can you do a phd while pregnant

Pregnant and Pursuing a PhD, the Ultimate Juggling Act

Completing a doctorate and another monumental task: having a baby

Liz Upton with her daughter, two-year-old Eleanor. Photo by Cydney Scott

Megan Woolhouse

Motherhood has its highs and lows. So does completing a PhD. But doing them together? It’s a bit like juggling chainsaws and eating a hamburger while riding a unicycle.

Competent, accomplished, and very tired, Liz Upton (GRS) has done both and has stories to tell. The 34-year-old will graduate from BU May 19th with a PhD in statistics and has already accepted a tenure track teaching position at Williams College. And she achieved this as a new mom raising a baby girl.

It’s a happy ending, one that belies Upton’s behind-the-scenes slog to success—a messy, chaotic, and sometimes frustrating journey that upended life as she knew it.

Like the time Upton was asked to present her research at a symposium in Connecticut in front of hundreds of colleagues in her field. It wasn’t the intricacies of statistical analysis that tripped her up–it was her breast pump. She had accidentally left a piece of it at home and was unable to get a replacement.

Mortified at the prospect of leaking milk during her presentation, she found herself in the hotel bathroom, expressing milk by hand and asking herself, “What am I doing with my life?”

“I would recommend getting pregnant,” Upton reflects now, without a trace of sarcasm. “As long as you know what you’re getting yourself into.”

Upton at the conference where she forgot part of her breast pump. Photo courtesy of Upton

Even statisticians like Upton can’t say the exact numbers of women who get pregnant while getting a PhD. Studies are scarce.

But more professional women who are having children over age 30 are speaking out about the reality of motherhood, in all its complicated, mashed-peas-and-carrots-on-your-clothes glory. Just Google “PhDs and pregnancy” and see the essays and comments on the subject. In a recent New York Times piece , economist Emily Oster says she envisioned a sort of air-brushed motherhood that would allow her to breastfeed an infant under a cute color-coordinated cover while joining friends for weekend brunch.

“That is not what it was like at all ,” she writes. “Like many women, I found breast-feeding incredibly hard. I have one particularly vivid memory of trying to nurse my screaming daughter in a 100-degree closet at my brother’s wedding.”

Some experts have speculated that one of the reasons men with math and science PhDs outnumber women is related to the years of intense schooling the degree requires, typically between the ages of 25 and 33, a time that also coincides with a woman’s prime childbearing years.

Those women who get their PhDs in the sciences also secure tenure track positions and tenure at lower rates than men, often because of the demands associated with marriage and children. Married women with children are about 35 percent less likely to enter a tenure track position after earning a PhD than married men with children, according to “Keeping Women in the Science Pipeline,” a 2011 article in The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science . And when they do, they are 27 percent less likely to achieve tenure than their male counterparts.

Upton says having a family was always a top priority for her and her husband, Ted Upton, a Boston entrepreneur. After graduating from the University of New Hampshire and Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, Liz Upton worked in finance and as a high school math teacher before applying to BU’s PhD program in statistics. Knowing she wanted a family, before enrolling, she asked other graduate students in the program about the feasibility of having a child.

Everyone directed her to the lone graduate student who had done both, she says.

Undeterred, Upton became pregnant early in her third year, while she was studying for her qualifying exams and teaching undergraduate classes. She apprehensively told her advisor, Luis Carvalho , a College of Arts & Sciences associate professor of mathematics and statistics, who hugged her and helped her create a flexible work schedule.

Carvalho, himself a father of two, says he tried to be both supportive and realistic. “I said, ‘It’s going to be harder on you,’” he recalls. “‘But I have no doubt you’ll ace this.’”

With her easy laugh, calm demeanor, and pearl earrings, Upton may have outwardly seemed like the picture of confidence and maternal joy. But there were tears and self-doubt, she says, as well as months of severe morning sickness—and not just in the morning.

“I vomited most days,” she says, noting that she was able to manage it with a doctor’s help. “After a few months, you just learn to deal with it. My work actually served as a distraction in some sense.”

Then she went into labor three weeks early and two days after passing her qualifying exams. Upton and her husband suddenly welcomed Eleanor into the world on November 7, 2016.

But the birth was easier than what was to come. Health complications from childbirth slowed her recovery, and Eleanor’s early arrival meant Upton still had unfinished coursework to submit to faculty. She says she gratefully took advantage of BU’s paid maternity leave for the spring 2017 semester, happy for the time with her daughter, but it was also an isolating experience.

“I actually found the weeks after childbirth to be surprisingly difficult,” she says. “I guess I wasn’t mentally prepared for the healing process to take so long.”

The exhaustion was often so intense that it made it hard to function. Upton says her husband was tremendously supportive and helpful, but could take only a week off from his business, which was hard on them both. But looking back, she says it also made it possible for him to take days off when they needed it.

Upton finished her coursework and research from home while newborn Eleanor slept, sometimes reading the same paragraph over and over. After three months, she began meeting weekly with her advisor again. By June she was excited to return to work, and motherhood had taken on new meaning.

“Eleanor reminds me of what’s important in life,” she says.

That year, Upton won the New England Statistics Symposium IBM Best Paper Award. The following year, she was given the CAS Outstanding Teaching Fellow Award. In addition to her research analyzing Boston crime data, Upton also managed a statistical consulting service at BU and created a student-led seminar on network statistics.

A semester after her return, the end within sight, Upton says, she became confident that she would complete her dissertation. Yes, there was guilt about time not devoted to her daughter, but she also began quoting Hillary Clinton: “Never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world.”

Upton says one of the benefits of working at a University is having a flexible schedule, something she used to her advantage. She worked around Eleanor’s day care, sleep, and feeding schedule, waking up at four most mornings to work on her dissertation. She and her husband alternated day care drop-off and pickup, and she occasionally brought Eleanor to department staff meetings when day care was closed due to snow.

Upton also bought a breast pump charger that allowed her to pump while commuting to work from Watertown. At the office, she pumped in a supply closet, amid old textbooks and office supplies, and later in the first floor office she shared with other female graduate students, who drew the shades to give her privacy.

Masanao Yajima , a CAS associate professor of the practice, mathematics and statistics, says if Upton struggled, she certainly didn’t show it.

As the father of a 10-month-old and a 5-year-old, he says they often shared their parenting odyssey, from teething to sleep training. “When we got down to business, she was just another PhD student,” Yajima says. “As I say this, I can imagine my wife glaring at me.

“I don’t want to give the impression that what Liz has been doing is a trivial thing,” he adds.

No offense taken, says Upton, who wanted to be treated like any other graduate student. “Getting a PhD is hard, but it is supposed to be hard. I would never want them to take it easy on me because I am a mom—or a woman.”

Upton defended her dissertation on April 3 in front of four faculty members in a nondescript classroom on the second floor of CAS. If the setting was ordinary, the mood was not. Upton’s husband, daughter, and more than a dozen extended family members had come, excited about watching.

Two minutes into Upton’s presentation, Eleanor began to cry. Upton just laughed and proceeded, thrilled that her family could learn about her years of work analyzing Boston crime data. Two hours later, Yajima, chair of the dissertation committee, ended the session with three magic words: “Congratulations, Dr. Upton.”

If it’s been a marathon so far, Upton realizes she’s been competing in an ultra. As she prepares to move to western Massachusetts, she’s now focused on expanding her family and bringing her passion for teaching statistics to Williams students. There’s also the possibility of tenure.

Suddenly the past is receding fast.

“There were times that I was so exhausted that I couldn’t function, but I can’t remember that feeling anymore,” Upton says. “Instead, I am just really excited about what the future will bring.”

Megan Woolhouse can be reached at [email protected] .

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Boston University moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation. Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. Moderators are staffed during regular business hours (EST) and can only accept comments written in English. Statistics or facts must include a citation or a link to the citation.

There are 4 comments on Pregnant and Pursuing a PhD, the Ultimate Juggling Act

You are a rockstar, Liz! Thank you so much for sharing your journey. And thanks, BU Today, for writing this story and bringing visibility to the challenges and joy of motherhood that many of us experience while working at BU.

I cried as I read the ending of the article, so inspiring! I want to pursue my PhD in engineering. But I’m 30 now and having children is still in my future. Dr.Upton blazed a trail for women and it’s encouraging to read about her journey.

Thanks for this. I’m 24 and want to go straight for my doctorates now that I’ve got my Bachelors– but having children is also heavy on my mind. Even though I know it’s better to wait, I just don’t want to wait so long that I no longer want children.

On second thought, I did a lot more research and don’t think this is a good idea for me! aha.

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PhD and pregnant: how my life changed

I should have paid heed when I was still in my work clothes of sweats and greasy hair. Everyone told me to plan a career while I was a PhD student. Don't just think deep thoughts and write about them. Frame the work in a career trajectory so that I could launch myself straight through the windows of the ivory tower before the ink on the diploma was even dry. I didn't listen. I indulged in cerebral calisthenics as its own pursuit, wallowing in the pleasure of acquiring and making knowledge without checking to see if what I had was a marketable commodity.

People (non-academics who I called civilians) would ask me what the heck my dissertation was about. I boiled it down to the simplest language I could muster: the representation of race and belonging in national narratives, specifically in sites of memory in Canada. Whaaaaat? I didn't care. I believed in what I was doing. Nothing exhilarated me quite like scholarly work. It killed me and built me a million times over.

Then I got pregnant around the time of my final rounds with committee. I was seven months at my viva. Surrounded by supportive faculty and the nicest external ever, I became a doctor, buoyed by those feel-good hormones that come with the last phase of incubation. My supervisor asked me why now? The baby was going to pulverise my brain into oatmeal mush for at least two years. Pshaw, I thought, fantasising about myself reading tomes and writing beautiful journal articles while the baby cooed and smiled at me from his crib. Not so much.

The first few months of mothering were a blur. I didn't know that the sound of newborns crying resemble hyenas in heat, or that those purple-faced screaming sessions could last for hours. I also did not know that my kid would poop and pee like a leaky boat, and that the sights and smells of his diaper contents would send me into retches so bad that I would fall to the floor gagging. The area of my brain reserved for abstract and analytical thinking shut its heavy curtains on me. Instead, the primal parts ignited in full force – feed the baby, change the baby, rock the baby, repeat. I didn't regret it. I loved my child way more than I loved my dissertation, but wow, did life change.

