When to Start your Maternity Leave

You will have to consider quite a few factors when planning to start your maternity leave. Your first consideration, of course, will be your own health. Remember that towards the middle of your maternity, you will start not only getting heavier, but the nutritional requirements of your baby will tax your stamina quite a bit.

Some women get over this by increasing their intake of healthy foods and vitamins. Women who have gone through it already will have a pretty good idea of the limit to which they can endure in being active while pregnant.

For first timers , it will be advisable to consult with their pediatrician in order to determine that safe limit. The type of work that you do is necessarily related to your endurance and has to be considered in relation to your health.

Of course, we have to comply with legal specifications concerning the date the maternity leave application has to be submitted and the date you wish to start your maternity leave.

In the UK, for instance, women are required to send in their leave application 15 weeks before the baby becomes due and to set the leave date to a date no sooner than 11 weeks before the expected date of birth. Your HR head will know about the details of this.

Before you start your maternity leave you should think about preparing the accommodations for the coming of the baby.

Some women who, even when heavy with the baby, feel up to it, like to build their nest one stick at a time, on the way home from work, every day. But if you haven’t had the occasion to buy the diapers, blankets and baby food that you need stocked in the house, some days have indeed to be devoted to this. Judicious mothers might even need a whole week to prepare.

Additionally, you have to keep in mind that the sooner you avail of your maternity leave, the earlier your SMP (Statutory Maternity Pay) payments will start and stop.

Starting your leave early will mean that you may have fewer days with pay after the baby arrives. Of course, this shouldn’t make much difference if you have saved up a considerable amount of your leave pay ever since your sabbatical started.

Finally , you have to remember that the actual process of birthing and post-natal care is a very draining experience for mothers. You might want to make adequate preparations for these peak periods of motherhood.

This not only involves physical rest but also, and perhaps, more significantly, tweaking your mentality; taking off your office clothes and habits and gradually getting yourself used to the role of “mother.” Depending on your versatility, this phase might last for one or two weeks.

On the other hand, if you have no difficulty making the psychological and physical adjustment you could start your maternity leave at a later date.

When your start your maternity leave actually boils down to three main concerns; knowing the provisions of the law regarding maternity, making the necessary preparations for accommodating the baby when he arrives and preparing yourself emotionally and physically for the painfully sweet experience of motherhood.