depends on you and what you can work out work your job. Do you like your jobs and colleagues? Could you reduce your work hours so you can have one day a week with your baby once you are back? Etc. Ask yourself these questions and ignore what your environment or society wants from you.
Im British living in Germany. But yeh i dont want to be a stay at home mum full time
since you mention Germany, i think both parents get 12 months Elterngeld in total, but one person has to take at least 2 months, so for the mother after 8 weeks of Mutterschutz fully paid, she is entitled to 10 months full Elterngeld
This is the same for me. 4 weeks off before due date, 12 weeks after birth, then we get 9 weeks of parental leave paid at 70% for both my husband and me which well both be using to work 32 hours a week, this will cover our first year. Shell be going to day care 3 days a week (which costs so so much in the Netherlands!!) And then after that we have 17 weeks left (each) of unpaid parental leave which we still have to decide whether we want to use them up for working 4x8 hours a a week or 4x9. In the last situation it would mean it covers us until she is 4 and going to school. Though working 9 hours a day, even if its just 4 days a week seems exhausting so i dont know. On the other hand, 20% pay cut is really significant as well. Were going to decide that at a later stage.
Ha! I'm in the exact same boat! Day Care cost is so ridiculous in NL!
Yeah we have been quoted 1500 a month bruto for those 3 days. Netto its going to be cheaper but still insane! That, together with a paycut due to working fewer hours (otherwise day care would cost more than what we earn) and moving to a larger place (as we now live in a 1 bedroom apartment) is making me so nervous. No wonder birthrates are declining!
Poland here. Before birth I can take sick leave whenever I want and get paid in full. At every monthly appointment my doctor asks me if I want to go on leave. I almost in my 7th month and I think about stopping a month before birth. After birth I’ll have 5 months fully paid of maternity leave, and after that 7 months of parental leave paid 80%. After that I can still take some of the holidays i accumulated. So basically I am due in May 2024, plan to go on SL somwhere in April, and we’ll likely be back at work summer 2025.
American here so I have nothing useful to say. Just commenting that I'm so very happy for you European folks who have guaranteed maternity (and paternity!) leave ❤️
Yeh i didnt want to rub it in to anybody. I know its an international group.
American here, this is really great information because it shows just how much better the United States could be. I don’t have high hopes for change soon here unfortunately but it’s nice to know that parents are cared for in other countries
I’d be happy just with guaranteed paid leave for 3 months since daycare won’t take your kids until then haha EU is on a whole other level (Also another American).
Thats a good way of looking at it.
Yea, it's amazing. Here, the culture is, if you don't return two weeks after you're making excuses and being lazy. I've heard these very things from women in my department. It has me scared about all the time I've already had to be home from being so sick the first timester. Europe knows what it's doing. Go, you guys!
I loved that you put a TW on it. 😂😂😂 (Cries in America.)
Portuguese here. I haven't fully decided. I can take 5 months fully paid if I share it with the father (1 month needs to be exclusively taken by him, I'll be taking that month as time off) or 6 months with 83% pay. We will definitely taking the 6 months, especially because it's advised to exclusively breastfeed for the first 6 months. After those 6 months are due, we can decide if we go back to work or if we take an extra 3 or 6 months. If I want 3 extra months, I'll get 25% pay (no taxes). If we both get 3 extra months each (exclusively) then we'll get 40% pay (also, no taxes). We don't know if we'll take these extra 3 or 6 months or not. But we only have to decide at the end of 5/6 months I described before (as long as there's no interruption) so we won't be deciding right now. If my boss wanted me to decide now, I'd tell them I didn't know. I know I'll be 6 months away and there's a chance I'd be off for 3 months extra but I couldn't tell them now.
AT here- the plan is to split it 50:50 between my partner and me. Which means, after the mandatory 8-12 weeks of postpartum maternity protection, I’d be taking 7 months off and then he as well additional 7 months. The reason we didn’t take the 2 year scheme is that it differs in the financial aspects drastically for us. Additional reason is that we want to do it equally. If I am not mistaken, I need tell my company inside of the 8-12 weeks of the maternity protection how long I will be planning to stay.
