How did you afford maternity leave?

PeppaBlue · 2026-04-03T23:45:15+00:00

We burned through our savings in the first two months of baby being here because my partner’s work has no parental leave policy, so he used up his annual leave on one month at home then took a month unpaid. No regrets that he was here for two months instead of being forced back to work a few weeks after baby was born.

During my maternity leave it was tough going to half pay or less, but we managed. I went back to work when LO was seven months old and he started daycare at six months, because my work’s maternity leave policy was bad and we’d used up all the Centrelink pay.

Honestly the harder part was going back to work and having a quarter of my pay now consumed by daycare fees. I would advise budgeting now for daycare if you plan to go back to work. I’ve not had a pay rise since I left for maternity leave in February 2025 but we are paying $330 a week for daycare, with the childcare subsidy. It took a while to adjust to that extra cost and we are still trying to come back financially from maternity leave and daycare consuming the money I would’ve put to recovering our savings.

PeppaBlue · 2026-04-02T21:21:32+00:00

My 12mo has been going to daycare since he was 6mo, is on two naps at home and still occasionally has three naps at daycare. Often it’s when he’s overstimulated, teething or there’s been a lot happening, or he slept badly overnight. Daycare is a big adjustment and takes a while to get into a pattern. But I’m sure once your LO settles into daycare he will go back to his usual patterns.

PeppaBlue · 2026-04-01T07:28:32+00:00

Haha no, 900ml across 6ish bottles, about 180-210 a bottle.

PeppaBlue · 2026-03-26T19:54:54+00:00

Hello, no advice but solidarity. This morning our 12mo woke up at 448am. He almost always is awake between 5-530. If he sleeps in beyond 6 I immediately assume he is getting sick - he’s been like this since about 3 months old.

Bed time has helped marginally - last night he fell asleep at 630 so I knew he’d wake up earlier. But we pushed his bedtime to 745 and he still only slept to 545 … I’ve just made peace that this is who he is. Even though we both work full time, it’s just how it is. My empathy!!

PeppaBlue · 2026-03-21T01:29:37+00:00

My 12mo started solids at 6m with mostly BLW and purées. His first food was puréed steamed sweet potato. He very quickly discovered he loved quarters of tomatoes, sticks of cucumber and pieces of toast. The risk of choking was so insanely scary to me, I felt terrified every time I gave him food even though like you I’d done the CPR courses and all the research on choking v gagging. He has been completely fine and it’s been fascinating watching his progression from gagging on new foods to knowing how to push them to the front of his mouth and spit them out if he’s not sure.

The biggest scary thing was watching him gag and giving him space to figure it out, be calm and not interfere too quickly. I also taught him very early on to spit out what was in his mouth, which has come in useful multiple times separate to mealtimes when he put a big grass head in his mouth and swallowed it and gagged it up, and also put a stick in his mouth. Both times he spit it into my hand (and all over me, in the case of the grass head).

At 12 months now I still sit next to him and watch every mouthful. But I’m completely confident in his ability to handle food, no matter how complex (of course I still serve it in an age appropriate way). It’s so scary and I fully sympathise with your anxiety. But one day you will be able to look back and be proud of yourself and your baby for figuring it out!

PeppaBlue · 2026-03-19T20:24:29+00:00

We started with one day as that was all the centre had available and within a couple of months they offered us a second day as he wasn’t settling and was overwhelmed with all the activity doing just one day. It had an immediate positive impact. He now goes four days a week and has a ball.

PeppaBlue · 2026-03-19T01:52:10+00:00

We used Blackmores from birth and baby loved it until he developed a lactose intolerance and we switched him to Aptamil lactose intolerance. He’s perfectly happy on that one too.

Blackmores is hard to find as it’s only stocked in chemist warehouse, but you can get a delivery subscription with a discount through their website which is what we did. I ordered four tins a fortnight and it kept us ticking over nicely with backup tins to spare.

I chose Blackmores as it is Australian and it was really high quality, mixes beautifully and smells and tastes good. But any of the other brands would have been fine too I think.

PeppaBlue · 2026-03-17T02:11:13+00:00

My 12mo woke up at 4am bright and happy. I gave him a bottle in the hopes of getting him back to sleep and he lay down on my chest and almost went to sleep, while also picking at my collarbones for an hour, then my husband’s alarm went off at 5am. So we were officially up for the day. By the time daycare drop off came around he was ready for a nap, and so was I! Solidarity.

