was your length of maternity leave sufficient?

I'm in the military and had 6 weeks of paid maternity leave and took 2 more weeks that were chargeable to my existing annual leave. I put my daughter in daycare at 8 weeks old to return to work. I would say that in my case the time off was sufficient and I was actually much better off mentally once I got back to work. I had a slight case of PPD that resolved itself once I was able to get back into my daily routine.

Other countries have great maternity leave programs but they also have VERY high taxes. I am currently stationed in Germany and they have a 19% sales tax on most durable goods and a 7% tax on food. In addition they have an almost 20% income tax. They have many programs to benefit lots of people but everyone pays for it in a way.

I am now an at-home mother but with my twins I didn't get a maternity leave at all since I was working for a family business and I was exempt from FMLA.

I did get 2 weeks off.

The problem with getting a year of paid leave is that someone has to pay for that so you get less take home pay. I can't speak for them but I don't hate the US system. I think that since people get to keep more of the money they make then more fathers are able to support the family on one income alone.

It is NO WHERE close to where it needs to be in the U.S. I ended up deciding to be a stay at home mom but I could have gotten six weeks UNPAID leave, to ensure my job would still be there when I got back, that is sick & wrong.

My husband's cousin lives in France and she is going to be paid to be on leave for an entire year, the government pays half and her employer pays the other half.

However, as nice as all that sounds, in these hard economic times-- the only way something like that could be accomplished would be to raise taxes. At this point, I would be very against that.

I had 3 months off because I teach school and we planned so our baby would be born near the end of the school year. i have heard that some countries give a year off after the birth of a child and i would love to have a year at home with my daughter! i did have to put her in day care because staying home is not an option financially. i used my sick and personal days so that we would not lose my income for the 3 weeks I was not at work (i have my checks divided so i am paid over the summer)

in ireland maternity leave is 26 weeks of paid leave. usually taken 4 weeks before the baby is born. some mothers leave earlier and go on sick certs which is also paid but at a cut rate. then when your maternity leave is up you can take another 9 weeks paternal leave which is unpaid but your job can't fire you. even though i got 26 weeks maternity leave my son was in hospital for most of it and i ended up leaving my job anyway. i couldn't imagine only having 12 weeks off thats crazy!!!

I got 6 weeks. The FMLA does not kick in until you have been at your current employer for at least a year, so I got 6 weeks. No, it was not enough, it was really hard going back!

I would have liked it to be at least a year, minimum, but this is not a perfect world...

Mine was paid, only because I used sick time and PTO.