How Much Time Should I Take Off Work For the Birth of my Baby?

Preparing for the birth of a new baby is an exciting and nervous time. There are a lot of things to get in order and making sure that you have everything you need can feel a bit overwhelming. If this is your first child, you are even less sure of what you can really expect when a new baby arrives, so there are plenty more questions.

Take things one step at a time. Figure out what you need (or don’t need) and then move onto the next item on your list. If something is overwhelming you, try to pass by on it and come back to it as needed. When in a stressful situation, try to stay as calm as you can and simply work through items in an organized fashion - it will be much easier to accomplish your goals in general when you do this.

One question that will come up is how much time a partner or spouse should take off of work. Having someone at home to support you is extremely important when giving birth as your body will have gone through an extremely traumatic event. You’ll be glad to have as much help as you can after giving birth, regardless of what type of shape you’re currently in. You’ll be exhausted, and in many cases in a lot of pain.

To figure out how much time your partner should take off of work, you first need to figure out what type of support you will have outside of your partner. Do you have someone else (such as a parent or sibling) that will be coming to stay with you after the birth? If so, your partner probably doesn’t need to take much time off. In fact, they may be better off not being at home and in the way too much if you’ve got someone else coming to your home. There’s only so much two people can do for one child, and adding a third in the mix can make someone feel really left out.

Another important influence on this question is whether or not you have another child (or more) already. The more kids you have, the more time you’ll want someone at home to help you out. While you’ll be tired with one child, you will have opportunities to take a break when the baby is sleeping or not doing much. That’s not the case when you have another toddler running around. Besides taking care of a new baby, you’ll need to be up and moving with the toddler making sure they’re staying out of trouble, and helping them through their day.

Assuming you have no one else coming to help you out, you’re going to want your partner to plan on at least two weeks of time off, and more if they can manage it. Not everyone can afford taking off two weeks of time, but if you can then you should. If things really go smoothly, it will be easier trying to get back to work earlier than taking more time off later. Two weeks gives enough time for the mother to heal, even from an extremely traumatic birth. If you can spare more time, even better.

If you have other kids, and no one else is coming, then two weeks is really the minimum you should consider. As stated before, it’s far more exhausting to try to take care of a newborn and a toddler. There’s simply not time for naps or breaks when you’ve got to take care of both. The more time you can take off, the better as it will allow more time to get to somewhat of a normal schedule.

Unfortunately, in the United States, not many people have paternity leave. Figuring out how much time to take off for the birth of your child can be stressful - try to take as much time as you can.