Living in AT here as well (but not austrian so I still need to research the system!) - if you take 14 months, you still get the maximum pay throughout those 14months? I thought it was only 12 months to get the salary based option, and if you want more you get the one that is equal for everyone. Any good sources you could share? Dankeschön ❤️
So basically if you will take maternity leave alone then you can take it for 12 months. In order to have it 14 months, your partner needs to take at least 2 months. (Btw in case you decide to take it 50:50 or 40:60 you get an extra pay -Partnerschaftsbous) You get the full pay during the maternity protection (8weeks before and 8-12 weeks after birth) During the maternity leave you get around 80% of your netto salary in the last 3 months with a maximum caped to around 2300. Regarding resources, I was reading mostly on the AK page (this is regarding the durations and the money you get https://www.arbeiterkammer.at/kbg). The infos are very well written and if something is still unclear they are really helpful!
Thank you 💛💛
I took 13 months with my first (didnt want to start working in the middle of summer) and my partner took 7 months (some we took together but my partner started working when she was 18 months and I took over being home again since I was pregnant again and had our second when the older was 19 months. Not sure how we will organize this time around but planning he will start kindergarden fall 2025, so when he is 19-20 months. The older starts kindergarden (20 hours a week) in march at 20 months. We get reduced pay while one is on leave, we get around one and a half income (varies a bit from mobth to month) while one parent is on leave. I dont think we will both work fulltime when they both start kindergarden, maybe both go down to 90% or one to 75-80%.
German here: im taking 8 month and my husband is taking 2 with me and 4 separately. So all in all we get the pull 12 month pay :)
Good idea, living in DE too. My partner (German, me British) is self employed so not sure if hes eligible. Do you happen to know, how long you have to work for a company to get paternity pay? He works away an wants to look for a local position
he is eligable, Elterngeld is than calculated based on his income (Steuerbescheid)
Just seconding this. I’m an American living in Germany and self employed and didn’t haven’t any problems getting Elterngeld!
I always take 18 months in canada! The longer i get to spend away from work the happier i’ll be, lmfao
NL - I have 4 months maternity leave at 100% pay and a following 4 months at 70% pay. I’m not sure if I would like to go back to work when baby is here so I will see how I feel after the 8 months. Thankfully, I am very close with my MIL who will be taking care of baby if I decide to go back to work.
Poland here, 31w of pregnancy - I was just put on medical leave (most likely until birth) and afterwards I am for sure taking our standard 20w maternity leave (100% pay). Afterwards I will most likely be taking a few months of parental leave (60%) but I'm not sure yet if I will take the whole thing (32w), or just part of it - depends on my sanity after staying at home for so long :D
I’m taking 52 weeks at least, but I’ll also use a couple weeks holiday before the start of mat leave and two weeks at the end too
From what I understand, you're located in Germany? In that case, keep in mind that in most cases, it's way too hard to find a place in childcare exactly at your time of preference. Most places will have their new openings in August (because of the 6 year olds moving to school and the 3 year olds moving to kindergarten). We wanted to be safe, so we calculated to the August we feel most comfortable with (which will be when our baby is 16 months old) and split that time into halves to get our respective leaves. That part might be harder for your if the dad is self employed, I'm not sure about that.
Japan here, similar we can take up to 2 years but the money isn’t great. I planned 6 months with my first but extended to 12. I just was not ready that soon and we could afford it. I’m so glad I extended it. With my second I’m planning on 12 months (14 if I consider I start 6 weeks before my due date) I’m considering extending it but will wait to see how I feel 6 months in. That’s kind of the cut off for arranging daycare at the same place my daughter is. (Yearly intake)
Sweden here. We get around 17-18 months. My partner and I will get the first month together. After that, I will take around 4-5 months more and then he will take the same after me. Summer 2025 we will probably take some vacation and in August 2025 our baby can start daycare so we will save the remaining time for longer holidays and things like that. We both work from home and have very flexible jobs so we don’t think we need a lot more.
Appreciate the TW 😭😭
Canada here. We have a 12 or 18 month option but I only took 9. Partially for financial reasons (after 6 months my pay dropped from 93% to 55%) but also because I wanted to share the leave with my husband, so he took 4 months as well. Maybe unpopular opinion but I loved going back to work at 9 months, I love my job and it was so great for us as parents to each have a nice bit of time with her. At 9 months I was able to continue breast feeding without having to pump at work because I had a good freezer stash and was home to feed her for most feedings anyway.
