To ask if you’d get into debt to take more maternity leave if…

I was itching to get back to work after 6 months but appreciate I'm in the minority!

I'm sorry if I've got this wrong, but to me what stands out is that you've factored in paying £1k a month on childcare in a year's time (so I assume you have that spare currently), but yet at the same time you're saying that you'd need to put £3k needed for your extra mat leave on a credit card? The two things seem really at odds with each other.

If you need to take a loan to be able to extend your maternity leave I'd say you can't really afford to.

How much a month and got how many months would you need to pay back that money alongside the £200 a month childcare

I’d say no as I took 12 months with DS (6 months unpaid as he’s 20 now so no SMP 6-9 months then), but he really struggled to settle into nursery. So with DD I took 9 months off work (got 3 x months SMP this time) and she settled earlier. Though saying that DS loved nursery (after the initial month of struggling) and DD always hated it but more personality! They are 20 and 16.5 now and I don’t regret not taking that extra 3 months with DD

No I wouldn’t, I think it’s very silly to get into debt if you can already have 9 months off. How is that being funded? Is it through savings or an employer package? I wouldn’t use all my savings either, having children can be more expensive than you think and the government can remove or reduce the funding at any time. If you’ve not been able to save enough for maternity how can you be sure you’ll have enough to repay it quickly with the additional expense of a child?

I’m taking 10 months off but we can mainly live of DH’s salary so the reduction in our savings is small and still leaves us with well over 6 months expenses plus money for holidays in the pot. If this weren’t the case I’d be taking shorter, maybe 8 months or something.

Have you any savings to use? It’s fine in theory but I would be worried that other expenses would mean ‘only’ £3k turns out to be not doable. Can you also cut back so you don’t need to borrow so much?

Only you know your incomes, outgoings and job security though.

Remember you accrue annual leave so you could return sooner and use annual leave to take you up to the year mark. You could also look into phased return, some employers will let you work 'part time' using annual leave until it's used up.

I think it’s silly but 9-10 months would be more than long enough for me. I went back at 3 months both times by choice.

Can you save money ahead of time? I had savings for IVF then fell pregnant naturally so used that money to take a year off then a month of annual leave, giving me 13 months at home, then using AL to work 4 days per week for the rest of the year.

Just remember new governments can change things on a whim.

Would you really need £3000 just for a couple of months? I'm not sure I would want to get into that much debt tbh - 10 months is still a decent length of time. But it would be OK if you were very confident you could pay it back quickly. Or maybe you wouldn't need to borrow as much money as you think.

I wouldn't make a decision until you've been on mat leave for a few months.

I took 10 months with DD1 and 13 with DD2, 2 years apart. Both were very enjoyable, long mat leaves to me. I wouldn't have got into debt to have longer with DD1 - we were quite comfortable with 1dc, but once we had 2dc, our outgoings were so high! But these were the days with only 15 funded hours from aged 3, so we did have high childcare costs for a long time.

I would and I did.

Different scenario in that I knew I could earn extra at work but yes, it was the right decision for me.

Alternatively, you could find that adult conversation by being part of a new mum's group, and that would give you a friendship group to fall back on for years to come. Still in touch with my lovely friends after 40+ years.

How much more? Eg how much time had you initially planned and how much do you think now? I think about 1 year is fine

I'd take the year off if I could do it without borrowing, but I wouldn't take a loan. Accrued annual leave will give you an additional paid month at the end of mat leave.

If the unexpected childcare from 9 months is giving you some extra money to play with I'd rather reduce my hours that take extra time at the end of mat leave (but to be honest I found mat leave boring towards the end. I was ready ti return to work)

I can’t imagine choosing to take on debt while also adding the expense of a child to your life. Who knows what additional expenses may crop up. Save the option of debt for true emergencies.

You’ve misunderstood, I come from poverty, so I’m not talking from privalge.

and so no, you don’t get to judge anonymous people on line.

and if you agree with the poster, then surely the answer is you don’t take on thousands of debt to stay home for a few weeks, if you will be living hand to mouth for years.

I had two close together and took six years off work in total (with one lot of full maternity pay and one lot of SMP). We did get into a small amount of debt but it was worth every penny and was cleared within a year of me going back to work once they were both at school.

No regrets whatsoever, do whatever you can that buys you time with your children.

Does your DH/DP get any enhanced shared parental leave payments?

My DH gets 6 months full pay, so we're splitting the year 6 months each.

Does your DH/DP get any enhanced shared parental leave payments?

My DH gets 6 months full pay, so we're splitting the year 6 months each.

You couldn’t be more off beam if you tried. Like seriously.

This is not the norm for many families with young kids now or in the past. You’re coming from a place of massive privilege here. Most families only start to build up savings after the early years. Comments like this make people who are very normal feel inadequate. It’s extremely difficult to have a roof over your head these days and start a family… savings are a pipe dream for many.

I did this and have no regrets. But you need a good financial plan and budget. The early years are expensive and you need to do what you need to get through them. Just make sure you get into good financial habits. I learned a lot of money saving tricks while on extended mat leave as I needed to make my money stretch as far as possible to limit spending on my 0% credit card

When you come out the other side and start to build up savings it’s feels good! It’s helped me value my time and be more careful with money, if I’d have gone back to work earlier I don’t think I’d have been so disciplined money-wise and I’m not sure I would be in the financial position I’m in.

I would, going back early is a regret of mine - you only get the time once and it’s a measured risk. You might find you’ll spend less than you think on maternity leave too. Enjoy your baby.