HOW do US women physically manage to back to work so quickly after birth?!

[boboismylove]

I was watching The Good Fight the other day and one of the characters said she was planning on returning to work THREE DAYS after birth. I know this is fictional but I looked it up and apparently 1 in 4 American women return to work within 10 DAYS.

This is obviously awful. But I don't actually understand how it's physically possible?! I couldn't sit up properly for a month after birth, and was limping for around the same time. I didn't have a C section, and technically had a relatively smooth birth - so I can't imagine going back earlier! How do women in the US manage it physically?! What about prolapse risk? Looking after stitches? Extremely heavy bleeding? - and again, this is only with a "normal" birth.

I know even in quite a few developing countries they have 6 weeks leave - maybe connected to the idea women should rest and be housebound for 40 days.

Most of the world's women resume normal (difficult by our standards) working life straight after birth - like many of our other fellow creatures. Sorry you had such a difficult time.

Look forward to UK women having to do something similar once Brexshit hits the fan. The right wing Tories in charge of Brexit love the US system.

bit patronising to say the least here counterpoint

op, I have no idea how they do it either

Their maternity leave is virtually non-existent compared to ours. I’m also part of a primarily American forum (not a parenting one) and I’ve seen people talk about it on there.

Lots of women.have c-sections, for insurance purposes

Would that make it harder or easier though?

my previous US colleagues said they had no choice, they'd lose their job if they did not. They also only had 10 days holiday a year.

Depends on your circumstances.

For me, after DC1 (forceps, tear) it took me months to even walk normally. I was in serious pain and barely continent, struggled with stairs for a couple of weeks so there is no way I could have gone back to work.

After DC2 (section) I was up and down from day 2 - the only thing I struggled with was pushing the pram. I don't drive so that wasn't an issue.

And I don't think most women in the world go back to work (paid or unpaid) straightaway. In many societies women are expected to rest for 40 days after labour.

I guess it's different expectations and perceptions of childbirth and the post partum period.
I went back when Dd1 was five weeks after traumatic forceps and after 7 weeks with dd2 emergency section.
Not boasting, I just got on with it... Got up showered, dressed, sanitary towels in place and life went on.
Many societies women have no choice... And they have gruelling lives compared to ours, maybe we are a bit soft?

I think that they save holiday, save money for unpaid leave, I think quite a lot give up work.

It is nuts and shocking I agree.

Whatever to poster who says we should just get on with it like lemurs and owls.

I wonder how much women going back to work so quickly post partum affects the USA having the worst maternal mortality rate in the developed world.

With Ds2 I was up and showered about an hour after his birth and desperate to go home. With ds1 it took me a month to stop bleeding and was kept in hospital for several days. But besides all that I also had a child to look after.
I suppose they have to return to work because they can't afford not to. No maternity provision or health insurance.
But it is baffling.

Many societies women have a period of rest by tradition after birth where they are looked after.

Idea that UK women are just fucking lazy bastards is somewhat unfair.

In plenty of the world women get life changing birth injuries/ can die. Clearly this is not preferable?

USA has highest maternal mortality of any "developed" country, it rivals many much poorer countries. I believe their infant mortality may be high as well. At least they aren't spoilt lazy fuckers like UK women though amirite?!

I’m not sure how common it is, but DSis worked at a fairly small place when she had DNeice. They had a work place nursery so she could continue to breast feed. She had six weeks leave I think.

I could have physically gone back to work within days of giving birth after both of my children however emotionally I don't think it would have been healthy.

That said I don't have a physically demanding job and was very lucky to have fairly easy deliveries.

I went back to work two weeks after, and because I knew I was going to have to, I just kind of got on with it. I could only do it because I was working from home and could make myself as comfortable as possible.

I’m sure the ridiculous early return to work contributes to the high death rate.

I guess it’s a ‘needs must’
situation.
I will be going back to work after 3 months maternity leave this summer. I don’t want to but I’m self employed and my clients won’t wait 9-12 months for me to come back. A few would but not enough to keep a roof over my head. It’s the norm in my line of work though.
Also the maternity allowance I’m entitled to is crap. Some self employed woman are entitled to £27 a week ma.

I cannot imagine this because I've never done it. I had a vaginal unassisted birth with minimum tear that didn't get stitched but I felt like death for weeks afterwards. Just the sheer effort of trying to function with a tiny baby waking every two hours, the hormones raging, the sweats, random pains and aches, cramps and bleeding for weeks on end. If I were faced with no choice but to go back I could probably do it. Not sure it would work well for me. I'm extremely grateful for having the time to recover and bond before going back into the world of work after what was the hardest thing I've ever done.

I was back to work in 2 weeks with my oldest (in US). No choice.

Had #2 and #3 in UK.

Just to add I appreciate 12 weeks is much better than 2 weeks.

I believe many women who would like to go back to work don’t because they don’t have enough maternity leave. I’m sure that their relatively poor infant mortality rate us linked to no maternity care.
I went back at 8 months and 7 months which was perfect for me. Physically I had straight forward births and was recovered quickly, but I had horrible pregnancies and I had 2 months off work both times.

What I don’t get is why Americans aren’t on the streets demanding better.

You know their health care system costs the government more per capita than ours does!

With my eldest I went back when he was six weeks old (thirty years ago). I have always been pretty much back to normal within days of the birth tbh so it wasn't difficult. I dropped ds at the childminder at 7.30am and picked him up just before 6pm. Bathed him, fed him put him to bed and then fed myself and prepared for the following day. I don't remember feeling particularly tired tbh.

My old boss went into labour Friday was back at work Monday. Oh wanted baby so he left work.

Does the UK still have a minimum period that women CANNOT go back to work post partum? I think it was four or six weeks about 18 years ago, when I last looked at this sort of stuff.

I've had 3 babies here in the US and work FT. To explain how it works here, very few women return to work after two weeks. The ones who do are in senior positions and paid accordingly. The majority of this group have an army of help at home.

Having said that I continued checking emails and responding to clients and with my team to make sure all was running smoothly in my absence. We are talking about a cursory glance at my email once a day and possibly 1-2 emails or phone calls, most days I did nothing.

The other aspect of this is that you have federally mandated leave and state mandated leave. FMLA is quite crude and is the minimum standard that is applied by the state. If you live in a state like Oklahoma or Tennessee, chances are it's the minimum. If you work in a state like NY or New Jersey you get a lot more. I worked in both NY and NJ. I ended up with CS each time and I got 8 weeks leave. I felt ok to go back to work after 8 weeks but took longer for my first and third babies. With my third I took six months (24 weeks). I took 12 weeks for my first and returned part time for a couple of weeks.

I think the expectations around returning to work quickly result in much better post partum care. Each time I gave birth there was a nursery for me to send the baby to. I left the hospital rested.

The one thing the doctors are very strict about in NJ is that you don't return to work with PND. Any signs and they will sign you off for additional leave. The max time they can sign you off for is six months. At this point your job doesn't have to be held for you. The state though pay disability and you transfer over to their long term disability.

@AlpacaLypse it's 4 weeks for factory workers and 2 weeks for everyone else

Makes me think about all that "4th trimester" stuff. I feel sorry for the mothers but I feel really sorry for the babies - this despite always having worked myself and used childcare, but the thought of it for a tiny baby doesn't sit well.