My baby was five months old when I received the resounding "no" from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) for a post-doc fellowship. I had three other freshly minted doctor friends gathered in my living room, each had already received their polite form letters, and we were all anticipating mine. I intercepted the letter carrier before the slim letter envelope could hit the bottom of my mailbox. I ripped it open, and our thoughts turned to alcohol. There were no jobs opening up anywhere.

The neoliberal universities were all turning to sessional and contract workers to fill in their slots and maximise their profits, and the coveted tenure-track job was becoming as elusive as the Holy Grail. When the odd posting did appear, PhDs circled like hungry sharks, presenting arms-length worth of publications and American Ivy-League credentials. What the hell were we going to do? Well, for the moment, one of us had to stay sober for the sake of the baby.

Nupur (one of the SSHRC rejects and a long-time friend) and I got particularly frantic while the other two were resigned to a thimble of rum. Let's just open a business, I screamed, still shell shocked from sleep deprivation and covered with baby puke. Yeah, she screeched back, her eyes shiny and huge with desperation. The next month, we signed a five-year lease on a storefront located around the corner from my house, and the month after that, we opened an organic grocery store. We thought of calling it PLAN B Organics, but someone else already had that name. Go figure.

Combined with six degrees and some food experience (hers), we launched into the world of entrepreneurial-dom. How hard could it be, I thought? How hard? THIS HARD. I didn't take to owning a business like a fish to water. It all felt counter-intuitive to me. Thank god, Nupur was savvy in the ways of profit-margins and price points. I scampered around the store like a wagging puppy. Please love us, please love us!

The gravity of what we had done only sank in months later, when we had built a steady customer base and were pushing forward with some momentum. Or maybe I was just getting more sleep and coming back to my senses. I blinked at the picture. What were we doing? Were we just glorified cashiers? Did our immigrant parents hope this for us? Bargaining with farmers for the best produce, lugging potatoes and apples up and down stairs, arranging and re-arranging cans on the shelf?

Two Asian women, stepping back into the fragmented histories of our people in the new world. What were we going to do next? Open a hand laundry? As a feminist and anti-colonial scholar, it was confusing for me to reconcile all these things. My critical analysis slowly kicked back in service, as I observed what had become of my life.

Carrianne Leung is a sessional lecturer and coordinator of the Writing and Learning Centre at OCAD University . She has a PhD from the University of Toronto and blogs about post-PhD life here

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PhD and Pregnant

As I write this, I am currently 6 months postpartum. I wanted to take a moment to reflect back on my time when I was pregnant and trying to move forward with my PhD. At the time of pregnancy, I wasn’t up for much reflection, it was mostly survival. I struggled with morning sickness for most my pregnancy, but otherwise it was a fairly smooth ride in terms of the baby’s health (for that I am so grateful). Despite the morning sickness and general exhaustion, I was still able to accomplish some work.  But this post is not meant to promote productivity during pregnancy, rather to share what was realistic for me during the ups and downs of my own unique pregnancy.

It is still pretty rare to find a PhD student who is also pregnant – likely due to financial strains (I would imagine), which is particularly why I wanted to write this post. I also wanted to write it for those who are questioning whether they want to pursue pregnancy while completing grad school. And if you are pregnant and trying to finish your PhD, although your experience will be different from mine, you might also find some solace in this post.

I begin this blog post sharing an overview of my experience in each trimester, outlining my personal experience and my PhD work in each phase. As well as my response to the most commonly asked question I received while being a pregnant PhD student. Wrapping up, I share some overall reflections on my experience during pregnant, while pursing my PhD.  

Trying to conceive (TTC)

I thought it was apt to start with sharing my journey pre-pregnancy, while trying to conceive. This is ultimately the first step in the process, and it shouldn’t be overlooked. I felt ready to become a mother, and it was something that I always wanted. I didn’t know if it would be possible or what the journey would look like to get there. This was part of the dilemma when deciding “when” to get pregnant. But if this PhD, as well as the pandemic has taught me anything… it is that any plans you make can quickly go out the window.

We decided to start TTC in my 5 th year of my PhD, when I was 31 years old. Ultimately what it came down to was me wanting to be a mother more than anything. To me, there was never going to be a right time and I desperately didn’t want to miss “my chance”. It took us an average length to get pregnant and for that I am very grateful. I know this can be a very difficult time for many folks trying to start a family, whether it be naturally, IVF, through adoption and my heart goes out to you wherever you are at in the process. But it is also something to think about before pursuing TTC. In addition to the financial strain, I had to make sure I was prepared for a possibly turbulent ride of fertility. These are all things my partner and I considered before trying. Despite these challenges, I felt a strong sense of peace with our decision and we moved forward with our decision and found out we were pregnant in May 2021.

First Trimester  

The first trimester for me was extremely rough. I was lucky if I was able to get an hour of work in on any given day. Some days I wasn’t able to achieve anything. I was in the process of my data collection and before beginning my interviews I usually started with “I am currently pregnant and experiencing really bad nausea so we may have to pause the interview at any point”. Everyone was so understanding about it and shared in my excitement of being pregnant. I was also teaching a Statistics course for my first time. I loved the challenge of statistics and overcoming its difficulty as a student. It was a dream course for me to be able to teach it, but it took a lot out of me. On top of it all, I was distracted. I was pregnant! My dream. And I wanted to research EVERYTHING BABY. A lot of the PhD and pregnant blogs I read and mentioned to get as much work done as you can before baby comes because after, you will be busy. I felt super down about this because I could hardly get work done on a good day.  So, all this is to say, if you are pregnant and tired, or nauseous, or just soaking it all up, do what feels right to you. Work if you can and when you can. Or don’t. Just try your best and producing anything on top of growing a baby is extremely impressive in my eyes.  

Second Trimester

The morning sickness followed me into August and the second trimester. During this time, I was finishing up my data collection, starting my analysis and I prepared for another course I was teaching starting September. Again, it was a course I had never taught before, Research Methods. Another dream course, that took a lot of energy for me to prepare and conduct, but it was worth it. Luckily, I started feeling a bit more energized and less sick around 22 months. But for me, nesting came early, and I was yet again distracted with what to buy and how to prepare for baby. I found what helped was to set aside a distinct time in my day to spend time reading, dreaming and planning baby things (so that I didn’t get sidetracked in my work hours) you can read more about how I stayed motivated here .

Third Trimester

My final trimester was probably my “easiest”.  But the extra weight sure put a strain on my sleep and general movement throughout my days. I napped a lot. I continued my analysis and prepared as much as I could for my maternity leave and eagerly awaited my labour and delivery. We also decide to move during my last trimester… so that was fun… you can read more about that here.

Overall reflections

Before I wrap up this post, I wanted to touch on a question I commonly receive on Instagram which is “when is the best time to have a baby while pursuing academia?” and here is my response:

There is no “best time”. The best time is when is best for YOU.

Most people (and I might be one of them) would say that having a baby during a PhD is not the best time. In some ways it was a great time for it – I was able to rest when I needed to, if I had to be at work 9-5 everyday, I am not sure I would have been able to make that happen. But it is hard to say because I haven’t experienced the other phases – postdoc, pre-tenure etc. I think any stage presents its own challenges but also benefits. It’s up to you to weight the pros and cons of these and to decide what is right for you.

I am not sure what the rest of my journey of academic and motherhood will look like, defending my thesis, navigating the job market and hopefully having more children but I’m starting to feel more and more comfortable with out having such a set plan for my life.

Final Thoughts

1. I was not as productive as I would have been if not pregnant, and that is okay because I was growing a baby.

2. I rested when I felt like I needed it, and that is okay because I was growing a baby.

3. Everyone’s journey is unique, so provide empathy to others, as well as yourself.

4. Unfortunately, there is not “right time” to have a baby in academia. I believe there would be hurdles no matter what stage of your academic career while starting a family. And that is not okay. But the silver lining is that if you have the privilege to start a family, that is a wonderful gift.

So, to all the pregnant scholars, please remind yourself that whatever you are going through and whatever you are able to accomplish or not accomplish – it is okay because you are growing a baby. This takes effort, time, rest, care and love.

My thoughts are with all of you whatever stage you are at in this journey.

Until next time,

P.S Don’t forget to use  #ScholarCulture #ScholarSquad  to keep me updated on your experiences as grad students.

P.P.S Applying to grad school for the 2022/23 school year? Check out  this FREE eBook  on 5 steps to a successful grad school application. Are you in grad school and struggling to find easy lunches to bring to campus? Check out three FREE recipes and full nutritional information  here .

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How I Balanced Having A Baby In The Middle Of My PhD

by Gertrude Nonterah PhD | Mar 2, 2021

A baby and PhD?

I recorded a video on my YouTube channel on this topic, if you’d rather watch there, here you go:

I started my PhD in Microbiology and Immunology in 2009.

In 2011 I got married and in 2013, I had my first child.

Balancing a baby with a PhD in any field is no walk in the park but I did it and I lived to tell the story.

I want to start off this post by saying that everybody’s experience is going to be different. When I share my personal stories of how I got through grad school, it also takes into account that I am a Black woman and an African immigrant. While I was in grad school, I was also an international student.

So some of these may vary for you and may or may not sound familiar.

It is important that you do what is right for your family.

What I am sharing are my experiences that I hope will inspire and encourage you if you find yourself pregnant and in graduate school.

Now that I got those caveats out of the way, let’s talk about how I (realistically) balanced a PhD program with having a baby.

Baby and PhD: How I handled it

I had a supportive pi.

I will never stop thanking Dr. Cagla Tukel – my graduate school advisor.

She was key to my survival as a PhD student who also got pregnant and had a baby.

My PI was a mom herself. She understood what I was going through physiologically and emotionally.

She still expected me to do my work but I got time off to go to my doctor’s appointments for instance.

I still came into lab until the very week I gave birth!

Having a supportive PI is crucial. If you plan on having a family while in grad school, make sure you find out from your PI or advisor what their take on childbearing or family life is and choose accordingly.

