Cover letter - how to say been off having children i

[willowstar]

that is it really. I left my last job in August 2011 while pregnant with my second child. He is 10 months old now and I am applying for a new job. There is no application form, just CV and cover letter. How to explain having been off (redundant) but not looking for work as was having baby. Any help appreciated, finding writing this cover letter really difficult as I haven't had to think about anything like this for well over a year!

I work in academia by the way, not sure if that is relevant.

Thank you. It is academic. My CV is great until the publications section, I just don't have that many. I wake up in the middle of the night regretting not publishing more papers from my PhD!

Anyway, thanks, will do as you suggest on my CV.

Breaks in academic careers aren't all that uncommon, I've had a couple that were not child related and never put anything other than dates on my cv. I've been asked a couple of times at interview about them, but only in a mildly curious way.

I'd go for exactly what Waswondering put and leave it there. When I've been recruiting its been the covering letter that's been my biggest sway, where people have bothered to show how their experience relates to the job advertised. So many people, don't do that. A lot say what they have done in the past, but what I really want to see is that they were genuinely interested in the job.

I was advised to write something like "after a maternity break" somewhere in the letter.