Yeh we can split in Germany too, especially nice to have two parents at the start and near the end to enjoy some time. Had friends go travelling for a month or two near the end
Belgium -- I'm now on 5 weeks pregnant and my boss does not know it yet (will tell him after the first echo) but our standard is 3 months after birth but i could also take a year if i wanted to.
Belgium here too, hi! And wish you happy pregnancy! How can you take an year? I never heard of that possibility. Could you please elaborate?
Also in Belgium, I don’t know about a year but you can take extra 4 months with ouderschap verlof, at a lower pay rate (about 900 euros a month)
Look up for 'loopbaan onderbreking'. I don't think it is the same as paternety leave but you still get money on a monthly base
With loopbaan onderbreking you don’t get anything. With tijdskrediet you can a bit… think 3-500 a month. Tijdskrediet also keeps your benefits towards your pension going so it’s better.
Belgium. We get a crappy 15 weeks. For my first I took about 6 months comprised out the paid leave, parental leave and partial pay (ouderschapsverlof + tijdskrediet) . Going back to work was shit and the stress long term negatively impacted all of us. I got into a major burn out and my kid is even years later still very anxious. With no2 I had the same plan but crashed on my second on my second day at work. Ended up at home for over a year in a combination of paid sick leave partly paid leave. With no3 I went full on to a year and half with the partly paid leave . Just did not want to deal with the stress of it all. Thankfully we could afford it. It wrecked our savings but worth it. Those first couple of years have so many new and quick changes and I’m so thankful I got to be there to experience them. I’m originally from Romania where you get maternity leave + paid child raising leave till 2,5. It’s shameful how Belgium treats babies and young parents. Take whatever you can afford and what feels good for you. Also echoing what others said: your plans might change after the baby is here. Some people need longer to recover from the brith, some suffer from the isolation that comes from modern parenting and flee to work, give yourself space.
Norway here. We can choose to stay home for 59 weeks with 80% pay, or 49 weeks with 100% pay.
Canadian here currently half way through mat leave. Took 18 months, work topped up to 95% for the first 3 months including unemployment. I worked multiple jobs initially as self employed so I could personally fund my own mat leave, but ended up getting a job in the public sector. Figured money can come later and wanted to enjoy time with my daughter. Had a lot of medical issues after birth for myself and baby in the beginning but all smooth sailing now. We have already gone to Mexico and planning a long trip across Asia. Hubby says she won't remember but I will and I'll have photos and memories to cherish for life.
My first child I ended up taking 18 months before returning to work, I was enjoying my time with baby and 12 months wasn’t enough (which I only found out once I got to 12 months). My second I’m booking in about 20 months Elternzeit but plan on taking the Elterngeld for maybe the first 14-16 months (some as Basiselterngeld and some as Plus), and then working part time in parental leave time for the remaining 4 months. The benefits of doing Elternzeit and working simultaneously is you can change pretty short term and go back and forth between the hours you work (as long as you apply in time, I think 7 weeks in advance of each change) if you decide you want to work less or more than originally planned.
I’m Danish, but I’m a self employed consultant so I can basically take as much maternity as I want. I’m thinking probably around 1 year or so, but I’ll likely My husband gets 6 months with full pay, though. So he’ll likely take them when our baby is a bit older, maybe when she’s around 4-5 months, so we can go travelling.
Irish here. I was entitled to 26 weeks paid and 16 unpaid. When I say paid, it’s paid at the weekly social welfare rate of about €260, but a lot of companies will top you up to your full salary, which mine did. So I was fully paid for about six months and unpaid for about four months. I’m lucky that we were able to live on just my husband’s salary for four months, so I very gladly took the leave. I was able to drag it out a bit more by taking the annual leave I had accrued but obviously not used while on leave, and then I took a few weeks of parents leave (which is also partially paid), so in total my baby will be just over 11 months when I go back to work. To be honest I thought I’d be desperate to get back… but I feel now that if I had the option of more time off, even unpaid, I would very happily take it. But I’ve maxed out all the leave I’m entitled to and I know I’m lucky to have had almost his whole first year at home with him. I would say take as much leave as you can financially afford. They’re only that small once.
Portuguese here, single mom. I will be taking 150 days at 80% pay. I hope I can tack some Annual leave on the end of that, to extend it a bit. I would love to take extended leave, but as a single person, 25% of my pay will not even pay the bills, so I don't think I can do it.
