How much parental leave did u take?

[keith9duffy]

@aihi I get 16 weeks and plan to take every last minute + tack on some saved vacation and possibly extra FMLA or part time for a few weeks. Baby is due in May, and my hope is leave will get me through to September, and then I can coast into the holidays and come back strong the next year. Thankfully I have a very supportive team.

 

[kene]

@aihi I took 4 weeks, I go back to work Monday. I would literally kill for more time. Take what you can family is the ONLY thing that matters

 

[slhamilton11]

@aihi Company gives me 6 weeks. I plan to take it all, and possibly follow up with another 2 weeks of my paid vacation time, depending on the situation

 

[jennee]

@aihi 14 weeks. I took 3 after birth and smeared the rest of the weeks over a year of work resulting in an extra day off per week. I'm working Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and the rest I'm off. Not really a fan of 3 days though, so eventually going back to 4.

 

[brucebetinho]

@aihi Take it all. I structured mine as 6 weeks at first, then two weeks on, one week off, for 6 weeks. I then took the remaining 4 weeks available to me as every Friday for 20 weeks. It worked out great for everyone, I think.

 

[labryan]

@aihi Take every minute. You will never look back and say “man I’m glad I gave up time with the kiddo and went back to work.” Anybody that gives you a hard time about using all your available leave is an ass and quite frankly probably lives a miserable life.

Also, the second your job has a financial hardship they will have zero regrets in laying people off. You think cutting your leave short would save anyone form that?

 

[cookybear]

@aihi i got eight weeks and took it all- no ragrets.

life is short and precious. if you suddenly passed away next year, would you rather have spent those 15 weeks at work or with your newborn?

 

[kojex2]

@aihi Lurker pre-mom here. We're due with our first in April. I get two weeks paid and have to take anything else unpaid. My husband gets zero days, so he'll be using one, maybe two, weeks of his three weeks of vacation. Neither of us is eligible for FMLA.

He does work from home, but is in sales for a company with manageable but still pretty demanding metrics, so a) he can't slack off and b) in sales, the work you do today affects your success and pay months down the line, so we couldn't afford for him to be away from his phone for very long anyway. We don't have a ton of help as my parents are both still working and his aren't in the picture.

The idea of birth doesn't really scare me. The idea of recovering on my own with a newborn after he goes back to work only a week in gives me the same feeling in my chest that my PTSD used to.

Take all the time your company allows. Some of it might be for you, but most of it is for your wife.

 

[katrina2017]

@aihi I took 4 weeks at 75%, then 8 weeks unpaid the first time. Then I took 6 weeks at 100% and 8 weeks unpaid the second time.

You will never, ever, ever get that time back. Ever. Take it. Screw what anyone else did. They're not you. Be brave. Stand up for what's best for you and your family.

 

[fernandez]

@aihi Only 6 weeks lol

 

[stmheath7]

@fernandez Same. At least I can use the hours as I please within the year. USA! USA! USA! /s

 

[thechristianmlpfimfan22]

@aihi Do not worry one bit about how you’re viewed. If they didn’t want you to take that much time, they shouldn’t have offered that much time.

Personally, I took 4 weeks because that was the amount that was legally protected by my state. My boss even tried to get me to take less but I told him to back off. I’m glad I did too, because my wife dealt with some postpartum depression and some breastfeeding issues, and I don’t think we would have survived if I went back to work early.

All that to say, take as much time as you can. It really does fly by and you’ll always wish for more time, so soak it all up and be there for your family.

 

[talkthecross]

@aihi Mine gives 12 weeks and i took an additional 4 in pto. I used 6 weeks when baby came and then 10 later when my wife's ran out. She had to take hers consecutively, and i didn't.

 

[smleroy17]

@aihi I took 12 weeks… in a row… after 2 weeks of vacation time when baby was born. It was nice

Edit: 4 of the 12 weeks I had to use sick time

 

[kevin9626]

@aihi I had 24 weeks and took it all in 2 chunks. Take it all! It’s better for your family and they really do grow up so fast.

 

[mercyme65]

@aihi I was only entitled to the statutory two weeks, so I saved half my annual leave to take immediately afterwards. I managed to get about six weeks off including by pure coincidence a week before the birth.

 

[jesusiscoming01]

@aihi Take every bit. I will say that after 8 weeks, I was ready to get back to work for a little bit. In another month I’ll be taking another 8 weeks.

 

[marshandy]

@aihi Take it all. I took a similar amount.

If you don't, you won't be looking back at it 30 years from now when your kid is all grown up, thinking "gee I'm glad I worked those extra months".

 

[bppartner]

@aihi Take it all. I wish I had even half of that.

I’m a civil service employee for our local government. Our parental leave is broken up into childbirth leave (4 weeks) and child bonding leave (2 weeks). It’s a fucking joke what they allow us to have for parental leave.

So as the father I’m allowed to take 2 weeks. I’ll be taking those 2 weeks and then usually annual leave as well afterwards.

 

[seahorse67]

@aihi Take it all. I got 10 weeks paid for each daughter when it was unheard of. My only recommendation is to do a solid chunk, then grade-out the tail end so it's not just an abrupt hard switch for your partner.