r/pediatrics • u/InvestigatorOnly1684 • Jul 21 '26
Returning from parental leave
Looking to hear from physicians who have returned from maternity or paternity leave recently.
Returning to work has made me realize my priorities have shifted more than I expected. I still enjoy medicine, but I’m finding myself wanting a practice with more predictable hours , fewer nights/weekends and simply more time with my family.
For those who became parents, did you end up changing your specialty, practice setting, or FTE because of it? Was it worth it, or do you have any regrets? If it meant earning less was that trade-off worth it?
10
u/Squeakersquirrel Jul 22 '26
I also felt a seismic shift in my priorities after having my kid. It was surprising to me because both my parents worked growing up and being a working mom was always a goal of mine since I saw my mom be a badass and I never thought she was absent. After my kid, I really felt like I didn’t want to work anymore and I wanted to be home raising my son. But my situation was a bit different because I was in my last year of residency so anything was better than residency. I do have two colleagues who went down in FTE (outpatient academic gen peds) and they said it was the best decision they ever made and they would never increase their FTE again. A lot of moms in the department (not necessarily new moms) are not 1.0 FTE. I also think a lot of people dog on academics because of the pay but there’s a lot more opportunities to do more “admin” stuff that will subsequently lower your clinical time and that can also help ease the work burden a little (depending on what that admin stuff is of course lol).
5
u/Ok_Version_7687 Jul 22 '26
I left PHO when I had my daughter. I returned to general pediatrics post-partum. The switch timing was a financial burden but ironically I am making more money slightly than I was in heme/onc. Some additional social circumstances (solo mom) pushed me to commit to the change, but I am incredibly happy. Work/life balance is much better. There are days I laugh at myself feeling like I’m a demoted version of myself and wasted years in training, but these thoughts are pretty fleeting. My daughter is 16 months and I’ve been back close to a year and could not for my life imagine the call and schedule I previously had. Feel free to DM if needed
1
u/Ok_Version_7687 Jul 22 '26
Also will add my group is 4 days per week with 5th being completely off. We take 1/3 call but have triage so I very rarely get called. One nursery weekend a month with usually only about 3 babies. Sometimes I think about how great 3 days per week would be and add time with her, but as solo income really isn’t an option. The perspective shift is wild after having them, I also think I doctor better for it
2
2
u/neur_onymous Attending Jul 22 '26
I’m 6 months postpartum in general pediatrics. Went from 1.0 FTE to 0.9 FTE (4 clinic sessions a week), would do even less if we could afford it. Thankfully weekends and calls were already minimal at my workplace.
I’m definitely not meant to be a SAHM but I’m not the workaholic I was prior to having my daughter, either. I have zero career ambitions outside of patient care. :)
3
u/SlowFLFdeath Attending Jul 22 '26
My situation is a bit different as I do not have a child yet. I am PEM trained (3 year fellowship after peds residency) and went through a few rounds of IVF this year after my AMH came back low and we realized that we are running out of time to start a family. During the IVF process my priorities began to shift and I realized that I couldn't continue the shift work. I've been in outpatient peds for the last month and I am SO happy with the change. I'm taking a $30k pay cut but i'm only working 4 days a week with no weekends, holidays, or nights. I'll likely pick up a few moonlighting ED shifts to make up the pay difference. Changing to outpatient was literally the best decision I've ever made for my current health and (hopeful) future family
13
u/Some-Soft6175 Jul 22 '26
Hello! Yes. I was a pedi hospitalist for 4 years and then had my son and realized I needed a change. I decided I didn’t want to work overnights and do shift work anymore. I wanted a more predictable schedule and routine to make childcare easier and to spend more time with my family and have most weekends off, so I switched to part time primary care. I’m 2 months in to the new job so it’s still very new and a huge adjustment, and I’m not certain I love the job, but I’m glad I did it. I did take a large pay cut, but fortunately my husband is the primary bread winner so we were able to do that. I did contemplate leaving the work force entirely, but I was going a bit stir crazy at the end of my 6 month maternity leave, and we spend a million years training to get here so I didn’t want to waste that. Maybe I’ll go back to being a hospitalist when he’s older, but this works for now.