Best Time to have a Baby as a Teacher?

knottiee3a20039f40f4ae6 · February 2022

Hi everyone!! My husband and I are starting the conversation on when we want to start TTC. I am a teacher, and while I know every district/state is different on protocols for maternity leave, I was wondering if any fellow teachers had advice on the best time to have a baby as a teacher or what worked for them! Any advice would be helpful or any personal experiences

meggyme · February 2022

In my March BMB I remember having a ton of teachers who all thought they hit the lotto because they would get their 3 months of baby leave and then get summer on top of it. I am not a teacher, but I’d imagine it depends on your district’s policy and how long you can afford to take off. However, you are kind of putting the cart before the horse, you may not have as much control of when as you might hope. Good luck!

inthewoods23 · February 2022

To add to what @meggyme said, my sister was in that boat too with a due date in mid March. I think she had originally been told she does get 12 weeks, but later it was actually 6 so she had to scramble to find people to take care of her daughter for a couple weeks until the school year finished. I know my mom looked after her for a week and my dad the next week. It ended up being fine getting my niece looked after, but it was certainly stressful when she wasn't slotted to start daycare until the summer.

And take it from me as someone who took over 4 years to have a progressing pregnancy... no matter what you think, there may never be a best time or any time will be a good time if you end up taking much longer than expected. DH and I have a commitment with a high school extra curricular that has it's busy time in the winter months so we always agreed that having a baby between January-March would be a terrible idea. I'm due in July and having very little time to work on our registry, getting the nursery room cleaned up and ready for baby furniture, or do baby classes right now, I'm not so sure a summer due date is any better!

bauerpower1990 · May 2022

I am a teacher and have aimed for end of March because it seems like it’s what everyone wants and it never happened LOL.

My 1st was end of Nov—sucked because I had to start the year very preg and then come back to the same kids after a sub had been there for months and get the classes back on track. It was good because Nov, Dec, Jan are packed with free days off so I got some extra time during the holidays that I didn’t have to pay or use sick leave for. Also by the time summer rolled around I had a 6-7 month old who was more active and fun!

My 2nd was the end of February—this was overall better because I was able to just not come back so I didn’t have to deal with picking things back up BUT you are pregnant the entire year you are teaching which is exhausting. I also felt like I missed out on the scheduling and planning for the next year and got screwed on room assignments and some other stuff just because I wasn’t there to advocate.

My 3rd I just found out will be early Jan— I’m planning on going out at winter break. I will probably have to come back the last month or so but I’m hoping it’s fairly easy since it’ll be the end of the school year. Who knows?

Honestly there’s probably pros and cons with every time during the school year. I’ve watched colleagues struggle with summer and spring babies too 🤷🏻‍♀️ That combined with not really having a ton of control it’s kinda up to fate so I wouldn’t worry too much. I feel like us teachers think about everyone else but remember it’s your family and your life, do what makes you happy.

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