12 months maternity??

[guiltymamma]

How normal is it to take a year off for maternity?

Me and DH make decent salaries, but also have a bit of debt and therefore lots of bills / payments to make. I only get statutory maternity pay, and so will only get my 6 weeks at 90%, then the base SMP rate. Frankly we just won't be able to pay our obligations without both of us earning for any length of time.

I think we can stretch our finances to let me take about 3 months off... but I'd then have to go back full time, albeit possibly with condensed hours and some working from home. My health visitor seemed particularly judgemental about this being "very quick" to go back to work, and I have friends who have also raised eyebrows.

Do most mothers take the full year, or become SAHMs? Would love to hear some positive experiences of mums who have had to (or wanted to!) go back to work fairly quickly.

I took 14 months with my first & 10 months with my second. I was VERY ready to go back to work after DD1 but she was a hideous sleeper, I had PND & I struggled. I needed the time really.. she didn’t sleep through until 3.5 years also but I adapted and now I need much less sleep 😂

DD2, we did shared parental leave. Me 10 months, DH 3 months. DD2 was a good sleeper & going back was no problem. But I loved my time with DD2 & I wish I had longer.

You’ve gotta do what’s right for you. I think 3 months is very short & you’ll be very tired but you don’t have a good maternity package :( I got 6 months full pay & 3 months statutory .. WFH will make life much easier though, if you feel & look awful, you can hide in your pyjamas bottoms and feel comfortable at home!

It also depends on what you want to do family wise. Like prioritising the money for a career sabbatical later as a family when the children are older, as opposed to funding mat/pat leave when they're babies and wont necessarily remember. Or saving enough to put a deposit down on a better family home. We're hoping to save enough to take a year out and travel as a family when they're a little older, so we're both happy to just take a few months each for SPL (the full pay bit) and go back earlier than most.

I took 8 months which was less than most people I know/work with. Some colleagues combined holidays from 2 years and took about 14 months off! Not for me. I would have gone back at 6 months, although this may be as I was trying to finish a masters.
If it ever happened again I'd take 9-10months. A year suits many but for me it's a little long.