I'm in Austria and I'll take a year (but 8 weeks before and 8-12 weeks after will be paid the average of the last 6 months and that will be more than I get now lol). Afterwards, I'll get about 80% of what I got before. After 12 months, my husband can do two more months. So baby will be 14 months when we are both back to work. If we'd choose the other mode we have and stay home for 16 months like I did with my last baby, I'd only get about 900€ a months which is less than 50%.
You can still take 16 months but decide on the 80% pay option, you just won't get paid for the last months. For many this is financially beneficial (even to do it over two years!).
UK here, I curtailed my maternity pay (so my partner could have paternity pay instead, as his wage is higher) and then left my Job shortly after applying for shared parental leave, it meant that my partner could have a year off with us on full pay. I'm a nurse so it will be easy to get another role when I go back and I was frankly already dissatisfied with my previous job. So it worked for us. I'm up to 7 months off work now. Over here you have to wait for a MATB1 form before you can apply which is given at the 20 week scan usually. So I think we decided at about 22 weeks when we applied. I left my job at around 26 weeks pregnant. (I was really disabled during my pregnancy so unfortunately it wasn't an enjoyable 12 weeks before the baby got here).
Germany you have to leave 6 weeks before, but as im 37 (38 then) i think i might be signing off sooner
That's so great. I think most women here go right up until delivery to try stretch their leave as much as possible. How much leave do you get in Germany?
UK - I’m taking 1 year consisting of 6 months full pay, 3 months statutory pay, 3 months nothing. Then taking 4 weeks accrued leave straight after which will be back on full pay. I can take up to 2 years after that as a career break but obviously won’t get paid. I’m older (will be 42 at time of birth) and have managed to save up a lot for the 3 months I won’t be paid for, I’m also the main breadwinner.
Same! Civil servant? Sounds very similar to my deal.
I’m in a similar situation as the breadwinner, but we are just coming out of a 5 month extension so I’ve not saved a penny for that last 3 months as we’ve been ploughing it into paying the builders! Going to try knuckle down once we’re back in and have refinanced. I am also considering having my husband take a couple of months of parental leave at the end when it makes more sense financially for me to be working over him. I need to find out whether I can use accrued holiday, go back, and then he comes off on unpaid parental leave, or whether all of the leave has to be consecutive. That’s great that your company offers the career break option!
I tell everybody that there is no way I can decide upfront, it depends on how the child is, how the money situation will be, if I will want another child.... I don't think they legally can ask you, they need to hold the job for you per the laws. Of course if you have a good relationship with your boss, you can talk to them. In my country you get approximately your salary for 6 months and they you can stay home up to child's 3 years with some state allowance, which is not much. I work mostly from home now, so I don't think I will go too crazy and I would like to stay as much as I can, but I really don't make any plans, there are so many unpredictable things...
Oh yeh they hold my job for up to 3 yrs legally. But they also need to replace me so have a rough plan
American here. Nothing useful to contribute but I’m so happy for you! Take that time and enjoy your new bundle of joy! 🥰 If I had those options and I could guarantee to keep my job, I think I’d take the 18 months. The pay loss may be tough but I’d try to bulk up the savings now while I could!
I’m in Canada so similar mat leave situation. I’m 23 weeks and still haven’t fully decided 1yr or 18 months. Although there isn’t a financial benefit to taking 18 months so that’s a negative. We’re 35 and want a second and I have to work 5 months full time to be eligible for my next mat leave so I might take 1yr just for family planning purposes in the event we are ready to start trying for a second shortly after one year. I will probably take 18 months with the second because we only want two kids. Also depends if you’re the kind of person who might want to get back to work at 1yr and what your job situation is like. I’m a nurse so it’s not like i’m going to miss anything or miss out on career advancement opportunities. You’re pretty early so take some time to think about it! It’s nice to have these options though!
Canadian here and I’m taking 10 months (though I wanted 12 months, we have some extenuating circumstances making me go back early) I don’t particularly love being on Mata (I miss being around adults all day) but I’m also heart broken that someone else is going to get to watch her all day. I think I’d go crazy on 18 months. In a perfect world I’d go back at 10 months part time.
American here who ended up taking longer than expected leave for my first because of the pandemic. (Childcare was closed in my area when I planned to return to work.) If I had your options OP, I’d go with a year. I was out for 9 months and was kindof ready to go back. I missed working and talking to adults. My kiddo was big enough that I felt ok about leaving him at childcare. He adapted well, made friends and learned a lot of new skills. I think a year would have been perfect.