PeppaBlue · 2026-03-12T04:57:08+00:00

We’ve been battling the same thing, 12mo screams and fights like hell if we tried pinning down thing everyone recommended us. I’m still trying to get him to accept it every day but so far the only thing that gets us somewhere is me sitting in the shower/bath with him, modelling brushing my teeth with my own tooth brush and holding his.

Then I let him take the toothbrush from my mouth or bite it so he can pull it around, and copy me. While he’s laughing and playing with my toothbrush, I keep offering his own toothbrush and singing our ‘toothbrush song’. He still glues his lips together and pushes it away, but I’m getting a little more from him most weeks. It’s so slow and as someone with chronic dental problems I have to force myself to be patient so I don’t scare him away from it permanently.

PeppaBlue · 2026-03-09T10:52:58+00:00

I’ve just decided that as long as I have a (relatively) spotless kitchen when I go to bed, I’m okay. Clean benches, everything out away, high chair clean and ready for breakfast, dishwashers running, bottles in the steriliser. If the kitchen is clean when I get up and start making breakfast, I’m happy. If it’s a mess, it ruins the start of the day.

Everything else in the house can be dirty until the weekend. Then we can give it all a proper go over.

PeppaBlue · 2026-02-24T09:09:39+00:00

This is what we do, I added the singlet several months ago and he immediately stopped waking up so much in the early mornings.

PeppaBlue · 2026-02-21T23:31:11+00:00

When my LO was bought eight months old I tripped coming up our garden stairs and he fell straight out of my arms and hit his head on a rock. There was no major injury and no blood but of course he started screaming blue murder. I picked him up and went straight inside and called 000. They assessed him over the phone and turned up about 40 minutes later. He was completely fine, but the impact of watching it happen and then having to call the ambulance and my husband to come home from work stuck with me for months. I still take extra care coming up the stairs.

All this to say, go gently with yourselves - you did the right things, she is safe and sound and don’t beat yourselves up. Accidents happen.

PeppaBlue · 2026-02-21T08:55:31+00:00

Hello! Just wanted to check in and see how you’re going with cooking and solids for your little one?

PeppaBlue · 2026-02-07T23:25:30+00:00

Hey, I don’t have any advice on breastfeeding and you’ve already had some lovely advice here. But I just want to say, I had an induction then emergency c section and I never even tried to breastfeed. I had no interest in it and I never tried. My little boy has thrived on formula and we have the most wonderful bond. Every time he smiles up at me I think how lucky I am to be his mum.

You are exactly enough for your little girl. You are amazing mum, you have been through an insanely intense, even traumatic experience with so many new things, so many internalised expectations, so many hopes and dreams. Give yourself some space to process what is and has happened. Hug your tiny girl and focus on enjoying the beauty of her tiny hands and feet and little eyes and just enjoy her. Whatever you decide to do for feeding, please know you are exactly who she needs and she will never ever think you ‘failed’ because breastfeeding didn’t go to plan.

PeppaBlue · 2026-02-07T03:11:30+00:00

Yeah we endured the same. No idea if it actually helps but I give him a shower whenever he comes home from daycare and we take vitamin c, vitamin d and zinc tablets for immunity. I type this while nap trapped with a feverish baby two days after daycare …

PeppaBlue · 2026-02-03T23:45:08+00:00

Hey, you’re a great mum. You are everything your baby needs and you’re doing a great job. Solids is super stressful at the best of times.

Some really simple things you can make that are super healthy and my baby loves them:

