New Mom Calls Out Short Maternity Leave In America With Emotional Post

Oct 10, 2019 by apost team

A recent post by a young mom from the United States made people aware once again that maternity leave is much shorter than what it should be. 

Stacey Skrysak is a writer and television journalist who has shared her experiences with infertility and difficult pregnancies over the years. On Sept. 24, she voiced her opinions on Facebook. She selected that date for her emotional post as she'd been on maternity leave for six weeks at that point.

Six weeks is the limit to how long many women are allowed to fully attend to their newborns in the U.S. Sadly, as Skrysak pointed out, a significant number of women are not even allowed that long.

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In her touching post, she said, "At just six weeks postpartum, I couldn’t imagine going back to work, yet many women go back even earlier, just a couple weeks after giving birth." She added how ridiculous she thought it was that women follow nine months of pregnancy with the expectation that their newborns are ready to be away from their moms for long periods of time just a month and a half after being born.

She also points out how many changes are experienced during these first few months after a child is born.

For example, many women endure anxiety, postpartum depression and similar conditions in addition to possible physical ailments related to the pregnancy such as bleeding.

As Skrysak writes in her post, "I’m juggling the midnight feedings and lack of sleep. I still have stitches and I’m still bleeding, an obvious sign that I have not yet recovered from delivering my baby, even six weeks later."

Also, as Skrysak points out, the babies and mothers who are separated at the six-week mark or sometimes sooner lose out on so many instances of bonding, which have profound impacts on the long-term mental and physical health of these young ones.

Mothers in many other countries get the time off that they and their babies need. New Zealand mothers receive nearly half a year paid leave while Bulgarian moms get more than a year of the same.

If you have given birth, how much time were you allowed to take? How does that compare to Skrysak's and those elsewhere in the world? Tell us your thoughts and experiences below.