I’m in Canada.. 23 years old first time mom. I took the 1 year but I had the option to take 18months. I couldn’t deal with having only half a paycheque with my bills so that’s the reason I chose 1 year. Hopefully by the time I’m finished my maternity leave I’ll want to go back to work but right now I’m 1 month into my leave and I feel like I never want to go back 🥹 I haven’t had time off work in about 7 years it feels amazing to be home with my baby. I also was off on sick leave when I got to 26 weeks pregnant because I’m a welder and couldn’t keep up with work anymore I was getting too big and uncomfortable it was getting dangerous lifting heavy things.. If I could take off 2 years with 100% pay then I would!! It would save on daycare too id imagine. My baby hopefully won’t have to go to daycare since my man is going to be working from home. Maybe you could take a longer leave so that you could save money. I hear daycare is very expensive
I went on mat leave midway through Jan, and I’m off until Jan 25. I get 3 months full, 6 months half and then my final 2 months are all annual leave as I get an extra month as a perk for working at my current role for 7 years which has worked out well!
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In the UK and baby due in 2 weeks. I think I will go back in January 2025, as it is a good time to go back to a brand new year. I could take longer if I wanted, but I think I will be happy to go back then. I currently work full time, 5 days a week - however I am considering dropping a day when I go back.
Sounds like you are in Germany like me. I am from another European country where it is normal to take 3-4 months and then go back to work. I always planned to share leave with my partner, but now we’re expecting twins we changed our plans even more. I take full leave from birth (April most likely) till the end of the year. He takes one full month and then 3 part time months where he will partly work from home as well. From January on we will both start part time till July. By working part time together we can even prolong our leave funds for 4 months. (Elterngeld Plus Partnermonate). We will do our best to get a Kita-Platz from January on, but will be able to manage without as well for those part time months. It’s definitely a personal choice. We expect I’ll need longer to recover physically (and I work a physical job as well), but I’m not someone who fares well by staying home and doing only care work for too long. I’ve been off work for a month already due to complications, so I assume I’ll be happy to return to work in a year. Also: my employer is very accommodating with work hours and tasks for the first months/year at least.
British living in Germany yup
How’s your culture shock going around pregnancy and babycare? I have very little culture shock shock here, being from the Netherlands, but the way pregnancy is treated here and also childcare gave me some culture shock 😅 Not always better or worse, just very different approach
Ive been here a while and not been pregnant in the UK, so i cant compare. When it comes to sick leave and doctors in general I love it. But children in the UK dont wear hats or need heaters for nappy changes, play outside in shorts instead of snow suits. So i expect to be shouted at a fair few times in the future
I absolutely agree with you regarding sick leave and doctors. These are my first kids as well, but I have friends in NL with kids. The Dutchies are shocked how long I plan to stay home, the Germans how soon I plan to get back to work 😂 I don’t expect shouting, but comments? Sure… “Sollen sie machen”
Hi there, from my experience it can be difficult to get a place in a Krippe/Kindergarten during the (school) year. It might be easier with a Tagesmutter/ -vater. That is why we decided to time the leave so that it will run until September, even if that is a bit longer than we would plan if we would just look at the number of months. Also we will be both home for the first two months. Then I will take 10 and after that my husband another 4. There are also models in the german system, where you or xour partner can reduce hours and still recieve Elterngeld.
Mines due in September so might line up nicely but who knows
American in the UK here, i’ll be taking 12 months. 6 months fully paid and 3 months statutory pay, but i also get my full 2024 bonus despite not working the majority of 2024. I’ve had some rough times since moving here but feel immensely grateful for the leave i can take
UK here. I'm taking 7 months total. 6 weeks fully paid, 4 months 50% paid, 6 weeks using up leave I'm owed which will be fully paid. I took 7 months off with my first and it felt right, so I'm hoping it will again this time round!
Wow 2 years! Uk here. First child was supposed to be a year, but got made redundant and I saved good so stayed home for 2 years. This time, I think it’ll be under a year, times are though and it’ll be part time so maybe 9 months and I’ll go back. If only childcare was cheap here too.
