would you get pregnant while doing a PhD?

[YussMinister]

We have one child already and don't want a big gap but is it stupid to ttc while studying? I'd need to take 9-12 months out I guess? Has anyone been in this situation?

if you look a few threads down you'll see mine about having just started my PhD & being pg. We were ttc & it happened quickly. Probably not amazingly sensible in terms of making life easy for ourselves but I don't think it's stupid. It's more important to me than my PhD, even though I really want to do that too. I haven't dared break the news to my supervisor yet though!

It's quite common to have maternity leave in a phd - check your funder's policies (if you have one). I sort of hoped to have baby 3 while studying, but it didn't work out that way. But I'm sure it would have been no harder than while working, if it had. Good luck - with both projects.

Currently on mat leave - if you are funded, definitely makes sense financially. Also think (hope) it's easier now than in post-phd job...

In half way through my PhD & actively TTC #1. My funding has maternity leave & my supervisor is supportive (collect data 1st was his only advice!) so apart from general existential angst am feeling positive about the whole venture. So I don't think it's stupid at all, if you can get some kind of maternity leave, or otherwise be financially ok, then go for it I'd say!

Great idea. I advise my students to do it rather than wait til their first job! Two-thirds of the way through is ideal...

I am on mat leave from my PhD with baby no. 3. It's not crazy, I just treat it like a job. I am funded so it made sense financially. (Ask me again next year when I am trying to do this PhD with 3 kids, you might hear a different response...!) If you have childcare help, then you'll be fine. My little one will be going into nursery so I will have that time to work. It will kill us financially, as my funding will only cover the nursery fees and nothing else (older two are in school so I'm paying for a little bit of wrap-around care) but we decided that we'd manage somehow.

I had a child when I started the phd ans I had my second at the end of my second year - took 7 months out.

I don't regret it. But I recognise it was a bad move for my PhD as coming back to complete the data collection and write up with a baby that will not sleep while trying to pull together some slightly ropey work that I did when pregnant is proving impossible.

I love my children, I really do like my PhD but I am not sure if I can finish.

Yes, definitely.

I'm starting a PhD in the autumn, but we've been ttc for some time so not stopping now.

It would be a bit to have to tell my supervisor that I'm pg on my first day, but it probably won't come to that.

The PhD will have to fit around the baby.

I'm currently on maternity leave from my PhD, I only have a few months of funding left when I go back in January. Like Tammy I thought it would be better now when I get maternity pay rather than during the inevitably lengthy job hunt.

I've had two, and the PhD will remain forever unfinished. I know others who've had children and continued. You might want to be prepared for the possibility that your priorities might change quite wildly though, just in case

Hello, I have been reading your post on doing a phd whilst pregnant. How did you get on? Have you returned to research after baby 3? I have beven invited for a PhD interview but I am also ttc baby #3 just before starting. Am I crazy?