Maternity leave allows working moms to step away from their careers and focus entirely on recovery from birth and bonding with their newborn. It’s such an incredible time because you get to fully embrace your role as a mother and finally meet the baby you’ve been carrying for nine months. This season is challenging, beautiful, and essential.
Knowing how to prepare for maternity leave is key to balancing your career and motherhood. A well-thought-out plan can make your leave more successful and (mostly) stress-free. To help, I’m dedicating this post to guiding you through crafting the perfect maternity leave plan that supports you, your baby, and your professional life. Here’s what you need to do:
How to prepare for maternity leave
Consider the logistics of your maternity leave.
Once you find out you're pregnant, first take time to celebrate, this is an exciting time! Then it's time to start thinking about the logistics of your maternity leave. You may need to research company policy or look into your leave rights through your state. Truthfully, the U.S. has terrible leave options, but remember that no matter what you’re entitled to 12 weeks of unpaid leave and your old job back through the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
If your company provides a generous maternity leave policy, that’s a huge benefit. But if it doesn’t—or if you work for a small business—there are still ways to piece together a maternity leave plan. Consider using accrued sick time, paid time off (PTO), and short-term disability insurance (if available) to ensure you have some paid time to bond with your newborn. Planning ahead can help you make the most of your leave.
Carefully consider the dates of your leave.
Next, consider the dates of your leave. Your instinct may be to schedule your leave for your due date and beyond, but I really recommend you take off 2 weeks prior if you are able to. (Not every state allows this with short-term disability, but California does!)
This will give you some time to get through your third-trimester checklist, practice some self-care, and get some much-needed rest. If you have other children, you’ll also have time to give them some extra attention before baby arrives. Even if you can’t pull off 2 weeks, even a few days of leave time prior to your due date will be really helpful for preparing for your new addition.
Discuss the details with work.
When you feel the time is right, share the news with your team. Along with celebrating, also discuss the details of your leave with human resources. Be sure to also ask them to explain the leave policy to you, just to confirm you got the details right.
Remember your rights and what you and your baby deserve. Don’t let your company try to talk you into any sneaky deals, because they “really need you” or “it’s not a good time.” Luckily, I worked for great companies when I had Caden and Willow, but I remember thinking with Caden I could probably handle some work while on maternity leave. I’m so glad I didn’t make any promises and my company didn’t push me, because I wouldn’t have been able to deliver!
Set your dates, get a good understanding of your leave policy, and let your company know you’ll do what you can to help them prepare for your temporary departure.
Prepare your short-term disability and FMLA leave paperwork.
Once you have your plan of action in place, don’t waste any time getting your short-term disability and/or FMLA paperwork completed. Give yourself time to work out any kinks that may come up while organizing the logistics of your leave.
Make sure your partner plans for leave, too!
You’re not the only one that should be planning for time off. If this is your first baby and you think you can handle the first week on your own, it’s worth reconsidering! Keep in mind that you’ll be recovering from a significant medical experience, and newborn life is unpredictable.
You could be recovering from an emergency c-section or a traumatic birth. Baby may have medical needs or struggle to transition to “life outside.” Breastfeeding may not be as easy as you hoped or maybe the baby has a reaction to the diaper you planned to use. The point is, you’re going to need some help- and that's okay.
Make sure to have your partner discuss paternity leave with their employer long before baby comes. If it's not available, save PTO or sick time for at least the week after baby is born. If your partner isn’t able to help or take the time off, I highly recommend looking into a night nurse for some extra support.
Create a central document for your team.
As you get closer to your leave, prepare a central document for your team that outlines your core responsibilities, ongoing projects, key passwords, progression plans, and any other pertinent info that’ll help work run smoothly while you’re gone.
Make sure to create this early enough and update it regularly, so that when baby is ready to come, you’re ready too. Remember, your infant sees your due date as a kind “suggestion”. They’re coming when they’re coming! 😊
Set up an OOO notification on your email.
When your leave officially starts, set up an “out of office” notification on your email that will notify anyone sending you messages that you’re away. This way, they know to contact someone else to get what they need.
Communicate with your clients.
If you have a job where you have your own clients, ensure you communicate with them what’s going on. Let them know who will be working with them while you’re away and give them your expected return date. Also, inform them what you’re doing to make the transition seamless, so their service doesn’t change while you’re on maternity leave. It may also be a good idea to include client profiles in that central document I mentioned earlier.
Research and plan for child care.
In many areas (definitely in San Francisco), every daycare out there will have a month-long waitlist. Start making calls, going on tours, and saving up as soon as you can. Don’t delay making a choice about childcare either and getting that new baby on the list. If you’re going with a nanny, it’s still a good idea to start looking sooner rather than later.
Confirm how baby will be insured.
Within 30 days of birth, your baby will need their own insurance. Hopefully, this is as simple as adding them to your current health insurance plan. However, if your child doesn’t have an obvious insurance option, look into private insurance or Medicaid. You don’t need to fill anything out in advance, but you do want to have a plan before they are born.