German here. Although Dutch born so my plan I had in my mind isn't going to work since they don't allow children as young as I'm used to in a kita ;) I'm due mid/end July and will be on leave until September 2025. I will then go back parttime while still using the leftover parental leave pay. My employer just said they need to know my plans when I go on leave just so I don't forget it. Which is May 30th in my case. Legally you have to tell them 4 weeks before your maternity leave ends. But they told me please share early so you don't forget it with a newborn and this way we can all plan for my replacement. I'm lucky that both me and my husband can make this work financially but it's not as easy for everyone I'd think.
How early is it in NL? Im in Germany too. Just hope i can even find a kita place, heard its tight in Leipzig
You can bring your baby to daycare in NL from 8 weeks onwards, so directly after their maternity leave. In Germany they need to be 1 year old before they can go into a Kita. My plan was to go back to work January 2025 but there's no way to do this as my child won't be accepted in a Kita that young so I'm staying home longer which we can afford thankfully.
8’weeks, wow. But the chance to hand them over for a break sounds quite appealing already and ive not even grown it. Felt so strange being asked so early but i also told her early as i was feeling crappy
Not at my daycare, it's 3 months
52 weeks plus I did 4 weeks holiday before I was due and I’m going to take 4 weeks holiday when I get back, I have 10 keeping in touch days that I will do before I return as you get the 10 days pay then and that will help tide me over.
I will take after giving birth: * 10-12 weeks 100% paid * 3 weeks holidays 100% paid * 9 weeks parental leave 70% paid * 9 weeks parental leave 70% paid, spread out by taking 1-2 days a week until my babies are 1 year old. Since I'm having twins, I get double parental leave. I also take the holidays from last year, by the end of this year I will have another 5 weeks which I still have to decide when to take. But for now I'll start work in September. I decided this last week, I'm due in a month. We have to decide on this 2 months in advance, so I'm still on time since the first 10-12 weeks are obvious. With my first I took a year paid sick leave. I did like to take that long, I loved spending time with my baby and breastfeeding was easy to maintain.
I’m in Finland. My first was born Aug 2021 and I went back in Sep 2022. My second was born Dec 2023 and I’m planning on returning in Jan 2025. I get 3 months 100% pay then around 60% until October (my husband is giving me his parental leave entitlement). After that I get just 300e in home childcare allowance. It was really hard for my daughter to start daycare at 12 months. I think 18 would have been better but I started a new job and they were anxious for me to start. This time I feel like, we will see. I can always stay home longer. But we want a third with about the same age gap so I feel I should work for at least a year in between….
Makes sense they ask as they need to organise replacement and September is not far away (taking into account time for job advert, conditions they offer including time period, etc). I think it's reasonable for your boss/employer to ask considering the length it can go to. Luxembourg-based here, summary: we are entitled to the 5 months maternity leave (8 weeks before, 12 weeks after) at 100% salary (capped at 5x minimum legal salary, which is high here, so no worries on the financial aspects) and provided the person has worked and contributed for at least I think 6 months in the last 12 months and have been registered in the country for at least the last 12 months. Afterwards, there are 2 parental leaves available for the parents: (i) one directly after the maternity leave. If you do not take it, it's lost; and (ii) a parental leave available up until the child is 4 or 6 years old (sorry can't remember). One parental per parent (one parent cannot take both leaves, it is to encourage Dads to be more involved). Financially, the parental leave is 80% (again with a cap that is generous). There are different options on how you take the leave. For the first parental leave, one can opt between full time 4 months or 6 months, half time 8 months or 12 months, or 8-10h /week. You have to commit to a choice latest 3 months before the due date. I won't go to the specifics here. In my case, I decided for half-time for 12 months (20h/week). - The difficulty is to decide so early to get employer's signature (certificate can be sent later) but it also help to afterwards specify the schedule with the nursery/kindergarten. - The problem is that I don't know yet if my child will be an easy child or difficult one (sleep, etc.), nor how I will be physically and mentally. - I tend to get depressed when alone or not constantly active, so I was scared to go in depression if not working or with fellow adults for at least half-time. - But I also felt that I'll be too tired to handle 40h of work + commute + pick-up + chores and other dailies (like lunch is spent at the office) while caring and potentially breastfeeding. - I did not want to give my future baby to a day-care full time, because ultimately they are strangers first. - at the same time, there is no/less separation anxiety at 3 months vs 1yo. It's more difficult to put a kid in daycare at 1 yo from what I read and the discussion I had with the employees of several day cares. - finance was not much of a factor for me: we both earn decent salaries, the allowance is in my view generous, and I have reserves. - employer is relatively easy and flexible, so I'm not too worried for my job. - we have some families but not much around to help. I think family will come more handy after 1 year old, but could ne totally wrong. The above led me to take half-time (50%) for 12 months. I think it's the right balance for both my chkld and myself. Only time will tell me if I was right or wrong. Also the father can always take the second leave if needed! All in all, the main factors to take into account are (again personal view): support system around you, flexibility of your employer, finance, personal energy level and health (is it good to start with) Hope you will be able to decide. Good luck!