Rally your support system

Listen, I know that us PhD types, we are self-starters.

Many of us like to work in reclusive environments and sometimes you might find yourself extending this to your personal life.

This doesn’t have to be the case.

Thankfully, I have an incredibly supportive husband.

Both my mother and mother-in-law travelled from Ghana to the US to live with me for a total of nine months after I had my son to help me. I don’t know how we would have survived without them.

Do you have friends and family close by?

Can someone help you with your baby for a few hours a day?

Eventually, after my mom and mom-in-law left, we paid to put my son in daycare.

Whatever you do, find a way to get a support system around you.

It will be crucial to your success.

I am not the most organized person in the world. But I realized a long time ago that even just a little planning ahead can save you time and emotional stress.

I plan meals ahead by cooking pots of stew or soup that can be consumed with various accompaniments.

When I was breastfeeding, I pumped my milk when I had an extra supply and stored the rest so my son would have breastmilk when I was not home.

I did my best to plan out my experiments and performed a lot of them while I was still pregnant.

I had a lot of useful data by the time I had my baby and that formed the basis of a first-author paper for my PhD.

By just doing a little bit of planning ahead of time, you can set yourself up for success as a mom juggling a baby and a PhD.

Whatever you do, do not overthink it

You are not the first person to get pregnant during a rigorous PhD and you will not be the last.

Even when hard things are happening, realize that others before you have been through that and survived and so you can survive too.

If you need to speak with a counselor to get tools to help you cope, do that.

Even though I am not an exercise junkie, I walked a lot during my pregnancy. It was therapeutic. No matter how hard my day was, I knew if I took a walk, I would feel better.

So don’t be hard on yourself.

You will get through this and live to tell the story too!

So that is how I balanced having a baby in the middle of my PhD.

It was not easy.

People might look at you funny even.

Ignore them and enjoy that beautiful life growing inside of you!

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PhD and a Baby

Debugging code and changing diapers

March 28, 2018 | Jacqueline W.

I wasn’t married when I got to MIT, but I had a boyfriend named Randy who moved up to Boston with me. Two years in, we discover that it is, in fact, possible to simultaneously plan a wedding and write a master’s thesis! Two years after that? I’m sitting uncomfortably in a floppy hospital gown at Mt. Auburn Hospital using my husband’s phone to forward the reviews I’d just received on a recent journal paper submission, hoping labor doesn’t kick in full force before I finish canceling all my meetings and telling people that I’ll be taking maternity leave a month sooner than expected.

Baby Elian is born later that night, tiny and perfect. The next three weeks are spent writing my PhD proposal from the waiting room while we wait for Elian to grow big enough to leave the hospital’s nursery.

Our decision to have a baby during grad school did not come lightly. For a lot of students, grad school falls smack in the middle of prime mate-finding and baby-making years. But my husband and I knew we wanted kids. We knew fertility decreases over time, and didn’t want to wait too long. In 2016, I was done with classes, on to the purely research part of the PhD program. My schedule was as flexible as it would ever be. Plus, I work with computers and robots — no cell cultures to keep alive, no chemicals I’d be concerned about while pregnant. Randy did engineering contract work (some for a professor at MIT) and was working on a small startup.

Was it the perfect time? As a fellow grad mom told me once, there’s never a perfect time. Have babies when you’re ready. That’s it.

Okay, we agreed, now’s the time. It’d be great, right? We’d have this adorable baby, then Randy would stay home most of the time and play with the baby while I finished up school. He’d even have time in the evenings and on weekends to continue his work.

Naiveté, hello.

Since my pregnancy was relatively easy (I got lucky — even my officemate’s pickled cabbage and fermented fish didn’t turn my stomach), we were optimistic that everything else would go well, too. The preterm birth was a surprise, sure, but maybe that was a fluke in our perfectly planned family adventure. Then it came time for me to go back to the lab full time.

I’d read about attachment theory in psychology papers — i.e., the idea that babies form deep emotional bonds to their caregivers, in particular, their mothers. Cool theory, interesting implications about social relationships based on the kind of bond babies formed, and all that. It wasn’t until the end of my maternity leave, when I handed our wailing three-month-old boy to my husband before walking out the door that I internalized it: Elian wasn’t just sad that I was going away. He needed me. I mean, looking at it from an evolutionary perspective, it made perfect sense. There I was, his primary source of food, shelter, and comfort, walking in the opposite direction. He had no idea where I was going or whether I’d be back. If I were him, I’d wail, too.

Us: 0. Developmental psychology: 1.

This was going to be more difficult than we’d thought. For various financial and personal reasons, we had already decided not to put the baby in daycare. Other people’s stories (“when he started daycare, he cried for a month, but then he got used to it”) weren’t our cup of tea. But our plans of me spending my days in the lab while the baby was back at home? Not so much. In addition to Elian’s distress at my absence, he generally refused pumped breast milk in favor of crying, hungry and sad.

So, we made new plans. These plans involved bringing Elian to the lab a lot (pretty easy at first: he’d happily wiggle on my desk for hours, entertained by his toes). Coincidentally, that’s when I began to feel pressure to prove that what we’re doing works. That I can do it. That I can be a woman, who has a baby, who’s getting a PhD at MIT, who’s healthy and happy and “having it all”. “Having it all.” No matter what I pick, kids or work or whatever, I’m making a choice about what’s important. We all have limited time. What “all” do I want? What do I choose to do with my time? And am I happy with that choice?

Randy, Elian at 8 months (sporting his lab t-shirt!), and I.

Now, Elian’s grown up wearing a Media Arts & Sciences onesie and a Personal Robots Group t-shirt. I’m fortunate that I can do this — I have a super supportive lab group and I know this definitely wouldn’t work for everyone. Not only does our group do a lot of research with young kids , but my advisor has three kids of her own. My officemate has a six-year-old who I’ve watched grow up. Several other students have gotten married or had kids during their time here. As a bonus, the Media Lab has a pod for nursing mothers on the fifth floor, and a couple bathrooms even have changing tables. (That said, it’s so much faster to just set the baby on the floor, whip off the old diaper, on with the new. If he tries to crawl away mid-change, as is his wont these days, he can only get so far as under my desk.)

Randy comes to campus more now, too. It’s a common sight to see him from the Media Lab’s glass-walled conference rooms, pacing the hallway with a sleeping baby in a carry pack while he answers emails on his tablet. I feed the baby between meetings, play for a while when Randy needs to run over to the Green Building for a contractor meeting, and it works out okay. We keep Elian from licking the robots and Elian makes friends from around the world, all of whom are way taller than he is. The best part? He’s almost through the developmental stage in which he bursts into tears when he sees them!

I also have the luxury of working from home a lot. That’s helped by two things: first, right now, I’m either writing code or writing papers — i.e., laptop? check. Good to go. Second, my lab has undergone construction multiple times the past year, so no one else wants to work there either with all the hammering and paint fumes.

But it’s not all sunshine, wobbly first steps, and happy baby coos.

I think it’s harder to be a parent in grad school as a woman. I know several guys who have kids; they can still manage a whole day — or three — of working non-stop, sleeping on a lab couch, all-night hacking sessions, attending conferences in Europe for a week while the baby stays home. Me? Sometimes, if I’m out of sight for five minutes, Elian loses it. Sometimes, we make it three hours. Some nights, waking up to breastfeed a sad, grumpy, teething baby, it’s like I’m also pulling all-nighters, but without the getting work done part.

Times when I’m feeling overwhelmed, I remember a fictional girl named Keladry. The protagonist of Tamora Pierce’s Protector of the Small quartet, she was the first girl in the kingdom to openly try to become a knight — traditionally a man’s profession (see the parallel to academia?) . She followed the footsteps of another girl, Alanna, who opened the ranks by pretending to be a boy throughout her training, revealing her identity only when she was knighted. I remember Keladry because of the discipline and perseverance she embodied.

I remember her feeling that she had to be stronger, faster, and better than all the boys, because she wasn’t just representing herself, she was representing all girls. Sometimes, I feel the same: That as a grad mom, I’m representing all grad moms. I have to be a role model. I have to stick it out, show that not only do I measure up, but that I can excel, despite being a mother. Because of being a mother. I have to show that it’s a point in our favor, not a mark against us.

I remember Keladry’s discipline: getting up early to train extra hard, working longer to make sure she exceeded the standard. I remember her standing tall in the face of bullies, trying to stay strong when others told her she wasn’t good enough and wouldn’t make it.

So I get up earlier, writing paper drafts in the dawn light with a sleeping baby nestled beside me. I debug code when he naps (even at 14 months, he still naps twice a day, lucky me). I train UROPs, run experimental studies, analyze data, and publish papers. I push on. I don’t have to face down bullies like Keladry, and I’m fortunate to have a lot of support at MIT. But sometimes, it’s still a struggle.

When I was talking through my ideas for this blog with other writers, one person said, “I’m not sure how you do it.” I didn’t have a good answer then, but here’s what I should have said: I do it with the help of a super supportive husband, a strong commitment to the life choices I’ve made, and a large supply of earl grey tea.

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What universities can do to help pregnant PhD students

Ahead of international women’s day on 8 march, selina sutton explains what universities are doing wrong (and right) when supporting phd candidates during pregnancy and beyond.

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As soon as I had my letter of confirmation of PhD funding in my hand, I came off the contraceptive pill.

I knew I wanted to be both an academic and a mother, but I would be at least 30 by the time I had finished my doctorate, and then how many years of precarious postdoc positions before I found something with decent maternity leave?

If I waited until then, would getting pregnant be very difficult or even possible? I felt like I couldn’t risk it and had to act sooner rather than later.  

Fourteen months into my PhD I was elated to find out I was pregnant . However, it was only then that I really began to do my research into what pregnancy and motherhood while doing a PhD, and in academia in general, might be like.

The realisation of what my future could entail terrified me. Coupled with impostor syndrome, there were moments where I thought that I wouldn’t be able to do both. I was desperate to find someone publicly saying “I did it. It was hard but fine, and you can do it too”. Hence why I have written this piece.  

