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Traveling During Maternity Leave – 12+ Reasons To Do It

There are a number of people that don’t agree with my decision to travel during maternity leave. I have learnt this through the backlash I received in the media when our story went viral.

People’s concerns were always the same – “You’re selfish, this is about you, not the baby” or “What about travel vaccinations?” or “How did you finance it?”

I felt I could answer everyone’s questions but essentially it’s each to their own I think! No harm came to our daughter and we had the most amazing first year of her life, all together as a family.

We packed up our home when our newborn was ten weeks old, sold our car and rented out the house to travel.

We started our trip off visiting Singapore first, a few months in New Zealand followed by an epic journey commencing in Australia and through a large proportion of South East Asia. All before our daughter turned one!

I know many people have envied our trip because they may have been too scared to do it themselves. It’s been so lovely for us to hear we have already inspired many others to take the leap since they’ve heard our story.

If you are presently on maternity leave or looking for work during these early months of becoming a parent, exploring online jobs could potentially make travel more affordable.

12 Reasons To Travel During Maternity Leave

travel during maternity leave
traveling during maternity leave

Let me see if I can help you to make the decision to travel on maternity leave…

1. When else will you have this period of time off again?

I just feel it’s an opportunity not to be missed. Now, I know Mums outside the U.K have different maternity leave entitlements so it makes it near impossible to do what we did if you live in America, for example.

However, for the rest of us from the other places where we can have a year off, why not do something different and use your maternity leave to travel? Unless of course you are lucky enough to have a travel job.

Travel during maternity leave
traveling during maternity leave

2. You do not have to maintain a household

This is something I just loved! No cleaning or dealing with general household administration whilst trying to get used to being a new mum.

Travel during maternity leave
traveling during maternity leave

3. Quality uninterrupted time as a family

We did it together rather than doing it alone on my maternity leave.

maternity-vacation
traveling during maternity leave

4. The second parent develops an equal relationship with baby

I appreciate there are many single parents, however as Shaun was able to be with us for the majority of the year, he has an equally amazing bond with Esmé. She doesn’t just cry for Mum, she always asks for both of us which I feel is really lovely.

Travel during maternity leave
traveling during maternity leave

5. When baby is exclusively breastfed it is the best time to travel

I recently interviewed an infectious diseases doctor, Dr Sarah Logan from University College London Hospital. Her opinion was it is the best time to travel with baby when they are exclusively breastfed.

This is due to the amount of immunity they get from the milk as well as the reduced risk of water / food contamination. This is such a big topic that I wrote a whole page about family travel health here.

how-to-make-the-most-of-maternity-leave
traveling during maternity leave

6. Do it now whilst they are a little less mobile

Although we still travel extensively, I really appreciate the time we spent travelling on my maternity leave when Esmé was a baby. It is just so much easier compared to when they start walking!

Travel during maternity leave
traveling during maternity leave

7. … and before they cost an arm and a leg at age 2

I think I can safely say we have made full use of babies go for 10% before they are two. With most airlines, come two years old, it is almost full price for a toddler’s ticket making it more expensive for families.

family-gap-year
traveling during maternity leave

8. It may be more cost effective than staying at home

In our financial circumstances it was more cost effective to travel during maternity leave and spend a lot of time in South East Asia. It was the difference between having a year off and not. This is due to the cost living and a mortgage in London.

Travel during maternity leave
traveling during maternity leave

9. It’s harder to spend money than you think

So you would think it’s really expensive to travel as a small family for a long period of time but the truth is it’s harder to spend money because you just can’t fit in as much as one use to pre-baby.

During our maternity leave travel we had to take things nice and slowly, we didn’t do all the activities for obvious reasons and we didn’t drink our own body weight in alcohol (as we would have pre-baby).

maternity-leave-travel
traveling during maternity leave

10. It’s character building

Many people have said to me “she won’t remember any of it, what a waste”. I agree she won’t remember anything but as we all know baby’s brains are a sponge and absorb the most amount of information in the first year of life.

Why not expose them to a multitude of sights, smells and sounds? Why not allow them to interact with a multitude of different people from other cultural backgrounds?

Anyone that knows Esmé will surely tell you she is the most sociable baby going. I think that may be how the experience has impacted on her the most.

maternity-leave-travel
traveling during maternity leave

11. It may reduce the chances of postnatal depression

A large claim I know and I don’t have any scientific evidence to back it up. But I think if you are leading a fun-filled lifestyle alongside becoming a new mum, it can only help with reducing the blues, not make it worse.

For me, I was lucky enough to have my partner with me for the year. His constant company definitely helped. I have no idea if I would have developed postnatal depression if I stayed at home, but I certainly can see how it happens to a number of new mums.

maternity-leaving
traveling during maternity leave

12. You will take the most amazing photos and create special memories

I think one reason the media went crazy on our story was because of the tonnes of amazing photos we have of Esmé as a baby in different environments.

From sitting outside picturesque temples in Vietnam in her hippy Asian print dress, to enjoying the steepest cable care ride in the world, we are so lucky to have this evidence to show her when she gets older.

maternity-leaving
traveling during maternity leave

Ready to book? Find great deals on flights, travel insurancehotelsreliable internet, tours and rental cars!

I would love to know if you would travel during maternity leave and if we have inspired you in any way to take the leap. Make sure to leave a comment and let us know!

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Gemma Brown

Tuesday 11th of June 2019

Your thoughts and comments about post natal depression could be damaging and I would suggest that you remove that point. Post natal depression can affect any mother 1st time or 2nd or 3rd time round and beyond. Post natal depression does not develoo because the mum is not living a fun life. It can relate to hormonal changes which could develop even if a mum is traveling with her family or having a regular time at home. Your comments could affect mums who are wondering if what they are feeling is "normal",the comments could lead some to dismiss feelings or signs of depression because they consider themselves to be leading a fun lifestyle. Please consider.

Vijay Patel

Monday 27th of May 2019

Great Tips! Very Well explained and very well mentioned. I love your blog, we are travelers too & I have just become a father. I think it's very inspiring! which destinations would you like to visit with a baby, please recommend, so that we should also go someday with our baby. I just love reading your blog. Thank you for sharing. Keep Posting.

Travel Mad Mum

Tuesday 11th of June 2019

Our favorite destination for travelling with a baby was definitely Bali, although definitely take a browse through our destinations page and see if anything looks particularly good to you! All our guides are built for family travel!

whitsundays tours

Thursday 1st of November 2018

hi nice post

Maddy

Thursday 25th of October 2018

I love reading your article, I've read it a few times already. We're planning our travels on my maternity leave with our 4month old (at the time of travel). We're planning to go for 3-4 months around South East Asia. At the moment we're trying to sort out babies vaccinations. We can't wait to start travelling. We'd appreciate any extra tips.

Steph

Thursday 30th of August 2018

I am currently pregnant and when i started to think about traveling during my maternity leave (as i don't think staying in London sounds really fun) i also thought everybody would tell me i'm crazy... and then i found your blog! we are so going to do it!