Should I feel guilty...

[mossycow]

.... that I've changed my mind and want to take the full 39 weeks paid maternity leave?

Will be giving more than required notice and think boss was kind of expecting it.

Baby was born August and was due to return in january. I am a teacher in a sixth form college and was due to go back after Xmas vacation. The official reason is that due to my part time pay being around the same as the maternity allowance we'd be worse off paying for 2 days a week child care.

Obviously I want to look after my gorgeous daughter but....

I think the January to Easter term is going to be SOOOOOOO stressful after trying to work around what maternity cover has been doing with students. I really think it would be much easier having a fresh start in June when coursework is marked etc and I can concetrate on planning for the next year.

In feel like I'm being selfish and letting them (students and staff) down but then think I;'m entitled to it and why lose £260 a month when I could be looking after my little one......

Any thoughts?

No, you are not being selfish. Your dd will only be a baby once, so make the most of it. You will never have this time again. You have the rest of your life to teach.

I changed my mind too. Don't spend time feeling guilty, no-one can know in advance how they will feel when the time they said they were going back to work rolls around. And, as you say, you are entitled to that time off work.

What really convinced me to take longer off was that three months in DS's life at this age is a huge amount - I just thought back how much he had changed in the past three months - but in my whole working life it's a blip.

Sounds like it might even be better for your students - not that you're not a fab teacher of course, but continuity for them could be good.