Very short maternity leave (own choice) - experience?

[Tasmania]

Just wondered whether anyone has ever decided to take a very short maternity leave? As in six weeks only?

Many women work so hard to get a proper career established, and to see it going down the drain due to being away for long would be hard to handle. I know this may ruffle a few moms who think its better to stay with the DCs, but there must be others out there who think otherwise...

For those who did - why did you do it, and how did you it go?

Lottie, do you have an HR person at your work? As per Talk's link, at the moment he needs a business reason to turn it down.

List of reasons:

www.gov.uk/flexible-working/after-the-application

Three months with dd1, bit longer with dd2. But DH took paternity leave after me and we got a "rental grandma" to help so all in all children looked after in own home for first year. I also did bits and pieces during my leave to help out my boss. I have flexible hours and dh works part time, otherwise we couldn't have done it.
I think it's up to you to decide your own balance, what's best for you and your family as a whole, and then appreciate the pros without worrying too much about what other people think, and accept the cons. Also I wouldn't be afraid to change your mind - we did - it can be a good idea to keep your options open until you've had the baby, if you can.

And be firm with your OH so that you don't end up carrying the bulk of the can unless you want to. I told DH no second child if he didn't take the same amount of leave as me. It's good to establish the division of labour from the start or you end up with he-earns-three-times-what-I-do and that's hard to get out of.