Career before / after children

[SarahSumner]

Hello. I am in my early 30s and am in a non-managerial experienced role. We are planning to have our first child soon. We don't have any family member who lives close to us in London and I am considering taking a max. 3-year career break to become a full-time mom. My salary has been the same for a while unless I get a promotion. I wonder how many moms are able to achieve higher salary goals after having children or is it common to hit a plateau before having children? Perhaps many would return to a part-time role or go for a less demanding job that offers more security and work-life balance...

It's completely up to you. I only took 6 months off (fully paid) then returned and took promotion my first week back. I'm a high earner and was already a high earner before mat leave. I did pause my career for c. 2 years while I went through infertility treatment and then a bad pregnancy. I had to be in hospital 3 times per week during certain points in the cycle and didn't feel I could take promotion or move jobs away from my very supportive boss/team at that stage. I now work compressed hours (as does my DH - we split everything equally) so still get time with DS but my career is less impacted. If you want to take a career break though that will clearly pause your career for longer!

In my industry women tend to either have their kids early in their career (less common these days). Have mat leave, maybe part time and then effectively start their career once kids are at school (this is what I did although it was when my youngest was 2). This was at one colleague put it the “pop them out then have your career”).

The other option is to get more senior so that when you go on mat leave you are in a better position to ask for flexible working. Can pick up your career easier on return from mat leave as you are more established.

Ultimately, there is no reason why your career should plateau once you have had kids.

I had mine young, mid-late twenties and I was only 2 years into a career. I didnt feel upset at stopping for a bit, and enjoyed time with my babies without any guilt about work. I went back to work properly when my youngest was 3 and my career really took off. I feel glad now that I dont have to take a break for babies when things are going well in the workplace. Just one perspective.

I'm the same as @Ploughingthrough
Quite glad my career hadn't accelerated much prior to DCs as there was less financial pressure on me. I continued working whilst my children were little, returning to work after 1 year's maternity leave both times. But I only worked 2 days a week to "keep my foot in the door" and found myself a new and less demanding role that still paid enough to cover nursery fees and a decent income.
I still managed to get a good reputation in my field for the work I did during my 2 working days and I managed it well with 2 young children. I'm glad I stayed in work, glad I reduced it whilst DCs were young.
DC2 now receives 30 free nursery hours and attends the school nursery class so I have increased to working school hours 4 days a week. Next year, I will increase my hours more so.

I had mine 30s but close together. I went back part-time when mine were 6 months then almost full-time around 1. I changed to a different job, similar salary though, because it was much more flexible and could repeat this for each dc. I was able to work from home a lot and did all the nursery and school runs. My earnings did eventually increase but I have never needed to pay for childcare because of shift patterns/flexibility /wfh/occasional help. I have always earned good money, plus paid into pensions and invested enough to work part-time now and am looking to retire soon in early 50s.

Wow @zenithbear I want your job!

What did/do you do for a living?