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I hope that others who are expecting can find some reassurance that a positive pregnancy while studying for a PhD is possible. But most importantly, I hope that supervisors, colleagues, and senior university staff will think carefully about what they can do to improve the experience of pregnant PhD students.

Before we start, I need to state that my partner and I possess too many privileges to list. With three weeks to go until the birth of my first child, my pregnancy has been framed by an ideal set of socio-economic factors. Under different circumstances, I could have easily encountered more barriers, more biases, and had a more difficult experience.

Therefore, my suggestions really are the very minimum that should be provided to pregnant PhD students at this vulnerable point in their personal and professional lives.

Trust my judgement and follow my lead

My primary supervisor, Shaun Lawson, was surprised when I told him that I was pregnant.

But, like in all our supervision meetings, he asked me what I was going to do, and after I explained my plans he smiled and said “Great. Go do it. And let me know if you need me”.

During my pregnancy I taught; I marked assessments; I submitted a first-author paper; I continued to organise the talks and social media for my research group; and I was on the organisation committees of a national and an international conference.

His attitude was “you wouldn’t be asking to do these things if you didn’t feel able to, so why should I stand in your way”. But most importantly, he made it clear that I could go and talk to him about anything any time, without making me feel like he viewed me as vulnerable.

Obviously, every supervisory team and PhD student is different. But a good starting point is for supervisors to explicitly communicate to their student that they trust them, that they are open to supporting them in whatever ways the student believes best, and that they still believe in their student’s academic abilities.

Offer to be a role model

A lot of the online discussion around motherhood in academia is disheartening but I have found a few women in my real-world network who have had positive experiences and who I can use as role models. One of them is Julie Walters, my associate head of department and mother of three. Her empathy is unending, and her positive attitude lifts me whenever I start to worry.

But these women became my role models through luck and chance meetings, and through them approaching me. Prior to each of them offering their story, their knowledge and experience was invisible.

If you are a woman who had a baby during your PhD why not state on Twitter, LinkedIn, or even your university profile, that you are open to having conversations with current pregnant PhD students? Many universities have mentoring schemes in place for their academics.

Why not consider this sort of approach for all those transitioning into motherhood (not just PhD students)?

Let me be in a space where I feel safe and reasonable adjustments can be made quickly

I am very lucky to have a designated desk in an office that I share with patient, understanding people.

I have felt safe enough to regularly nap in the middle of the work day and sit on a yoga ball at my desk (both with my head of department’s permission of course). This has allowed me to be physically comfortable and be in the office 9am til 5pm every day even at 37 weeks pregnant. Not only has this benefitted my work, but more importantly it has allowed me to stay connected with my colleagues.

Many PhD students at my institution and others are in a hot-desking situation. While I am sure that a pregnant PhD student could ask for a designated desk on occupational health grounds, I wonder how many would realise this, or feel able to ask, and how long it would take to implement it.

I suspect that hot-desking students would retreat to working at home during their pregnancies, which could feel isolating.

Have information more readily available

The most important factor in terms of my pregnancy experience at university? My staff IT account (that I have as a result of teaching/admin duties). I realised that if I want to find any information, that’s the account I needed to use. With one search I was able to find my university’s postgraduate research maternity, paternity, and adoption policy.

In comparison, after about 30 minutes and the use of several search terms, I could find minimal relevant information via my student account, and all the information that I could find seemed to lead back to contacting student support services.

Making relevant policies and other kinds of information, such as where the breastfeeding/pumping room is on campus, easier to access is a small change from the university’s perspective but could have a significant impact upon the student.

Let me keep my email while on maternity leave

My university, understandably, classifies my maternity leave as an official break in study, and so, unfortunately, access to all facilities ceases. I will not be able to access my student email, library resources, the system that holds my PhD records, and many campus buildings. Everyone who I have told about this initially didn’t believe me. Even my head of department reacted with “no, that can’t be right. I’m sure you’ve got that wrong”. I promise you, I haven’t.

Now, as I have described above, I am lucky enough to have a staff account that will stay open while I am on maternity leave. But most students don’t have this luxury. It baffles me that the main mode of communication with a significant source of social, emotional, and professional support (email) is removed during a life transition in which a woman feels most vulnerable. I think that I would feel abandoned.

I am sure that after reading this, some will say “she has had it easy”, and I wholeheartedly agree.

I am not denying that there are very serious issues in academia that affect PhD students and academics during pregnancy and motherhood. Actually, my point is that even in a case where all the stars aligned, at times I still felt frustrated and unfairly treated.

Change is needed at all levels of the campus community to create a supportive environment for pregnant PhD students, and some of these changes are fairly minor adjustments that can be made quickly, and easily.

Actually, we need such changes for the benefit of all mothers, fathers, and those with childcare duties in academia. I hope to start campaigning for these changes at my own institution, once I return from maternity leave. But for now, wish me luck in my transition into motherhood.

Selina Sutton is a third-year PhD student at Northumbria University .

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FAQ: Pregnant and Parenting College & Graduate Students Rights

Issues:   Education & Title IX , Pregnant & Parenting Students

• FAQStudentRights_nwlc_PPToolkitAug2016

How does Title IX Apply to Pregnant or Parenting College & Graduate Students?

Title IX bans sex discrimination in schools that get federal funds. Sex includes pregnancy and all related conditions like abortion. Most colleges get federal funds through financial aid programs like Pell grants and Stafford loans. This means that colleges must give all students who might be, are, or have been pregnant the same access to classes and programs that other students have. Your professors or school officials should not tell you to drop out or change your educational plans because you are pregnant or gave birth.

How do I figure out if my university is breaking Title IX law?

First, look at how your school treats pregnant students compared to students with temporary medical conditions. Title IX says schools must offer pregnant students the same benefits they offer to students with temporary illnesses or injuries. There is one exception to this rule. No matter its policy for other students, your school must excuse any class you miss for pregnancy-related reasons.

Also your school must have a Title IX Coordinator. This person should be able to answer questions about Title IX and your school’s policies. The Title IX Coordinator cannot be biased when they evaluate Title IX violations. Your school may also have its own rules or support services for students. Contact the Title IX coordinator or campus Women’s Center to find out more about your school’s policies.

Finally, some states have their own laws that provide greater protections. You should talk to a lawyer to find out more about your state’s laws.

I have to miss class to give birth / have an abortion/ go to a prenatal visit / be on bed rest. Does my university have to excuse my absence?

Yes. Your school must excuse your absences due to pregnancy and related conditions. This includes absences for labor, delivery, and recovery, as well as prenatal appointments. Absences must be excused for pregnancy-related reasons even if your school does not excuse absences for students with other medical conditions. Your school must excuse your pregnancy-related absence for as long as your doctor says is necessary. When you return to school, your school must reinstate you to the status you held before your absence. Your school can require a doctor’s note, but only if it requires the same for students with other medical conditions.

Class attendance is part of my final grade. Can my professor lower my grade because I miss classes for pregnancy-related reasons?

No. You cannot be penalized for pregnancy or related conditions. If a professor provides “points” to students based on class attendance, they must give you a chance to earn back the credit from classes you miss due to pregnancy. They must also return you to the status you held before you were absent.

Does my university have to give me a chance to make up work I missed while I was absent?

Yes. If you miss class for pregnancy-related reasons or childbirth, your school has to give you a chance to make up missed work. For example, if your doctor orders you on pregnancy-related bed rest, your school can send you class assignments or allow you to review lectures online. No matter what, your school must give you any info you need to make up work you would have had to complete if you were in class. For an extended absence, its good practice for your school to regularly give you the work you miss, so you do not fall far behind.

My university says they leave make-up work and absences up to each professor. What should I tell them?

Professors do not have the right to break the law. Title IX says schools must make sure that all faculty and staff comply with the law and do not discriminate against pregnant and parenting students. So, if a professor’s policy breaks Title IX law, the school must fix it.

I want to return to school three days after I have the baby, so I do not fall too far behind. But my department head thinks I should take more time off to recover. What should I do?

It is up to you and your doctor to decide when you can return. Not your university. Your school must offer to excuse more than three days if that’s what your doctor recommends. But no one can force you to take more leave than you want—even if they think it would be better for you (or your baby). Also, your school cannot have a rule that bans students from returning to classes for a set period after childbirth.

Does my school have to provide special academic services to me, like tutoring?

Title IX says schools must give pregnant students any services they give to students with temporary medical conditions. If students with other medical conditions get at-home tutoring, your school must provide the same for students who miss class because of pregnancy or childbirth.

What about internships, labs, research assistantships, career rotations, and other elements of my program? Do I have a right to participate in those?

Yes. You have a right to take part in all elements of your program while pregnant or parenting. For example, your school cannot deny you access to “work in the field” programs because you’re pregnant. The program cannot require a doctor’s note for continued participation unless the school requires the same for all students who have a medical condition. If your doctor gives a note saying you can participate in a special program, your school cannot second guess your doctor’s decision.

My professor says it’s unsafe for me to do certain lab experiments or be exposed to certain chemicals. How can I make sure I’m getting the experience I need?

Your school should have the right equipment for all students and make adjustments in the lab on a case-by-case basis. If your doctor says it is safe for you to do experiments, your professor may not second guess that decision. If your doctor says it is safe only under certain conditions, your school should try to provide those conditions. If your doctor says participation is unsafe, your school must give you a chance to make-up assignments later.

Classmates or professors have made offensive comments to me about my pregnancy. What are my rights?

Title IX says schools have to stop and address sex-based harassment. This includes harassment based on pregnancy. If teachers or students harass you because you are pregnant, report it to a school official (e.g., the Title IX coordinator). It is illegal for the school officials, faculty, or students to retaliate against you for making a complaint or voicing concern.

I’m a student-athlete. Can I still play if I’m pregnant?

You and your doctor should decide whether you can play sports. Not your coach or the athletics department. You should share the NCAA Pregnant and Parenting Student-Athletes: Resources and Model Policies with athletics department staff.

I have an athletic scholarship from my university. Can they take my scholarship away if they find out I am pregnant?

