I am looking into opening a home daycare and I am also trying for baby #2. What do home caregivers do for maternity leave (I know it will be a c-section already)? Would you try to open a home care center or wait until after baby #2? Would you tell the parents upfront that we are trying? Just wanting to figure out if this is a good time to start or if I should stay at my current teaching job. Thanks!

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I would suggest keeping your teaching job. It is challenging to interview and start home childcare but to do so when you know that you likely will be adding to your family soon is going to be a lot. Yes many parents will hesitate to start with you if you look visibly pregnant or if you mention a c section (meaning you physically need a longer maternity leave). I went thru three pregnancies and with one of them, I was back to working within days of the birth. You just dont get the luxury of a lot of time off, certainly not weeks of paid time off. If you take weeks of unpaid, you will likely lose some clients. people dont want to deal with starting their kid at a new place, then finding long term backup, then readjusting back to the original place. If you decide to start one anyway, no I would not tell parents you are trying for a baby. That is personal information. but dont be surprised if they are upset or straight out mad when you announce the pregnancy weeks later (assuming you get pregnant quickly). The other option is to hire an assistant that can take over while you are pregnant so you can recover but the daycare continues. I did that once. Its not easy but it is an option.

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It could be tricky trying to start an day care and trying to have a baby at the same time. Its nice to be able to build up good relationships with families before telling them you're expecting. We are on baby number 3 and this is the second to be born while doing daycare. I have found a c section makes it easier for parents to schedule time off, but I also only take 2 weeks unpaid. Appointments can get tricky when they go to every 2 weeks, every week etc. I don't have a sub so I work really hard to schedule around families days/times. So far I have not lost one family due to a baby but it is much harder signing on new people while pregnant! I don't tell people we're trying exactly but under the maternity leave section in my handbook I include that we have left our family size up to God and hope to welcome more little ones into our family. Then I include what I take off etc. It gives people a heads up in a way But you def do t have to do that or say anything!

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I had 1 child while teaching middle school, 1 in between teaching and starting daycare (took off 3 months in between) and 1 while doing a home daycare. The middle was the least stressful and I was able to gradually add more children as I recovered/adjusted. With #3 I took 1 month off, but had a ditsy mom just show up when I was still closed trying to drop off and texting me while in labor to figure out if I would be open the next day

I would recommend keeping your job until baby comes.

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I've had babies while teaching and while doing FCC and ITA to keep your job until after Baby because it's much easier to get time off from teaching than from FCC.

But after Baby comes I think it's easier to be in FCC than teaching - if you didn't get enough sleep the night before you can have a low-tempo, more relaxing day, which is harder to do when teaching.

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I opened my daycare when I was nine weeks pregnant with my son . I was very upfront with all my families that I was pregnant. And that any maternity leave I may take would depend on how the birth went. I had three families signed up by the time I went into labor. My water broke at 10 o'clock Friday night after working a full day at daycare, my son was born Saturday afternoon at 38 weeks. It was memorial day weekend so I was already closed Monday, I wound up taking Tuesday off, then daycare was back open on Wednesday with my husband helping .

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You had families start with you while you were newly pregnant?

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I would stay at your current job (provided you like it and it's not overly stressful) and quit after baby comes. You probably actually get a "real" mat leave with your job. You won't with dc.
I had my youngest my first year of dc and took 6 weeks after the birth. I was also pulled early for bedrest. I only had one client at the time and they came back, but I imagine others would not. I was okay either way, as that is time you will never get back.

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