considering not returning after maternity leave

[sunnyoutside12345]

I am due to have my 2nd baby in the next month or so and myself and my husband are considering my not returning to work after maternity leave

I work in a school (part time) but I found it really difficult going back 1st time around. Luckily 1st time around we did not have to pay for childcare, but certain circumstances have chanced, which means we will most likely have to pay for child care a few days a week, even with me working part time. I do not want to go into to much detail as it is personal family issues

I had originally planned to go back after maternity next year (even though in my mind I had already thought I did not want to) but I was doing it for the money side of it

My husbands asked me if I would prefer to not return to work, as he does earn enough for us to get by. The amount I earn is pretty poor as I am only support staff, and if we were to pay for childcare we wouldn't be left with much from my wage so we both agree it is probably pointless

has anyone been in this situation?

I do enjoy working (sometimes) but that's mostly the social side of it, rather than the actual job, but I would be happy with a little part time/evening job a couple of hours a week just to get some extra cash

any advice of similar situations would be appreciated :)

thank you

If you are barely going to have any money left after paying for childcare and not really keen on returning anyway then you will be better off not doing it. You can always review how you feel when your children both qualify for free hours.

I was made redundant when I was pregnant with our 2nd, we had our 3rd with a 16.5mth gap. It wasn't financially viable for me to return to PT (dh works away) with the cost of childcare despite having some family help too. I became a sahm and still am over a decade later. It was the best thing for our family unit, now got 6 kids so me working is not an option until dh changes his career in a few years.