Deciding whether or not to return to work following maternity leave can be a tough question for every family to answer. While the issue is a highly personal one there are some financial issues to consider.

1-     Do you have paid/ partial paid or unpaid maternity leave?  The majority of U.S. businesses don’t offer paid maternity leave for women.  While FMLA allows us to keep our jobs and return at the same rate of pay, it does not cover the lost income .  Insurance companies like AFLAC will cover a percentage of your salary for “short-term disability” in the event of the birth of a child, however, for many of these insurances, you need to be covered for a period to time before you become pregnant.  When a child is born, many women end up using vacation and sick time to help, but given that you now have a baby and anything can pop up causing a missed day at work, this can cause its own problems.  (More on maternity leave in the U.S. to follow in a later post.) 

2-     Medical Bills. This one hit home for me.  I knew my insurance covered 80/20, but I didn’t know that extra day we had to stay in the hospital and the extra tests my daughter had to have would cost us over $2,000.  According to a Baby Center Survey, 39% of people paid $1,000 or more for expenses not covered by insurance.  Nine percent were hit with medical bills over $5,000.

3-     Adding your child/family to your insurance.  Many working couples retain their own company provided insurance before they have a baby.  The cost of individual insurance is much cheaper than a family plan.  When a baby is born, it will go either you or your partner’s insurance.  In some instances, it’s cheaper for all family members to move to one insurance provider.   Add to that co-pays for sick babies (babies tend to get sick more often when they are in child care) and new deductibles and the price goes up.  It’s also important to remember that while you are off on your unpaid maternity leave, you are responsible for the employee portion of your insurance (you alone, or your family).  I was offered the option of paying upfront or bi-weekly (I opted for the upfront option since I knew I’d never remember to send a check by a certain due date every two weeks).

4-     Diapers.  Diapers can be a big expense (between $80 to $130 per month for disposables).  A newborn goes through up to 10 diapers per day.  If you go the disposable route, you also need to factor in the increased cost of disposal.  Cloth diapers while eco friendly, (depending on how they are washed) can have a hefty up front cost.  In addition, you need to factor in the additional laundry (water and sewer costs) and the cost of detergent.  (Cloth diapers aside, you’ll be doing a lot more laundry between spit up, leaking breasts, etc.)  Some families go with cloth diaper services which can average between $15 to $20 per week depending on the amount of diapers used. 

The above are just a portion of the expenses this Mom came across after returning to work following maternity leave.  In part two, I’ll cover increased grocery expenses and the cost of child care.