Mamamia Out Loud FREE SUBS TASTER: Mia Enters The 'Working Mums' Chat
Mar 5, 2026
A frank chat about the pressure to keep working after kids and the financial and emotional math of parental choices. They unpack breastfeeding brain fog, childcare strategies, and shifting ambition after baby. The conversation explores how career plans change over time and the messy trade offs of working motherhood.
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Unexpected Wrench In Ambition After Baby
- Mia Freedman described her immediate assumption she'd return to work after maternity leave and even planned to be contactable during leave.
- Her editor insisted on a longer leave and Mia later felt a wrench in ambition after birth that changed over time.
Don't Quit Your Job While On Maternity Leave
- Do not make permanent career decisions while on maternity leave; Mia's mother warned against quitting during that period.
- Mia's mum contrasted temporary maternity leave with making the leave your whole life as a cautionary check.
You Can't Predict Postpartum Work Feelings
- Mia argues you can't know if staying home will suit you while on maternity leave because options feel like a black box before birth.
- The decision changes after having a baby; feelings about work and home shift and may reverse over time.