In most cases, no. Your school cannot cut off or reduce your scholarship during your award term based on pregnancy. Also, many universities will renew athletic awards for an injured or ill student athlete if the athlete works with the school’s medical team or trainers to rehabilitate themselves. In the case of career-ending injuries, if the athlete remains engaged with the athletics department, schools will often renew awards, too. If your school renews awards in these circumstances for injured or ill athletes, it must do the same for pregnant or parenting student athletes.

Before a school can decline to renew your athletic scholarship, it must tell you in writing by July 1 (before the school year the non-renewal is to take effect). The statement must say the reasons for non-renewal. The statement must also say how you can appeal the decision. For more information, read the NCAA Pregnant and Parenting Student-Athletes: Resources and Model Policies.

I have a merit or need-based scholarship. Can my university take away my scholarship if they find out I am pregnant?

No. Universities cannot end or reduce merit or need-based scholarships based on pregnancy. If you stay in good standing in your program, you must be allowed to keep your scholarship.

I want to take a semester off. Can I keep my student status, scholarships, and financial aid?

Not necessarily. It depends on the leave policy at your school. If you want to take off more time than your doctor says is medically necessary, you will need to consult your school’s non-medical leave policy.

I receive federal financial aid. How will my pregnancy affect my federal grants and loans?

You can register as an “independent student” if the child’s due date is in the award year (July 1 to June 30) and you will be providing at least half of the support to the child. When filling out the form, count your child toward the household size if the due date is within that award year—even if they have not been born when you file. Keep a copy of an ultrasound and other medical records in case FAFSA audits your application.

What if I work for the school as a graduate assistant, in addition to being a student? Do I still have the same rights? Do I qualify for maternity leave?

Your rights as an employee are different from your rights as a student. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act protect you from employment discrimination. You cannot be fired from your graduate assistantship because you are pregnant. Also, you may be eligible for family or medical leave as a university employee. You may also qualify for parental leave under the university’s policy. Speak to your school’s Human Resources department for more info on the parental leave policy.

Note: Your employee parental leave may allow you to take more time off from work than your doctor recommends. But Title IX only allows you to take as much time off from class as your doctor recommends.

I need childcare while I am in class. Does my university have to provide me with childcare?

Unfortunately, no. Although the U.S. Department of Education recommends that schools offer childcare to students, your school is not required to provide them by law. Check your university’s program offerings to see if they provide these services for students. If they do not, you can tell your school about the availability of CCAMPIS grants to schools that want to offer campus-based childcare. Also, see the resources section for more info on federal programs for low-income parents. Your state may have additional programs as well.

I want to breastfeed my infant. Where can I use a breast pump while I am on campus?

The U.S. Department of Education recommends that all universities have private rooms for students to breastfeed or pump milk during the school day. Also, the Affordable Care Act requires your university to provide a space for employees to pump. This space cannot be a bathroom. If you are a university employee, the university must give you space to breastfeed or pump. If you are not an employee, you should ask your Title IX Coordinator if you can access the breast pumping rooms. For more info, read the breastfeeding and lactation support fact sheet included in this toolkit.

I live in on-campus housing. Can my university evict me because I am pregnant?

Your school cannot evict you from housing for being pregnant. However, federal law does not require schools to provide housing for your family. Some colleges offer a limited number of family housing units. Ask your school’s Title IX Coordinator or other campus official for info about housing for pregnant and parenting students. Seek legal advice if you think your university’s policy or practice is discriminatory.

I am no longer pregnant or have already graduated. Is there anything I can do about the discrimination I experienced while I was a pregnant student?

You can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights up to 180 days after the discrimination took place. The Department may extend the time for filing for good cause.

If you are considering filing a lawsuit, the time limit for filing depends on the state where your school is located. Generally, the deadline to file suit ranges from one to six years.

If you think your time has run out, you may still have options. Contact your Title IX Coordinator, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, or the National Women’s Law Center to learn more. Even if it is too late for you, you can help us make sure that women who find themselves in your shoes do not run into the same problems.

Colleges and universities must at least prevent discrimination against pregnant and parenting students. But they can—and should—do more. For more info, please go to www.nwlc.org/pregnantstudents or contact the National Women’s Law Center at [email protected] .

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Graduate School with A Baby

Archived q&a and reviews, finish leave overwhelmed 6th-year phd student w/baby.

I would so very much appreciate advice/perspectives on finishing my neuroscience PhD with a baby. I'm a 6th-year student, officially at Boston University but doing my research in my partner's lab (he unexpectedly was offered a job on this coast). For various reasons -- incl. moving across the country just as my experiments started working -- and despite doing my very best to finish running experiments before my baby was born, I find myself with a darling 6-month-old, 1 1/2 hours commuting each day, and 2-12 months of experimental work left. 2 months if all goes well and I am satisfied with completing my thesis but not publishing; closer to a year for good controls and really excellent work.

My darling child is so rewarding and sweet, and I know this time flies by, and while I spend a full 2 days a week with him as well as some time in mornings and evenings I am exhausted and also trying to get all the house-things done. My partner does his full share, incl. 2 days/week caring for our son (grandma has the other 3 days) but I am ''pickier'' about the clean-ness of the house, having nutritious meals, etc. The graduate work has been extremely difficult, my philosophy being that high risk = high reward, and I am correspondingly depressed about it given so many failures and the possibility that I might not have anything at all to show for my work if the experiments fail (too late to switch to something easier). I'm not at all convinced I want a job in academia, but I love science and hate to quit the PhD. I'd love to be around more for my son, to not be such a weepy mess, to be a more present partner, and to have time for other things ... including reading journal articles in my field! I sometimes think I'd learn more science if I left my PhD. If I could work from home most of the time that would be lovely, but I simply can't. I don't want to be full of regrets down the road. help? overwhelmed

And now here's my personal advice. Leave it and go back if you want to. This is your BABY. In my field (high tech), a PhD is actually a liability because it indicates the opposite of a goal-oriented high-achieving type (amusingly enough.) In high tech, people used to think that if you have a PhD, you like to go long and deep into things and you're more suited to academia than for the multi-tasking, go for the gusto vibe of startup life.

I am 45. I started trying to have a child at 35 and am now in year 10 of infertility. Five and a half years ago I had a little boy and ... you BET I have enjoyed every single minute of life with him. This stuff doesn't come back. You can ALWAYS go back to school when he's in school.

One more thing: what is this 1.5 hours of commute time thing? That's flat-out insane. You shouldn't be that far away from where you're working when you're also trying to be there for your kid! Perhaps if you just ... stop, then when you start again,you'll be able to do it in circumstances that are better for you.

And there's one more thing. People in fields such as yours don't necessarily get *rewarded* for finishing their PhD, unless you're using the metric of a (IMHO overrated) academic job. IMHO you should take the time off. Stand tall. Hug your kid. Look at the sky and smile. You have plenty of time, but your kid only has one childhood. Namaste. You sound very accomplished but way too stressed!

hugs! Sophia

Regarding your home life, I'd recommend dropping the cleaning and cooking for now. That will give you more time to spend with your kid and you'll have more energy. You can get pretty nutritious instant food at trader joes and establish a pickier cleaning routine when your kid is old enough to help.

If you want to stay in science there are a lot of things you can do with a Ph.D. If you don't finish your Ph.D. you could probably still work in science, though it would always be for somebody else as a technician. With a Ph.D you could be an editor, you could work in industry (there's a LOT of that in the bay area) or if you want, stay in academia. You are so close to finishing! You can email me if you want. Erica

If not, you can definitely make some changes to ease your life and still finish--ease up on your expectations of a clean house. Find an undergrad looking to get into grad school who can assist in the lab.

Best wishes with whatever you decide to do. Deborah

Good luck! Ari

I love my job. I have the perfect amount of responsibility. Because I have the PhD I get to design and lead research projects for my center. And now I publish all the time from my current work which I find more interesting anyway. I am building up my CV, and really I have the rest of my life to pursue an academic tenure track career when the kids are older. My friends who published a lot from their dissertations and are doing the academic tenure track thing now are WAY too busy to have kids. So don't worry, and don't quit. Just get it done however you have to. And as quickly as you can. Your PhD will really help you get back into the working world when you feel ready. And once you have your PhD, it is something that can never be taken away! happy PhD mom

I finished a Ph.D. in the humanities when my son was 8 months old; he was born about four years into my research and writing, so when I was really winding everything up to finish.

Here's my two cents: give up on the sparkling clean house. It's the least significant problem of all the things you mention. And when your child gets older it will get harder to be as neat as you might have earlier anyway. You might as well learn how to live with it!

Can you afford to compromise on meals? Buy organic frozen meals sometimes? Prepare food yourself but in bulk and/or for the freezer? Have a set of familiar nutritious recipes you turn to regularly?

Do you have a time limit on when to finish you degree? Can you talk to your committee about a realistic time frame -- with a big buffer zone? Do you have to commute every day (work from home?)

I can't speak to the frustration of a being a sciences Ph.D candidate and having to face the prospect of ''no result'' from your research because that's not usually how humanities research works. But if you really want to finish and just can't figure out how to, I'd encourage you to give it your best shot, all the while knowing that this is a short phase of your life, that you can finish if you work out a plan with your advisors (and family!) and that -- to be brutally honest -- the older your baby gets the harder it _will_ be to schedule dissertation time! Good luck! anon

Hang tough, get that degree, and raise your son to admire women with brains instead of pristine housekeeping. Chris

(And being able to take a break from both? Fuhgeddaboutit!) And it sounds like you are feeling a little guilt that you are somehow shortchanging your baby. Try to put that out of your mind. Your baby has 3 loving caregivers! My main piece of hopefully helpful advice, is that having committed to finishing the Ph.D. do some serious planning and scheduling for how you and your family will get through the next year (or whatever time frame you decide to shoot for.) Include times that you expect to be more stressful and who will pick up the slack. (And don't forget to cut yourself some slack while you're at it!) p.s. I did them separately, but I still look back at both finishing my degree and new motherhood as being all a blur. So don't think that other people somehow calmly and serenely sail through, capturing and appreciating each precious moment! --Good luck!