Set boundaries for yourself and for work.
For some of us, separating from work is hard. In my last company, I was the youngest senior leader and a female in a male-dominated team, and I was very concerned about how my absence would affect my internal perception of myself. Additionally, I didn’t want to let anyone down or return from maternity leave with lots of messes to clean up. Because of that, I struggled to conceptualize how I’d truly stop working and focus on my baby.
However, when Caden was born, I had a complete 180. (You can hear more about my postpartum experience here.) My full focus went to him, and I was glad I had done careful planning to create a separation between me and work. I recommend that you sign out of your email accounts, turn off notifications to communication apps, leave your computer at the office, and be direct with your team about your plans. This time is for you and your newborn!
If you work from home, creating this separation may be even harder. Shut down your computer and even put it away if you need to. Disassemble your workspace and make it baby-centered for the next few weeks/months. And, again, don’t be afraid to tell your boss and co-workers that you’re unavailable if they attempt to contact you. Once you’ve returned to work, you’ll be much better rested and ready if you really took time away.
Get everything clean and organized.
When you go on vacation, don’t you always clean up the house before you go? Of course! It feels so good to come home to a clean house. The same goes for baby. You’ll feel much better if you get everything scrubbed and sanitized before you get home from the hospital. Plus, that creates a safer environment for your newborn.
In addition to getting everything cleaned, make sure your home is organized for all the new baby processes. You’ll need prepared stations for feeding, pumping, changing, and sleeping. These designated areas will help make the newborn stage smoother and limit the amount of physical and mental strain you’ll have in those first few weeks. If you’re a first-time mom, have another mom come over and evaluate your stations and identify anything you haven’t thought through.
For practical and aesthetic stations, try using 3-tier carts. They can go where you go and aesthetically contain everything you need for things like pumping, formula-feeding, or changing diapers. One can even hold your recovery essentials!
Prepare for visitors and gifts.
You may have an influx of visitors after birth, depending on the boundaries you set with your friends and family. Prepare your house for them by designating a spot for them to meet baby. That area should have hand sanitizer and a spot to place gifts while you sort and organize the contents. Remember that many visitors will probably bring freezer meals—clean out your freezer beforehand to make room for the food.
Delegate household duties and chores while you heal.
Whether you’re recovering from a vaginal birth or a c-section, you’re going to need to take it easy for a while. Delegate household duties to other people in your home to ensure everything gets done without any stress or strain landing on you. If it’s just you and your husband, discuss with him what he might be able to take on, and then consider other friends and family who could potentially stop by and help with some weekly tasks.
Do some self-care.
Don't forget to treat yourself! This is the time to just be and embrace the end of this season of life. As excited and ready as you might feel for your new baby, just practice gratitude for your current situation. Appreciate this time by relaxing, doing things you love, and seeing people you care about.
Pack your hospital bag.
Sometime around 32-36 weeks you need to have your hospital bag packed. Make sure that you bring your bag with you even to work, just in case you have to leave for the birth in the middle of the workday. If you’re not sure what to bring, here’s my hospital bag checklist. You don’t need much, but the few things you bring will be life-savers during labor, delivery, and the days after!
Be flexible… you can only predict so much.
No matter how much we plan, we just can’t be certain how these things will go. Don’t let your mind get too committed to one plan for your maternity leave, because it could lead to feelings of frustration, stress, and even shame! There’s no need for that.
Expect that things will come up you didn’t plan for, and accept whatever change needs to be made. That might be extending your leave, stopping work earlier than expected, or transitioning differently back to the office. Stay flexible . . . you haven’t met your baby yet.
Decide how and when you’ll return.
Speaking of your return, plan for how you’ll transition back into work. With Caden, I went right back to full-time right after leave was over, and that was extremely difficult. With Willow, I went part-time at first, did some work-from-home time, and then returned full-time. Even so, I didn’t assume all my responsibilities right away. This was much better for everyone involved! Take time to make your own plan for returning to work after maternity leave.
Take a babymoon!
I’m so glad we did babymoons before the birth of each of our kids. If you’re not familiar, a babymoon is just a vacation you take with your partner to commemorate the last chapter of your life coming to a close and celebrate the new one to come. It could be as simple as a few nights in a nice hotel or you could plan a big vacation. Before Willow, we went to Hawaii!
If you’re worried about traveling while pregnant, don’t be! Just discuss it with your doctor first and plan for any pregnancy-specific needs. You can always go earlier in the pregnancy too, if you really want to avoid going anywhere in that final trimester. No matter what you choose, be sure to pack comfy airport clothes. Here are my go-to maternity outfits for air travel!
With a good plan, you can separate from work and focus on your new baby.
As a fellow working mom, I am rooting for your peaceful and perfect maternity leave. It can be really challenging to balance your career goals and your new identity as a mom, but I hope this post helped you form a plan and take action. With the right steps, everyone gets what they need and you can really soak in all that time you have with your newborn.
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