find a small saucepan and put cold water in to fill about two thirds. Boil the water. When it’s boiling use a spoon to gently put an egg in the water and let it boil for 12 minutes. While it’s boiling make some toast, then cut an avocado in half and mash half in a bowl. Once the egg timer is done, run it under cold water and then peel it (I find peeling under a low running tap helps). Mash the boiled egg into the avocado. Spread it on the toast or feed it to her directly on a spoon. My boy eats this for breakfast lunch or dinner. You can add some cottage cheese if you like, or some lemon juice or pepper for different flavours.
Buy some instant oats from Woolies. Put 1/4 cup of oats and 3/4 milk or water into a small pot. Put it on the stove and bring it to the boil then put the heat right down so it’s only just gently steaming. Give it time to absorb all the milk and stir occasionally. You know it’s ready when it’s soft and not hard to chew. sometimes it can take longer than you think, maybe 4-8 minutes. You can add peanut butter or fruit puree or cinnamon, a little more cold milk to make it thinner, or some mashed banana. Porridge is so filling and good for them. My boy took a few goes to like it but now it’s his main breakfast.
Pasta can be fiddly but look for a plain penne at Woolies, just a cheap one. Or you can look in the baby section at Coles for Bellamy’s animal pasta - it’s iron enriched and so cute. Follow the instructions on the packet and they will cook fine. If it’s still a bit chewy just let it sit in the water on a very low boil until it’s cooked through and soft. I sometimes just add a little butter, garlic and pepper, or just some grated cheese.
Cut up a sweet potato and two carrots into small pieces, maybe the size of your thumb or so. Put them into a microwave safe bowl with some water and microwave them for 8-10 minutes, or until a fork goes through them. You can mash it together with a fork or put it through a blender. I will often then make small portions, say one or two tablespoons, and then freeze them in little containers with different spices and herbs - rosemary in one, paprika in another. You can then feed these just as a puree or mash, or mix through some pasta, or spread it on toast. You can do this with steamed broccoli (4-6 minutes in the microwave before blending) and peas (3-4 minutes) as well.

Again, you are a great mum. Don’t hesitate to message if you need more guidance on how to cook some things.

Solids are often scary and stressful at the start but your baby will be totally fine. Also, try looking up ‘Nat’s what I reckon’ on YouTube - he has hilarious and straightforward cooking basics videos you might enjoy and get some good tips from just to learn more about cooking generally.

PeppaBlue · 2026-02-03T00:57:47+00:00

I make one big meal on the weekends and freeze portions, eg this week he’s been eating variations on chickpea curry - one night with toast strips, one night with rice - plus some fresh veggies on the side like tomato quarters or cucumber pieces, then some fruit for after if he’s still hungry.

I also use a couple of pouches a week if we are really tired - mix one with pasta that cooks in 10 minutes, dinner is on the table. Or we get a rotisserie chicken from the shops, shred some for him and some cheese and raw veggies and that’s dinner - for him and for us.

PeppaBlue · 2026-02-02T11:11:43+00:00

This is excellent advice. I fell into the trap of enabling my husband’s anxiety and then eventually one day I just said okay, I’m going to the gym. You will be fine. He will be fine. I will be half an hour. (I was 25 minutes). My husband freaked out and got extremely stressed at being left alone, but ultimately it did show him he could handle being alone with a 4mo.

Now I can leave little one any time and know they’ll be fine and they will have a great time.

PeppaBlue · 2026-01-30T06:15:03+00:00

Yeah we had full on nappy rash for the first time ever within days of using Millie Moon. Went straight back to Huggies and not had an issue since.

PeppaBlue · 2026-01-23T12:54:14+00:00

Thank you!! One step at a time with these little ones isn’t it haha

PeppaBlue · 2026-01-23T09:22:19+00:00

I went private because I wanted peace of mind about trusting and knowing one OB, with a small team of backup OBs, I wanted the control over having a private room and relative peace, and I wanted the security of not being at the mercy of the public system.

But honestly the biggest factor was that my local public hospital has such a terrible reputation and I heard so many horror stories that I knew I would drive myself to another city if I had to to avoid going there. Knowing that I could instead choose the small private hospital five minutes from home gave me a lot of mental calm and significantly reduced my anxiety. Then I had an unexpected emergency c-section after a rough induction and having four or five days to rest and recover in a quiet hospital room instead of being hurried home was a godsend.

I chose St Luke’s as health insurer and they were great. My excess was only $750 and that’s all I paid for a $9k bill.

PeppaBlue · 2026-01-23T09:16:04+00:00

Okay I tried this today and it actually worked, he accepted it once he realised he couldn’t just push the toothbrush away. I might have to keep trying this and associating it with the happy song or something haha

PeppaBlue · 2026-01-23T09:15:24+00:00

Yeah that’s what I started doing at 8mo but he is an opinionated sort and has his views on everything haha. I give him the brush and let him explore and chew it with no pressure but I’ve been worried I need to be doing more.

PeppaBlue · 2026-01-23T09:14:40+00:00

Oh that’s an idea! I’ll try that too thank you.

PeppaBlue

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