Just had a baby - I don't know if I'll be able to finish my degree

I'm a grad student in the humanities, currently writing a dissertation, with a new baby (first child). Having a baby has made me rethink my career choice mainly because I don't know if I'll be able to finish my degree. And by the time I did, I'd probably be ready to have a second child but would also be entering the job market. I'm stressed out by the difficulty all grad students feel starting their dissertation, but the internal pressure and the emotional ambivalence and questions about my future make it even harder to get to work. And I'd rather be with my baby than work all day anyway. I'd be interested in hearing perspectives, thoughts, and feelings from others who are or have been in a similar position, especially mothers in the humanities. Thanks. ABD

This wasn't the way I imagined starting my family, necessarily, but I'm not sure if it didn't work just as well as any other way. And there are many things about the experience--namely the flexibility to take several months off or partially off--that could only happen in an academic job or in grad school. I was lucky enough to have a partner that was working full time and could support me financially and emotionally during some of the rough stretches as well.

For me, it was pretty definite that I wanted to go back to teaching. I did/do miss spending all my time with my baby, but I also get a lot of rewards out of my research and teaching that I do not want to give up. It helped that I got a lot of external support and validation of my research, so I felt like my dissertation was a project that was valuable to others as well as to me. Considering the uncertain nature of the job market in the humanities, however, I think you need to have a gut sense that of the importance of your research work to your own self to get through a dissertation, with or without a baby. A baby just throws some of the questions into sharper relief. Proud to be Dr. Mama

Good luck to you! It is a hard road, but manageable. Just take time and stay focused on your goals. PhD and Mommy to 2!

Sometimes I go to cafes at night while the baby is sleeping. Progress is slow but steady. The nice thing is, I have real perspective on my project now, and don't get all caught up in the details. By the time I am done, my son will probably be ready for preschool, and I might be able to teach part-time, or start looking for a new career. I'm certainly disenchanted with academia now that I see how incompatible it is with having kids. Sympathies and good luck, ekc

I have obviously been trying to say too much, b/c BPN tells me my post is too long! So feel free to email me if you have any more questions.

In a nutshell--

I set a rough and realistic deadline to finish. I repeatedly told my advisor and committee when I would finish. I think when your committee somehow imagines you finishing at a certain point they take you seriously and read your chapters and get back to you with comments in good time. I worked (sometimes only 15 min) on the diss EVERY day while my baby was napping.

Writing gets harder as the baby gets older, so don't be too hard on yourself if you're you're struggling to balance playtime with work time. Be realistic and don't beat yourself up if you have a bad day. Just squeeze in 10 min before bed, even proofreading footnotes.

If you know don't want to finish, withdraw right now. Having something you're not going to continue with hanging over your head is too much unnecessary stress when you've got a kid to take care of. Or, talk to your committee about withdrawing or about an extension.

I hope this is helpful. Be kind to yourself and enjoy your baby while you can. They grow up fast, believe me!

Good luck with whatever you decide! brigid

I had my first child while writing my dissertation (humanities) and honestly didn't really return to much active work until about nine months later. By then I was ready to have the intellectual outlet of a couple hours of writing a day and was able to hire college sitters for 10-15 hours a week. I am now a year out and just had a second baby. I'm home with this one, working on my book manuscript and job apps during naps, and I'll probably hire sitters again.

My flexibility is made possible by my husband's job. Our older child is in daycare 6 hours a day, and the baby is with me, so I'm a strange hybrid: both a working mom and a stay at home mom. I am extremely grateful to have had time with my babies but also then time to pursue my career. I have no idea whether I will end up successfully getting an academic job, and we'll obviously be reconsidering our situation over the next few years (and job application cycles). Perhaps I'll decide that an academic job isn't for me, but I personally won't regret my Ph.D. Ph.D. Mom

Since I've spent several years in my program, I feel that I'll be better off in the long run if I write the dissertation and get my Ph.D., no matter what I decide to do with it...even if I work on it part-time so I can still have ample time with my baby. But right now I'm OK with the idea of trying to put my baby in day care 4 hours a day starting around 4 months, and trying to focus on getting some writing in then, for I think I'll still have plenty of time with the baby...and I've accepted the fact that it will take me a bit longer to finish than other childless grad students. I have also stopped trying to project ahead too much, for I also might be wanting a second child around the time I'd be going on the job market or starting a new job...I've just decided that I will write the diss and finish, and then take it from there and decide what to do.

I empathize with your situation, but your decision to forge ahead with the diss or not is a very personal one. I know I would be upset with myself later in life if I did not get my Ph.D. and write about what I learned during my research. So my advice is to go with your gut and be honest with yourself about how much you care about finishing your program. Also a new mom and grad student

Starting grad school with a baby

Hi, It was always clear to me that I wanted to stay home with my kids for the first few years, to give them a strong and healthy foundation. So since my daughter was born last year, I have been staying home - and I LOVED it. I have never had as much fun in my life and I can see that my daughter is very happy too.

This fall, I am going to Graduate School (Masters in International Studies) and I am scared and confused. Part of me is so incredibly sad to no longer spend much time with my baby. In fact, I am so upset about it that I almost don't want to go to school. But on the other hand, I have worked very hard over the past few years to get accepted at those schools. How could I throw this away? Sure, I can always go back to school later, but not to these schools. And wouldn't it be harder once I have two kids??

I have never left my baby (12 months) in the care of somebody else. I talked to quite a few nannies and baby sitters and didn't feel comfortable with any. (I thought my baby and I should try to get used to spending time apart..) I am also worried about the amount of time I could spend with her. How many hours on average do Master's students spend on school & studying? And what kind of child care arrangements did you try? (baby sitter, nanny, day care etc.) My mother-in-law offered to come live with us, - is that a good idea?

I always had this romantic idea that studying and having a baby would work really well - until I realized how much work each a baby - and graduate school is. Help - is anybody in a similar situation? Any advice?

My concern for you is that you have never had childcare to date. There is nothing wrong with occasional childcare at any age. You need the break and they need the separation. If separation is an issue for you, then you will not do well ''on the outside''. You will need to do school work and this can't be done with a one-year-old around. My sense from your email is that you don't want to find care that is suitable - you are the only one that can care the best for your child. While I believe this is true - none of our childcare experiences would have been better overall than if I stayed home, BUT they were close enough. I think you need to decide that you REALLY want to do this, because it is a hard road, but can be very gratifying. Anon

I had already been a grad student for four years and was wrapping up my M.A. thesis when I found out I was pregnant. I took my orals two week before I was due, and then ended up staying at home with baby, ostensibly 'doing research' on my diss. but actually being entirely engrossed with the new experience of motherhood. I didn't plan it this way, but I ended up withdrawing from CAL for two entire years-- I had anticipated placing baby (okay, her name is Maia) in some kind of a care program, but when the time came for the *separation,* I couldn't do it. Call me whatever combination of weak / obsessive you like, but the bottom line for me, at the time, was that I did not feel comfortable with non-family care without my first having built up some confidence in the ''being a mom'' sector of my life. And like most folks in the Bay Area, I did not have family close-by that was willing to participate in consistent care for my child. Does this make sense?

It was when my daughter was two years old that I felt I knew what I was doing, and that I knew in my heart that it was a good time for her to start some kind of part-time care program. It was at that point that I re-entered grad school (my advisors wer GREAT. you MUST have UNDERSTANDING advisors for this sort of unconventional back-and- forth), putting Maia initially in a small, Montessori-based preschool twice a week, and eventually switching her to the CAL on-campus daycare program three days a week. Having an intense personality (gee, I wonder she gets it?) and having only had Mom or Dad as caretaker, Maia did better in the Montessori than at the CAL facility. I don't think it had as much to do with the teachers as much as it did the teaching philosophies. Maia had a VERY difficult time adjusting to the structured format of the CAL daily routine.

She defied teacher authority constantly, to the point at which the teachers called my husband and myself in for a 'consultation' with suggestions that we better discipline our daughter at home. . . It was frustrating. Since my husband and I were both grad students, we received a GENEROUS subsidy for this care, and without it, frankly, I would never have been able to go back to grad school with any real hope of finishing. We were probably poor enough to qualify for welfare, but alas, pride reared its (insert your adjective) head. It seemed that the choices were either / or. We either keep Maia where she is so that I could continue grad school, or we take her out, and I stay at home. We kept her there, thank goodness. And I stayed in school. This was two years ago. I am now a Fulbright scholar sharing a teaching position with my husband at CU Boulder, and the proud mother of a second baby, now 14 months old. Because my husband and I share a position, we can work our schedules in such a way that he is at home with the new baby while I am teaching, and vice versa.

He was not so much involved with the early care of our first, which was a strain on our marriage, to say the least. But I have to say, he has changed more diapers of baby #2 than I have, and at the dinner table, her high chair is ALWAYS at his setting. But that's another story. As for childcare for baby#2. I have the luxury of keeping her at home because of my job-share with my husband. Yes, work is slow, and yes, it can be extremely frustrating not to be able to write when I'm 'inspired.'

Besides, faculty doesn't get a nice subsidy, and childcare is atrociously expensive. My current thought is to keep her at home until she's about 2 or 2 1/2. We'll see.

Bottom line: If I can do it, you can too. It's not easy, and grad school really does take a longer time to get through with kids than without. And you will be forever poor, until you get your degree & attendant salary. Sometimes, I DO have regrets about having had mine so 'young,' the greatest being that I realize NOW the importance of financial stability.

When I had my first, I seriously thought that 'love would lead the way,' but of course, love only gets you so far, and it doesn't pay the rent. But we survived. We've been married for nine years now, have *a* job, have two kids. We don't have a dog yet, or a picket-fence kind of dwelling, but something like that will eventually be possible. Good luck with your decision-making. Hope this spiel helps. Please feel free to contact me with questions and / or support. I think many of us who have gone through this experience know how isolating and lonely it can be at times. C. M.

We are both starting doctoral programs, with a 15-mo-old

I'd really like to hear people's stories [STRUGGLES & TECHNIQUES] of juggling parenthood & school commitments when both parents are students. Also, experiences of student parents who have/had YOUNG KIDS while they are/were in school would be more helpful than those with older ones. My husband of five years and I are starting doctoral programs with 15 mnth old in tow. Thank goodness my mom, who gets along well with my husband, is staying for atleast the first semester to assist with the transition...still the anxiousness persists.