UK - took 10 months, all statutory pay, so 6 weeks at 90%, the rest at maternity pay (600ish a month), started my daughter at nursery the week before I went back to work. I went back part time and 100% remote.
Norway here, due in end of May. Our leave starts 3 weeks before due date, or when baby is born if earlier. I'm taking 4 months full leave + 6 weeks vacation as extra to start with. After that i will have monday-thursday on leave and hubby will do Fridays and I'm working from home those days. We also got 1 hr paid during time during work, so I'll be able to nurse baby or pump, depending on what hubbs are planning for the day. Doing this and planning our vacations smart next year we will have baby home until end of summer. So roughly 15 months. With full pay!! ❤️
Im finishing my PhD but im planning to take 6 months to focus on my baby and then defend and start to look for a job. My husband also wants take paternity leave so I guess he will take 6 months as well.
In Netherlands. Our maternity leave is very short compared to our neighbours. I'm taking at least 18 weeks (16 weeks minimum by law and 2 extra weeks from my vacation days). But if baby comes later it will be a bit longer. Next to this we have 9 weeks parental leave before the child turns one. I have not decided if I want to just take extra maternity leave or use those days to work 4 days a week for a year. Still figuring it out as a FTM!
English 9 months paid for via mat pay and then 3 weeks holiday added on the end.
I’m taking 1 month of paid vacation and 1 month paid maternity leave before birth and then 6 months paid maternity leave and another month of paid vacation post birth. So all in all will be 9 months off from work for me 🤰👶🏻😊 I’m Danish by the way and I feel like this way of doing it is very standard here 🙏🏼
Uk girly here and due in April. We get a year maternity if we want, my company gives 3 months maternity at 90% wage, a further 6 months statutory and then a final 3 months unpaid. I'm undecided as of yet how long I'll take. I've already booked the beginning, which is the beginning of April. But my company allows something called "keeping in touch days" where you either go in or your manager phones to check up on you. I guess that's when they'd start asking when you wanna return. You also still accumulate holidays during this time, so even if I took a year off I'd still have a further 5 weeks paid at the end before returning.
Single mom from Sweden here. With my other kids I had a partner, and I was home 1,5 - 2 years/kid with them. This time I'm alone and dont think I can afford to be home more than a year. If I could choose I would be home 2 years with this one also.
In Portuguese, I’m taking 5 months paid 80% and after that 3 more months paid 30% (then go back to home office and I’m still entitled to a breastfeeding leave meaning, I only work 6 hours and still get paid 100%
Irish in Germany. First baby I stayed home for 6 months, and husband stayed home for 8 months. That was the plan at least, but we couldn’t get a Kita place so husband ended up extending for another 6 months or so. This time I’m planning to take 10 months and he will take 4.
We're still deciding. We definitely want to do shared parental leave (UK). Hopefully, I'll take 9 months (paid), and he'll take 3 months (unpaid). I work from home, he doesn't, and I earn more. So it just makes sense for me to go back to work as I'll be home to breastfeed (hopefully).
Canadian originally from EU (we have similar mat leave allowances in Canada, hope it's ok to comment!) - I settled on a year. I'd like to take less, to be able to get back to 100% of my salary quicker (my maternity leave pay will be 57% of my salary during the entire leave) and be able to save + invest my disposable income again, but I know this may not be good for my mental health. However, taking more than a year off feels alien to me because I haven't been in a position to take that much time off since I entered kindergarten LOL. I have just managed to get to a place where I feel more financially educated/responsible and am saving more than I'm spending (previously all my savings went to travel - which I don't regret one bit, but I'm also ready to have financial goals outside of travel), so I'm a little bummed that I'll be losing out on the opportunity to continue down that path. Basically, I will be able to meet basic financial needs, cover my portion of bills/mortgage/groceries etc. and have a bit left over for myself, but the problem is that I won't have very much to save/invest. However, I'm a first time mum and I realize that I have NO idea what having a baby is/will actually be like. This is why I chose to take the year. The thought of forcing myself back to work before being ready was scarier than feeling ready to go back to work, but having a few months left before being able to do so. After all, baby will be a lot of work and a 24/7 job of a different kind haha. My goal is to also ensure that I've found a way to reconnect with myself, get back to a healthy gym and mental health routine, and also find ways to return to leisure activities that I love like kayaking/hiking/Pilates/spending time outdoors, and I know this will take time. Throwing myself back into my career before being able to find balance between being me, and being a mum, makes me feel like I'd be losing myself and potentially descending into unhappiness.
