Maternity Leave?

Have any of you had a child while you were a childcare provider? My husband and I are trying to conceive a baby and I was wondering what every else did once they had the baby. Did you take time off, if so how long? Did you get paid for your time off? Did you have a back up person while you were off, or did all your families need to find alternate care? Did any of your families leave, or did most come back? Did you get right back into the swing of things and not take any time off? I am interested to see how everyone else has handled maternity leave situations while you area childcare provider? Thanks

I am about to go through this, I am due July11th and I have a 7 yr old and an almost 4 yr old of my own. Here is what I am doing.
I did find alternate care, although one of the families refuses to use it, so they are on their own. One family will use my alternate.
I will not be paid for my time off as the families will be paying someone else to care for the kids.
I am taking 2 weeks off from one family, IM actually hoping to extend this time off up to a month because the mom is by far the most difficult I have to deal with.
The other family will be gone from the time I go into labor (unless I request some time off before as well, the mom of these kids is being very great about the pregnancy and time off) The kids from that family will return Sep first.
I am very much hoping to lose the family that is giving me problems anyway, so if they leave....it wont hurt my feelings

I am also interested in the responses to this question

[Michael]

Here are some more posts from our TAGS at the bottom left page: https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.p...aternity+leave

https://www.daycare.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11059

[GretasLittleFriends]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Have any of you had a child while you were a childcare provider? My husband and I are trying to conceive a baby and I was wondering what every else did once they had the baby. Did you take time off, if so how long? Did you get paid for your time off? Did you have a back up person while you were off, or did all your families need to find alternate care? Did any of your families leave, or did most come back? Did you get right back into the swing of things and not take any time off? I am interested to see how everyone else has handled maternity leave situations while you area childcare provider? Thanks

Can I answer these questions in oh, say 4 weeks? Next week is my last week before I go on leave. We're planning to induce May 3rd. I'm taking the week before off just in case I go into labor early. As long as everything goes as well as expected I plan to reopen Monday May 10th.

I did NOT provide back up care for my families. I operate 24/7 and most of my families are 2nd shift. They have either made arrangements with family members or slightly rearranged their schedules to have their children taken care of. They are all well aware that my reopen date is subject to change and are very flexible.

When I had my son (who is 5 1/2 now) I was ready to go back to work within a week. I of course wasn't allowed to, but I figured this time since I work from home, so I can wear comfy clothing, nap when the kids are at school, not have to place the newborn in care, and my husband will be home for a bit things should work fine.

[skittles]

Hi, I am due for a baby in Sept and I also have a seven and a four year old. I am closing two weeks (not paid) which I usually do for vacation time anyway. And I have hired a sub for four weeks so I can have six weeks off. I have seven families and I am a home day care. My sub is going to have my pay excluding groceries for just the daycare. Hope this helps.
-cf

[jen]

I took off 8 weeks when I had my daughter. I didn't help anyone find back up, but they all did and they all came back...

[MarinaVanessa]

I am also pregnant but I am not due until the end of the year. I am only planning to take a two-week leave depending on how the delivery goes and how I feel. If everything goes as well as my first delivery then I may only take a week off or even just a few days. If for some reason I have to have a c-section then I will deffinetely take more time off. I take infants anyway and so A small baby like that isn't that rare around here so I'll be able to take care of my infant while I take care of the rest of the kids. My youngest DC kid is 8 months and by then he'll be a year old so taking care of my infant won't be so hard. If I find someone to sub for me then I'll provide an alternate but other wise they'll have to find alternate care. I would rather not take a lot of time off though because I was also scared that families would not return. I also have my sister as my assistant so she'll be helping me out also.

[boysx5]

I also did this when I was having my five sons. I took two weeks off but would suggest taking more time off wish I had done that. I offered back up care if they wanted to use that person if not they were on their own. I did not get paid for the weeks I took off.

Well, it happened fast and we are expecting in Dec. LOL We are So, so excited, I am just nervous about taking the time off, but it is what it is and my family comes first!! I am only a couple of weeks! When did you tell your daycare families you were expecting?? I think mine will find out sooner when my 5 year old decides to spill the beans! LOL