Suggestions on Time off for Maternity Leave

Congratulations! Give yourself at least 6 months off. You are working too hard as it is.

I've heard of some providers hiring a back up "helper" to come to their home right before you give birth and stay until a month or so after. Therefor eliminating the need to make the parents go get backup sitters. You can go back to work soon after and have your helper there for a nice transition back to work etc.

I took 7 weeks off when I had my daughter.

As for charging the parents, you can NOT. If there is nothing in your contract about maternity leave, (since you're asking the question I'm assuming not....) you can NOT charge them.

I told all my parents that I was planning on taking 6 weeks off after the baby was born (ended up to be 7 because I had a c-section.) When I went into labor I had all the phone numbers ready so my mom could call all the parents and let them know it was time to contact their back-up daycares.

My friend who also did daycare only took 2 weeks off after having her 3rd baby. All natural, no drugs, quick labor and delivery.

So, it really depends on your preferance for how long you want off. And how long you can afford to take off. You just need to be up front to the parents so they can have a plan in place whent the time comes.

When I was pregnant I "hired" one of my good friends who stays home with her kids to work for me for a few weeks. She came about a week before my due date and stayed for about 2-3 weeks after the baby was born.

Also my sister who also does daycare just took 3 weeks unpaid vacation but she ended up loosing two of her kids becuase they decided not to come back.

I would just be open and honest with your daycare parents and see what they think would work the best. also does your husband have any vacation time that he could take to help run the daycare, that might help limit the time off you need to take.

Our last in home provider had a baby and she took our son back the next week. Now he was getting close to 2, same age as her son, and he was the only one she watched consistently so I'm sure that helped. She also had her in laws there to help for a month. I guess I would see if you could find someone for back up cause it is really hard to find one on such short notice. Sorry, that probably didn't help you. Good luck and congrats. I am currently 12 wks along, due Oct 5th :)