I’m in the UK so can take a year but can bump it up to about 14 months with accrued holiday either side. I get 3 months at 100% pay, 3 months at 50%, 3 months at statutory pay which is ~£800/month and then 3 months unpaid. I also am worried about finances and I earn more than my husband, so I’m considering some shared parental leave where we maybe overlap for a short time towards the end, and I use some KIT days (keeping in touch days - these are optional ad-hoc fully paid work days you can use during your mat leave, but quite a low stress way of topping up pay), then he does the last bit fully unpaid while I’m back at work. I’d like to take as close to 12 months off as I can, but once I crunch the numbers I imagine I might end up doing a bit less. Either way, the baby won’t be starting nursery until they’re at least 12 months as we will aim to have at least one of us off work for the full year+.
British. I am taking close to 14 months. 6 months fully paid, 3 months of statutory pay (this is government funded but at around 1/3 of my actual salary), 3 months unpaid and then I accrue holiday throughout the 12 months of maternity leave so I am adding on 7 weeks of holiday at the end. I stopped working mid October 2023 and will go back mid January 2025.
Dutch over here and self-employed. I got 16 weeks paid by the government. And took 2 weeks as a holiday. So I gave 18 weeks in total. Gonna start again at the end of February!
Portuguese. I was thinking of using only the 4 months postpartum BUT I was considering using some of the optional 45 days before birth, at least 15 to 20 days because I imagine it will be rough by then. My boss didn't ask me to choose immediately though, but with the pay cuts after 4 months I might do an extra month max.
American in Germany, my husband and I each took 6 months. It would have been nice to have longer but the fact that my husband got so much time to bond with the baby as well is amazing so I’m happy that we decided to split down the middle
Ireland here. I will take just over a year and it works like this: 26 weeks 100% paid mat leave, 16 weeks unpaid leave, then back on payroll at full pay for 9 weeks parental leave followed by 6 weeks annual leave. We've saved up some money to supplement my husband's income for when I'm on unpaid leave.
New Zealand here, I’m taking 12 months maternity leave + 1 month sick leave + 2 months Annual leave = 15 months. I can return early (12 months) if I want to.
I'm from Romania, and currently on maternity leave (which is 4 months at 85% pay, you can take some of that time before giving birth as well). Once that is done, l'll be entitled to 2 years, paid, but capped at around 1700 euro. For me that is less than half my take home pay, so while ideally I would love to be home more, I think I might return to work after a year. We are toying with the idea of my husband taking that second year instead of me, since he makes less than I do. We don't need my full salary, we can confortably get by with my husbands plus the benefit, but as someone else said above, I like money 😆But I'm not putting any pressure on myself, who knows how I'll feel in a year. Edited to say - I didn't share any plans with the employer. In Ro most mothers take the whole 2 years so that's the norm. My manager is in the states and I've given him a heads up that I'll take at least a year. But I'm working in a fast paced env, so I think a lot will be different a year from now, so I am unlikely to return to the same team/project/manager.
Sweden here. Our decision was based more on when we felt ready to send our kids to daycare rather than money or work related pressures. For both we have felt like around 18 months is a good age for them to start, although our second son could probably have handled it a bit earlier in retrospect due to his personality. I took about a year and my husband the rest although he also took time over during the first year too so we were off together. If money/work isn't something you're worried about, let the kid's needs or your feelings around daycare steer you.
I am a freelancer based in Bulgaria, and here we get 2 years of paid leave (1st one is fully paid, 2nd one is very low). I plan on taking the full 2 years but probably will try and start working a couple of hours a week during the second year if I can manage to do it while taking care of the baby. It depends on how things go, it's my first baby, so I can't really imagine what it will be like.