When did the thinking change on how much time a woman should take off with her baby? Back when my father graduated from medical school in the 1930s, the universal thinking among his medical and surgical peers (who often did prenatal and delivery care) was that it took at least a year or more before the mother was back physically and mentally. But these days, that age-old clinical concept is not really accepted, and women are given clearance to return to work within 6 weeks after a vaginal birth. From a psychological perspective, that’s just not enough time.
Canada is certainly not the only industrialized country with maternity leave policies that are more reasonable. A recent report by Institute for Women’s Policy Research says that the United States is the only high-income country that does not mandate paid maternity leave for employees. The Family and Medical Leave Act 2012 survey estimates that about 35% of employees work for companies that provide paid maternity leave, and about 20% provide paid paternity leave. Of course, lower-paid employees are least likely to have paid leave.
Interestingly, Marissa Mayer, chief executive officer of Yahoo, has recently started offering new mothers and fathers 8 weeks of paid parental leave, and mothers have the option of taking an additional 8 weeks. This is not as generous as the family policies of Google, Mayer’s former employer, which offers 7 weeks of paid leave for parents who did not give birth and up to 22 weeks for new mothers. Facebook reportedly gives mothers and fathers 4 months of paid leave as well as $4,000 in "baby cash." The model set by Silicon Valley companies does a great job of addressing the needs of new mothers.
We regularly speak of the importance of mental health. However, when it comes to the mental health of expectant mothers (and fathers), we have failed to provide what most industrialized countries accept as normal: a financially secure year to heal from giving birth, and to nourish and nurture the newborn child.
We must encourage mental health advocacy organizations and politicians to put more emphasis on addressing this important issue.
Dr. London is a practicing psychiatrist and has been a newspaper columnist for 35 years, specializing in and writing about short-term therapy, including cognitive-behavioral therapy and guided imagery. He has no conflicts of interest to disclose.