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Author here! The subtext to this piece is that this is really about coping with the fact that grad students and postdocs in the US rarely get much parental leav

Author here! The subtext to this piece is that this is really about coping with the fact that grad students and postdocs in the US rarely get much parental leave. My institution offers two paid weeks off following childbirth. There’s FMLA but few grad student and postdocs can afford to take unpaid leave. Postdoc parents get very little support and everybody who does it has to find their own way to manage. On top of that is the fact that gaps in your training, if you manage to get leave, hurt your chances of getting a job because it is so uncommon to actually get time off. I chose to do this because I did not find it to be miserable, although it definitely wouldn’t work for everybody. In my field (biology), it is typical to postdoc for 3-6 years so I’m actually on the early side. That postdocs take so long is definitely something that needs to be addressed, though.

k2enemy 6y ago
Thank you for the reply! I'm sorry for the poor leave conditions at your institution. It would be great if you got more (paid) time off and were able to participate in work in a voluntary fashion rather than out of necessity. I was lucky that when my first was born my institution began a policy of a semester of paid leave for the mother or partner. As others have pointed out though, it seems to have a drawback that partners are more likely to use it for extra research time, which tends to raise tenure standards for everyone, including mothers. I think the problem is larger than a policy can address. We need a culture change. And enjoy the baby wearing! Mine are too big now and I miss it dearly.