How long to take off for maternity leave?

[DOdoc92742]

Am currently pregnant & due in the last month of my PGY1 year. Will be a first time mom. My program offers 12 weeks (6wks paid, 6 wks unpaid) of maternity leave. Since I've never had a baby before, I'd love to know how long of a leave do you all suggest? I'm in FM residency. I want to take enough time off to properly take care of my baby & slowly recover. But I'd also like to not be completely rusty & out of touch with medicine when I return... or be really bored at home & regret taking too much time off. Any thoughts? Thank you in advance.
Luckily money is not currently an issue as we have saved up a little. I'm also trying to get my husband to take a month of paternity leave.

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[Crayola227]

Take the whole 12 weeks, although you may want to make sure youre not totally out of sick leave for the year/residency.

Your partner taking as much paternity leave as possible is also an excellent idea.

 

[Bronze Medal]

Am currently pregnant & due in the last month of my PGY1 year. Will be a first time mom. My program offers 12 weeks (6wks paid, 6 wks unpaid) of maternity leave. Since I've never had a baby before, I'd love to know how long of a leave do you all suggest? I'm in FM residency. I want to take enough time off to properly take care of my baby & slowly recover. But I'd also like to not be completely rusty & out of touch with medicine when I return... or be really bored at home & regret taking too much time off. Any thoughts? Thank you in advance.
Luckily money is not currently an issue as we have saved up a little. I'm also trying to get my husband to take a month of paternity leave.

I took 8 weeks off with my first and 6 weeks with my second. Both of them were born during my training. 8 weeks was better than 6.

Most recently I took 10 weeks off with my third baby. My husband also got paid paternity leave and he used 1 week right after the baby was born, and then the rest of it once I went back to work. That worked out really well for our family.

 

[EM_Disney_Doc]

Take as much time as you can. That initial post-part I’m period is really hard and you will never get that time back. If you can afford to take the time, do it. I had all 3 of my kids as an attending - but my 3rd was after my group established a truly family friendly parental leave policy. My husband is a SAHD so we depend on my income. First I took 8 weeks which was nice - but going back was still hard. Second I essentially started back after 4 weeks (different job) and that was awful. I know some people do it but I wish I had more time with my middle. My third I took 12 weeks paid maternity. Was amazing and I recommend as much time as you can afford.

 

[AMEHigh]

I would take the whole time.
I’m currently on maternity leave, taking 20 weeks and less than that would make me sad, so I wouldn’t voluntarily take less than you’re allowed. This is going to be my only child and work will always be around so I wanted to take as much time off as possible. I’m almost 6 weeks in to my leave and so far the baby is pretty chill and I feel well mentally and physically so could certainly return to work if I absolutely had to from that standpoint, but this is time I’ll never get back and medicine isn’t going anywhere so I’m glad I’m taking as much time as possible.

 

[smq123]

Plan to take as much time as you can. You don't know how well you'll do after delivery (you may have a tear or another complication and will require more recovery time).

I also had some trouble bonding with my daughter for the first few weeks (mostly due to stress from breastfeeding), and I spent the next 8-9 weeks trying to catch up.

3 months isn't enough time to get horribly rusty with clinical medicine, even as a junior resident.

 

[epiphany75]

12weeks is ideal dear friend, it is essential for you to recoup, get away with the post partum blues and feel good and bond with the baby.

 

[DOdoc92742]

Thank you so much everyone! I really appreciate the advice =)