I read the ''advice given'' for the mom with husband in law school, and the thoughts/experiences articulated were helpful. Our situation is a bit different since we're BOTH students. While we're used to financial tightness [and actually with fellowships & financial aid between us, we're a little better off than when husband was working and i was home with sUn], advice on dealing with the tightening of TIME & ENERGY would be great!

Usually when I tell people in UC Village where we live that ''we'll both be in school'', I get an ''OHHH!'' that translates ''you've got a dante-ish road ahead of you'' with a ''good luck'' that translates ''glad i'm not you.'' point being, i'd like to hear from people who have the balls in the air... for perspective & encouragement

• Feature Article

Scientist and Parent: Planning during pregnancy

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Colleagues, funders and institutions can support pregnant researchers in a variety of ways.

Navigating her own two pregnancies while running a laboratory taught Shubha Tole, now a senior professor at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, India, that pregnancy does not have to derail a woman’s career in science. Since then, she has helped three of her postdoctoral fellows navigate their own pregnancies while continuing their projects. “People come up with all kinds of creative solutions,” Tole says.

Institutions and funders often have policies to support pregnant researchers, including paid family leave, laboratory safety precautions, and funding for technicians to assist with research tasks. But help can also come from colleagues being flexible to accommodate medical appointments or childcare pick-ups, or simply lending a helping hand when unforeseen hiccups arise.

Jillian Nissen had her first child when she was a postdoctoral fellow at Stony Brook University in New York, United States, where she used mice to study multiple sclerosis. She found the smell in the animal facility nauseating during her first trimester. “Having a really good supportive [project advisor] and group of peers helped with those challenges,” she says. Nissen's colleagues helped her with small tasks in the animal facility and with any lifting she had to do.

The first trimester of pregnancy – before many women feel comfortable disclosing their pregnancy – can be the most vulnerable time

Safety first

Making sure the research environment is safe for mother and baby is crucial throughout pregnancy. The National Postdoctoral Association’s Guide to Pregnancy and Maternity Leave lists some types of research and research tools that may pose risks to a developing fetus, including anesthesia, radiation, chemicals and solvents, exposure to loud noises or vibrations, and strenuous physical activities involved in field work or laboratory work. The guide recommends that women discuss their work and its potential risks with their doctor.

“There were some chemicals that we were using in the labs that I had to be a lot more cautious around,” explains Nissen, who consulted her physician and did research on her own. “I got a lot more careful about masks and gloves with certain things that I normally wouldn’t have worried about.”

Kathleen Flint Ehm, who co-authored the NPA pregnancy guide and is now director for graduate and postdoctoral professional development at Stony Brook University, recommends that women who are trying to become pregnant contact the environmental health and safety office at their institution for a safety review. The first trimester of pregnancy – before many women feel comfortable disclosing their pregnancy – can be the most vulnerable time so it helps to know the risks beforehand.

A separate Pregnancy Lab has been established at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) in Vienna, Austria, to give pregnant and nursing mothers a place where they can continue research without potentially being exposed to harmful substances. About 10 women make use of the Pregnancy Lab each year, says Harold Isemann, managing director of finance and administration at IMP. The lab contains all the necessary scientific equipment and a member of the institute’s biological safety staff makes sure that protocols stay within chemical exposure limits set by the Austrian government. Technicians complete any tasks that exceed the limits. “[Researchers] can basically continue with their work as soon as they report their pregnancy,” Isemann explains.

Carolin Charlotte Wendling, then a postdoctoral fellow at the Geomar marine biology institute in Kiel, Germany, also relied on a technician during her pregnancy. Wendling, who works with marine microbes, found that strict regulations in Germany prohibited her from working with pathogens during pregnancy. A staff safety officer determined what percentage of her work she would be able to complete under these rules and the institution’s health insurance covered the costs of hiring a technician to complete the rest.

“I could still work in front of the computer, analyze data, write up any manuscripts,” Wendling explains. “It did not delay my research too much. Overall, I think I was really lucky.”

Shubha Tole (left) with her postdoctoral fellow Archana Iyer in the lab.

Iyer has just returned after six months of maternity leave. During this period of leave, Bhavna Pydah was hired as a technician to provide research support.

Photograph: Bhavna Pydah.

From supported to supportive

Tole and her husband chose to delay having their children until she felt established in her laboratory: “I couldn't grow two things at once!”

When she had her first child, her group members came to lab meetings at her on-campus home during her 4.5 month paid maternity leave (India has since adopted a six month paid leave). India’s maternity leave policy allows women to work from home if they wish to, and Tole took advantage of this: “I wrote two papers during my maternity leave, so that was extremely productive.”

During Tole’s pregnancy, senior staff expressed support for her and her husband (a scientist who also took parental leave), and they allowed her to forego an annual staff trip. Now, she tries to make sure her lab members feel as supported as she did. She is flexible about when they are in the lab, how long their leave is (and whether they want to work during it), or when they need to take time away for childcare. This can lead to unconventional solutions: one postdoc, whose husband was working in England, hired a night nanny and opted to burn the midnight oil imaging at a microscope to allow her to care for her baby during the day.

“When a postdoc tells me that she is pregnant, I hire a technician to support her for the coming two years,” Tole says. “The goal is to enable a talented scientist to continue her science as best as she wishes. There’s no point in stressing out a new mom.”

Planning and policies

One of the things many women and leaders in the field agree on is that planning is essential for successfully managing research and pregnancy. Ehm recommends that postdoctoral researchers create a research plan during their pregnancy and discuss it with their colleagues. “It engages your collaborators and your advisor in a productive way that shows them that while there may be concerns about productivity, you do have a plan,” she explains.

Plans should take into account the legal entitlements that many countries provide to pregnant employees. In the United States, Title IX affords women protections during their pregnancy and maternity leave (for more detail, see The Pregnant Scholar ), and most employees are guaranteed 12 weeks of unpaid maternal leave. However, institutions may or may not offer paid parental leave, notes Ehm. When Nissen was a postdoctoral fellow, she did not have access to paid maternal leave – a perk that has only been added at Stony Brook in the last year for postdoctoral fellows who are employees. Instead, she used vacation and sick days. Some universities may also allow women to work part-time to help stretch their maternity leave.

Nissen found it essential to plan carefully for the periods before and after her leave. She made sure her animal experiments would be wrapped up two weeks before her due date, and asked colleagues to set aside animals for her during her maternity leave so she could pick up her work when she returned. She also advises planning where to pump breast milk on returning to work. Some institutions like IMP offer onsite childcare, which allows mothers to nurse their child during the day instead of pumping; others may have designated spaces for pumping and storing breast milk. Nissen had to use her advisor’s office when she returned. She also had to plan her experiments around the times when she would need to pump, and make sure things were wrapped up in time for her to pick up her child from daycare.

During her second pregnancy, Nissen ran a lab of her own at the State University of New York at Old Westbury. She had to temporarily shut down the lab when she was on maternity leave because the undergraduate students working in her lab could not continue without supervision. “Pregnancy and childbirth definitely derailed my lab work much more during my time as a faculty member,” she says. “As a postdoc, I had to put my own individual project on hold once I gave birth, but thanks to my group of peers I could seamlessly restart my work as soon as I returned. As a lab leader, I had to shut down all of the experiments a few weeks prior to my due date and I was not able to get things running again until after I had returned to work.”

Some funding organizations have policies to help new and expecting mothers. For example, the Welcome Trust/DBT India Alliance has stopped counting the time that grantees spend away from research in their fellowships and they provide a one-year extension in funds for women who take maternity leave. So far about 11 women have used the maternity extension. “The feedback is extremely positive, with women fellows telling us how transformative this has been for their research careers,” says Shahid Jameel, the organization’s chief executive officer. “More than the funds, it is the comfort of having the organization back them up with a policy.” Other funders, including the National Science Foundation in the United States, cover the costs of hiring a technician to continue a fellow’s work during their leave.

Although they didn't always say it outright, most male scientists were not eager to take on women because they didn't think they would be 100% focused on projects

Systems of support

Nearly half of women and about one-quarter of men in the US leave full-time employment in science after their first child is born, according to a recent study . But there are many ways governments or employers can reduce this attrition.

During her tenure as the first woman dean of the graduate division at the University of California, Berkeley between 2000 and 2007, Mary Ann Mason found that many women were leaving during their postdoctoral years. And some faculty were not supportive of pregnant researchers. “Although they didn't always say it outright, most male scientists were not eager to take on women because they didn't think they would be 100% focused on projects, and science is very competitive.”

Mason argued that protections for pregnancy were required under Title IX and established a policy that gave both men and women four months off for parental leave, during which time the tenure clock is stopped. “That was very, very popular,” Mason says. “We had a lot of people get tenure who wouldn't have gotten tenure.”

The policies eventually spread to other University of California (UC) campuses. Mason noted that in the five years following the passage of these policies the rate of childbirth doubled among faculty and postdoctoral students in the UC system. Now, UC is looking to tackle another big challenge for scientist parents: childcare. This includes offering on-campus and emergency childcare, and childcare stipends.

The state of California in 2014 passed a law protecting students from pregnancy discrimination and guaranteeing graduate students the opportunity to take a leave of absence for childbirth and return in good academic standing. Ehm believes that having standardized state or national policies can help reduce the burden on both the pregnant scientist and their advisor: “It should just be a guaranteed thing that you get, and you shouldn't have [to negotiate] on a case-by-case basis.”

Many accommodations for researchers who are pregnant or new parents cost employers and advisors nothing. For example, Deepak Modi, head of the Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory at the National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health in Mumbai, India, has allowed lab members to shift their hours or work from home to accommodate child care needs. He’s also worked with conference organizers to allow a student to bring her nanny to a meeting for no additional cost.

Modi acknowledges that he was not aware of the challenges pregnant researchers face the first time a student approached him about her pregnancy, but he was still able to make accommodations. The second time around, the process went more smoothly because he hired a technician to continue the student’s experiments during leave, allowing her work to continue to progress.

Now, he advocates for his colleagues to adopt more supportive attitudes toward researchers who get married or have children. “These should not be considered as hindrances to the research program,” Modi says.

