Last week an article on Babble.com made me wonder why people think the U.S. is so great. Sure, we have Thanksgiving, apple pie, the right to bear arms, and freedom of speech, but when it comes to maternity leave, we are not the land of the free.
image from guardian.co.uk
In the good ‘ol U.S. a new mom is guaranteed only 12 weeks of unpaid leave in which to endure the final weeks of pregnancy, deliver and welcome a new person to this world. By contrast, countries in the European Union currently have a minimum maternity leave of 14 weeks FULLY PAID. And they’ve just passed a draft law requiring employers to extend the paid leave to 20 weeks. Some countries already offer this, for example, Norway offers 18 weeks of paid maternity leave, plus 26 additional weeks, ALSO PAID, which can be split between either parent.
Are the first few months with a baby harder if you live in Europe? Why does their government recognize, respect and support new moms so much more than the U.S.? WTF?
May 22, 2013 at 10:49 am 
April 28, 2013 at 4:28 pm 
Jeannie Frohring McClure Scott had very similar issues for a while. He went to many different specialist. Ruled out celiac, but he does have a gluten issue. He's been gluten free for some time know and feels so much better. Have you considered this?
May 2, 2013 at 1:03 pm