Short Maternity Leave Leads to Long Term Problems
Hurry Back Now!
Lets all say it together now… maternity leave in the United States sucks!
Ok… now that we all got that out of our system, lets talk about the problems our previous little ones can face because of the crappy maternity leave system we are saddled with.
Well for starters look at the amount of time most women take off from work. Some take as little as two weeks. No joke! I have known women who had no choice but to hurry back that quickly because of the serious loss of income in their household.
In fact, The Slate reported that the census polls have shown 25% of women going back to work less than two months after giving birth, and 10% go back at less than four weeks. While that is the minority… that is still a huge chunk of women, and babies being impacted by this.
But why is it such a big deal? I mean does a baby really know who is taking care of them… are they really going to be seriously impacted because their mom returns to the work force before they are a year old?
Well, some studies say yes!
That 2005 Economic Journal study of American women who returned to work within 12 weeks showed that infants whose mothers went back even earlier were likely to have more behavioral problems and lower cognitive test scores at age 4. The authors speculated that the difference might have stemmed from the superior care babies receive from parents, as opposed to other caregivers. It might also have something to do with attunement, the crucial developmental process through which parent and newborn adjust to each other.
That is case number one for better maternity leave in the United States… but if that wasn’t a good enough case, or strong enough evidence to get on the band wagon and follow suit with most European nations – this next study just might be!
In another study published in the Economic Journal in 2005, American babies whose mothers were back at work within 12 weeks were less likely to get doctors’ visits and immunizations and be breast-fed. All this makes intuitive sense, of course: Checkups can help diagnose and treat illnesses, but they are hard to schedule when you’re working. And while exclusive breast-feeding for at least six months has been shown to prevent respiratory infections, bacterial meningitis, and other illnesses, going back to work can make it difficult if not impossible.
Again another case for better maternity leave programs.
No one is asking for a free ride till children are in school, just a decent amount of bonding time with their infant… give mothers 40 weeks without worrying about paying the bills, making ends meet, or losing her job for good in such a crappy economy, and our country will reap the benefits in the long term.
Don’t you agree?
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I totally agree! I was lucky enough to be pregnant and deliver in Korea, where new mothers and their babies are well taken care of. We weren’t offered 40 weeks, but it was better than what many in the U.S. are given. The Korean gov’t also provides all pregnant women (citizens or not) a free debit card worth between $300.00 and $400.00 to help with medical costs. Coming back to the U.S. was a bit of a slap in the face as far as far as resources for mom and babies, but we’re making do.
I agree that we should have a lot more time than we do, though maybe not 40 weeks. How about 8 weeks leave with full salary paid, 4 more weeks at 80% salary, 4 more weeks at 60% salary, etc. I think that’s similar to many EU nations.
I leave in a country where we get 1 year of maternity leave. We pay every month 11.7% of the paycheck for what is called social and health security and it is used as pay for the sick and maternity leaves. Here it is the state in control of the health but it will change soon. As for the maternity leave it is divided in 35 days full pay before the baby is born as prenatal leave and it is 5 months antenatal leave with 80% pay, 6 additional months with 50% pay. The state has a limit to the paycheck they sustain as maximum to be payed but it is quite helpful and comfort on knowing that you are caring for the baby and contributing to the family too. It is amazing and liberating and wonderful. It is sad that not all women use it especially career women but many use it. We were a country with only 40 days of maternity leave and it sucked, a lot. I remember my mom using her lunch break to run to breastfeed my little brother. Honestly, the countries without maternity leave remind me of communist countries where no value is put to the new generation and women are seen only as work force and not as mothers.
I live…i meant to write i live…
Yes, yes, yes! I was blessed to have my parents be able to watch both our daughters until they turned 1, but we are expecting a third child and it’s too much to ask them to watch this baby as they are in their 70s and need to focus on some health concerns. I don’t know what I’m going to do when I have to send my infant to be cared for by a daycare where they won’t get the love and attention they need.
Not feasible. Employers could not afford it and taxes would go up heavily if you want the government to foot the bill. People beyond or done with child bearing would also get resentful for paying such a high tax for someone else’s prolific baby making. I really don’t see how an employer could save a job for someone for 40 weeks. That is almost a year! I could not do it in my business. It would scare business owners into trying to hire mostly men and no child bearing age women. I think it would mess up all the hard work it took women to get into the workplace and even further discriminate working pregnant women or pregnant women looking for a job.