While some people are quite vocal in expressing their opinions that good mothers give up work to stay at home with their children, there has never been any scientific evidence to prove that children are harmed if their mothers work. Rather, a childs well-being and development is far more influenced by the amount of stress in the family and the quality of the child-care.

A womans decision to return to work must take into account her and her familys needs. Initially, its a good idea to wait at least three or four months after the birth of a baby to return to work to ensure that a strong parent-child relationship has been established. Securing proper childcare is vital to the success of the transition back to work. Start early in planning for the care of your baby and consider the following points:

Interview several childcare providers. Do not hesitate to ask plenty of questions.

Ask for references, credentials, and certificates of qualification.

Take a tour of any childcare facility that you are considering. Pay attention to how the other children are cared for, the condition and cleanliness of the facility, and the actions and behaviours of the employees.

Dont feel pressured to choose an option that isnt just right. You may find that it isn't a good fit for you and your child.

Have a back-up childcare option, in case your child becomes ill.

Dot hesitate asking your employer if you can ease back into work by starting with part-time hours or a flexible schedule.

Have your child visit the carer a few times before you start back to work to ease him or her into the new situation.

Make sure that you provide the carer with plenty of breastmilk/formula, bottles, nappies, and a change of clothes, as well as a few familiar toys to comfort your child.

Maternity rights legislation has been operating in the UK with only minor changes since 1979. Under these rules a mother who has worked with the same employer for two years and who has stopped working later than 11 weeks before the expected due date can take up to 29 weeks leave after the birth and be guaranteed a return to their previous job. For 18 weeks the mother is financially compensated after which any further leave taken is unpaid. In this paper we use a cohort of 12,000 (pregnancies and) births that occurred in the UK county of Avon UK in 1991 and 1992 to examine the effect of maternity rights on mothers post-birth return to employment decisions. We aim to disentangle the effects of the terms of maternity rights entitlements from the effects of other factors (such as household wealth, personal preferences and labour market opportunities) that influence the timing of a

mothers return to work.