To think I could study on maternity leave?

[SunflowerOwl]

Not sure if this is a crazy plan or not, but there is qualification I've been wanting to do for ages and I'm wondering I'm my upcoming maternity leave would be a good time.

The course takes approx 10 weeks to complete but there are online providers that let you do it over a year before booking onto the exam.

I'm due at the end of August but have a big chunk of holiday (around 6 weeks) that I was planning on taking before, and then I'm going to take 10 months leave when the baby is here.

Is it completely mad to think this is possible? It's all stuff I know bits about from my job so it would just be getting the formal training.

@Babyboomtastic

I think *@Oilpyi* may have found the key to this. Some people need a clear head to properly get into work/a task, and if they don't know if the 'slot' is going to last 10 minutes or 2 hours, then find it very hard to do. Others find that ok. Neither is the right way to approach things, and I'm not sure how easy it is to change from one to another.

yes agree with this. i need hours to get stuck in. wish i was different but am not.

makes me feel a little better that i didn’t write a book during mat leave though 😀

I started my OU degree the week before I had my first. It was great. Breastfeeding baby in one arm, book in the other. I had to type one handed, but I could type and breastfeed at the same time.
I couldn't have done it if I'd been bottle feeding.
Fortunately DS was happy to be EBF until he was six months old, so I wasn't faffing with baby food till then.
Weirdly, the health visitor praised my commitment to breast feeding and looked confused when I said that my degree depended on it.
Downside - I mostly fed DS off my left breast to leave my right hand free, and ended up with lopsided breasts. But I'd have a degree than perfect breasts.

I should say it was also not a very good book, @Confusedaboutlots, and while it got me an agent it's never been published. In case you think I was cranking out something exquisite in between feeds, naps, nappies...

It probably explains some of the hugely varying views of maternity leave tbh. I can also fall asleep anywhere, even for a short period, or watch 10 minutes of something, and continue later, or work in dribs and drabs. If you need to get into something to nap, or to watch something or to work, then it's probably a lot more frustrating, and harder to do things.

@Wabe

I should say it was also not a very good book, *@Confusedaboutlots*, and while it got me an agent it's never been published. In case you think I was cranking out something exquisite in between feeds, naps, nappies...

it’s amazing! you should feel so proud 😊

The time you have before your baby (assuming this is the first) will be the last longish period of you time for perhaps 20 years.

Think hard.

Also, reading to babies is good, but when they are new they don't know what you are reading to them anyway, so read out your notes.
Plus explaining to your baby what you have just learned is good revision, and they are a lot more tolerant of this than e.g. DH.

I was so bored being a SAHM, two children under 5, so I did an OU degree, no problem. If the children were awake, eg afternoons, they would say that Mummy's doing her sums, and amuse themselves. They were very proud to come to my graduation. Go for it, babies aren't as time consuming as many tell you, unless you become a helicopter parent and martyr yourself.

I did it! Had shocking pnd as well.

If you have time off for a bit before the baby comes that would be a good thing to do.

After will depend on how things go.

Once the dust has settled and assuming you're taking a year I think it's doable.

How heavy duty is it, can you afford to lose the money/ and not beat yourself up over it if you can't?

Also with lockdown and not much happening outside, will give you something to think about other than baby

I also did it and didn't find it difficult. In fact, I found myself more efficient and using my time better. HOWEVER, I did have a very easy baby and excellent sleeper. I do agree it will depend on the baby but the workload you're mentioning sounds very light so I reckon you'll be fine.

If 40'hours in total - as others have said, you could do it if you broke the back of it in your ML prior to the baby arriving (unless he/she comes early).
And you could finish it off later when the baby is a bit older and in more of a routine. But do not underestimate the demands a new baby makes on your time. I used to laugh when people said that as I was super organised and very domesticated- yet it could still get to 2pm and I'd not showered or eaten lunch in the early days.

Noooo.....

I thought this as well, I even signed up for the training - it's been three years, I still haven't finished it (did have another baby as well, so that hasn't helped...)

Depends on the baby.
You might have one who's a great eater and sleeper.

Or you might have one that never, ever stops crying, ever or An Incredible Non-Sleeping Baby or a velcro baby.
Or any combination of those 3.

I had to have 3 weeks M/L before baby's due date and frankly after cleaning and tidying the house I was bored bored bored. And that was with loads of lunches out etc.
Suggest if you have to have 6 weeks holiday before baby you do as much as you can then, and even see if you can take the exam then, if not schedule your DH some time off and aim to take it once baby & you are all settled in a routine but before baby gets truly mobile.

If you have 10 months ML and some childcare I'd say it's possible. I went back to work when my first was around 6 months - so from my experience you're back to being a functional human by that point.