How do I prepare for maternity leave?

You’ve packed your hospital bag, washed the baby clothes, notified work about leave dates… are you also feeling personally prepared for taking time away from work and your career?

I asked people who’d recently returned from maternity leave what advice they’d have for a friend preparing for leave with the benefit of 20;20 hindsight. Many responded saying prepare for your return and how you’ll communicate with work sooner.

How to prepare for taking parental leave from your career

I’ve published a guide to take you step-by-step through the preparation that antenatal classes don’t cover:

💬 COMMUNICATION - how, when and what will you communicate with your workplace about during your leave?
📝 POLICIES - what are the relevant policies you need to know about to plan your leave and return?
❤️‍🩹 PHYSICAL & MENTAL WELLBEING - what do you need to do to protect this?
🕸️ SUPPORT NETWORK - who's in it?
😃 CAREER CONFIDENCE - what do you want to be known for?
🏢 RETURN TO WORK - what does a great return look like?

This guide will suit parents taking leave from employment, as an expectant self-employed parent I'm thinking about what might be useful for people in these shoes too. If that's you too I'd love to chat and I’ll share my thoughts on what was helpful when I return around the end of the year.