A question of timing

Though many women wait until after 12 weeks to notify their advisor or colleagues about their pregnancy, Nissen suggests that letting them know earlier can be helpful. “If you have a good relationship with your advisor, then don't be afraid to tell them earlier rather than late,” she says. “It'll help them understand what's going on for you and help them accommodate your doctor's appointments or any medical issues in that first trimester, which a lot of people have.”

Wendling advises women not get too hung up on the timing of their pregnancies during their career: there are many ways to manage pregnancy while continuing your research. “Never wait for the right time,” she says. “The right time is not coming.”

This Feature Article is part of the Scientist and Parent collection .

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Bridget M Kuehn is a freelance writer based in Chicago

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Publication history

• Received: April 29, 2019
• Accepted: April 29, 2019
• Version of Record published: May 7, 2019 (version 1)

© 2019, Kuehn

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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Scientist and Parent

Further reading.

A research career and family life are not incompatible.

Listen to Kathleen Flint Ehm discuss the issues of raising a family as a scientist

The scientific workforce is changing, but the research culture has not: what could be done to address this gap?

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Many people wonder “does boric acid expire?” When stored properly (in a cool, dry place with the container sealed) pH-D Boric Acid Suppositories last up to 3 years (as the gelatin capsule can start to break down after this time period).

Boric Acid Suppositories

What is a boric acid suppository? It is a small capsule that is inserted into the vagina. What is the recommended amount of boric acid? 600 mg is the recommended amount of boric acid power that is included in each boric acid suppository. What do the suppositories look like? The boric acid vaginal suppositories look like a pill capsule. The suppository dissolves inside your vagina. The small size of our boric acid capsules (less than one inch) helps to minimize watery leakage. How is pH-D different from other boric acid vaginal suppositories? · We were the first to make boric acid vaginal suppositories available over the counter in 2014. Before, you could only get them from compounding pharmacies which made them expensive and inconvenient. · Made in a facility that we own and operate to ensure the highest quality standards. · Small gelatin boric acid vaginal capsule measuring less than one inch. · Female founder and CEO. How does boric acid work? Boric acid is a compound found in seawater and can be used for vaginal odor. Each pH-D vaginal suppository contains 600 mg of boric acid powder which is the amount recommended by doctors.

Coconut Oil & Vitamin E Vaginal Moisturizing Suppositories

What is a moisturizing suppository? It is a small capsule that is inserted into the vagina to assist with vaginal odor and provide moisturizing benefits once the suppository has dissolved. When and how often should I insert the pH-D suppository? We recommend using one moisturizing vaginal suppository at night. For extreme odor you can use one suppository every 12 hours. We recommend wearing a panty liner, especially when using during the day as there may be watery leakage. How long should you use pH-D? For vaginal odor, insert one pH-D suppository into the vagina per day, preferably before bedtime, until odor free. For vaginal dryness and improving vaginal moisture, insert one pH-D vitamin E suppository into the vagina per day, preferably before bedtime, as needed. How do I insert the suppository into my vagina? You insert the vitamin E suppository like you would a tampon. You can use your fingers and push it up until you can’t feel it anymore. You can also use our applicators. What are the possible issues with boric acid vaginal suppositories? Some women may experience mild burning or minor irritations. This may occur if the vitamin E vaginal suppository was not inserted far enough into the vagina or if you have any irritated or open skin within the vagina. Women may also experience watery leakage, so we recommend using a panty liner at night.

pH-D Vaginal Odor Rinse with Boric Acid - 2-count Value Pack

How does the Instant Vaginal Odor Rinse work? Uncap the container with the solution and remove the seal. Remove overwrap on nozzle and twist onto the container with solution. Insert the nozzle into your vagina and dispense the boric acid rinse solution. Solution should flow out of the vagina. Is the Instant Vaginal Odor Rinse vegan? Yes, it is vegan, paraben-free and cruelty free. How is this feminine health product different from your pH-D Boric Acid Suppositories? The Instant Vaginal Odor Rinse is a one-time use that works immediately. The suppositories take 4-12 hours to dissolve and are for ongoing vaginal odor such as during your period. Where is pH-D Instant Vaginal Odor Rinse made? All pH-D Feminine Health products are proudly made in the U.S.A. Our products are manufactured in-house at our own registered facilities, located in Nebraska and Tennessee, ensuring the highest quality standards. Can you use the Instant Vaginal Odor Rinse while pregnant? Do not use if you are pregnant, trying to conceive, or nursing. Is it safe to have sexual intercourse after I use the Instant Vaginal Odor Rinse? Yes. Unlike our Boric Acid Suppositories that need to completely dissolve (4-12 hours) before you should engage in intercourse, our Instant Vaginal Odor Rinse can give you instant freshness before intercourse.

pH-D Boric Acid Sensitive Foam Wash

How do I use this? Externally while showering or bathing Can I use this on my period? Yes, our foam wash is safe to use while on your period What is the pH? 4.5-5.5 Is this vegan? Yes Is this Gynecologist recommended? Yes, our foam wash is gynecologist recommended

What are pH-D Holistic Sensitive Wipes made of? pH-D Holistic Sensitive Wipes are made of Viscose and Polyester fibers. Can I flush pH-D Holistic Sensitive Wipes down the toilet? No, pH-D Holistic Sensitive Wipes are not flushable. Please throw them away in the trash bin. How many wipes come in a box? 30 individually wrapped wipes, perfect for on-the-go. Can I use pH-D Holistic Sensitive Wipes all over? Yes! pH-D Holistic Sensitive Wipes can be used to neutralize odor on any area of the body. Are pH-D Holistic Sensitive Wipes scented? Yes, there is a light lavender fragrance due to the essential oils. Are pH-D Holistic Sensitive Wipes cruelty-free? Yes! pH-D Holistic Sensitive Wipes are cruelty-free. Are pH-D Holistic Sensitive Wipes plant-based? Yes! pH-D Holistic Sensitive Wipes are plant-based

Women's Health Probiotics

How and when do I take pH-D’s Women Health Probiotics? Take 1 capsule orally per day with or without food. We recommend taking them at night before bed as your gut is pretty inactive at night. Are pH-D’s Women’s Health Probiotics vegan? Yes, pH-D’s Women’s Health Probiotics are vegan. Are pH-D’s Women’s Health Probiotics gluten-free? Yes, pH-D’s Women’s Health Probiotics are gluten-free. Do I need to consult with my doctor before taking pH-D’s Women Health Probiotics? Most people tolerate probiotics well. If you have a serious medical condition, or are pregnant or nursing, consult your physician for medical advice before use. What benefits does cranberry provide? The cranberry fruit extract has acidic properties that are proven to promote a healthy vagina.

Feminine Boric Acid Spray

When should I use the pH-D Boric Acid Body Fresh Spray? Use it anytime you want to feel fresh and confident. How does the pH-D Boric Acid Body Fresh Spray neutralize vaginal odor? Our boric acid spray is made with Amezol®, a remarkable compound made up of natural peptide and amino acid derivatives that uniquely and safely neutralizes odor and helps improve feminine hygiene. Our feminine body spray and other products like the feminine deodorant spray also contains boric acid (the ingredient in our #1 Best Selling pH-D Boric Acid Suppositories) to help neutralize persistent unusual odor. Where do I spray pH-D Boric Acid Body Fresh Spray? Spray the product 8-12 inches from skin anywhere on the body except the eyes and mouth. How does this spray differ from other feminine sprays on the market? Rather than masking vaginal odor, pH-D Boric Acid feminine spray neutralizes it due to the unique combination of Amezol and Boric Acid. Where is pH-D Boric Acid Body Fresh Spray made? All pH-D Feminine Health products are proudly made in the U.S.A. Our Boric Acid Body Fresh Spray and other related products like the feminine deodorant spray are manufactured in-house at our own FDA-registered facilities, located in Nebraska and Tennessee, ensuring the highest quality standards.

How long should you use pH-D? Use the suppositories until you are odor free. If you are prone to vaginal odor, we recommend using 2-4 suppositories per week. It is safe to use pH-D suppositories on a regular basis. How do I insert the suppository into my vagina? You insert the suppository like you would a tampon. You can use your fingers and push it up until you can’t feel it anymore. You can also use our applicators. What are the possible issues with boric acid suppositories? Some women may experience mild burning or irritation. This may occur if the suppository was not inserted far enough into the vagina or if you have any irritated or open skin within the vagina. Women may also experience watery leakage, so we recommend using a panty liner at night. I used a suppository and have experienced some spotting, should I be concerned? A small percentage of women experience spotting when using boric acid suppositories. It is safe to continue use if you are comfortable doing so. However, if it worsens or you begin to experience vaginal discomfort like burning sensation or irritation, we recommend you discontinue use. I used a suppository and have experienced some bleeding, should I be concerned? A small percentage of women experience bleeding when using boric acid suppositories. It is safe to continue use if it is slight and you are comfortable doing so. However, discontinue use if it worsens and becomes more pronounced. Also, discontinue use if you experience vaginal discomfort like burning sensation or irritation. Can you use boric acid suppositories while pregnant? Do not use if you are pregnant, trying to conceive, or nursing. Is it safe to nurse my child and use this product? Do not use if you are pregnant, trying to conceive, or nursing.

pH-D Boric Acid Rose Vanilla Foam Wash

pH-D Boric Acid Honey Lavender Foam Wash

pH-D Holistic Menopause Support

How and when do I take pH-D’s Holistic Menopause Support? Take 1 capsule orally per day with or without food. Are pH-D’s Holistic Menopause Support capsules vegan? Yes, pH-D’s Holistic Menopause Support is vegan. Are pH-D’s Holistic Menopause Support capsules gluten-free? Yes, pH-D’s Holistic Menopause Support is gluten-free. Should I avoid any foods, supplements, or medications while taking pH-D Holistic Menopause Support? pH-D Holistic Menopause Support is safe to take with other foods, supplements, and over-the-counter or prescription medications and will not negatively interact with them. What is CON-CRET® creatine and how does it work? CON-CRĒT® (Concentrated Creatine HCI) is a unique form of creatine that is molecularly bound with hydrochloric acid to enhance solubility and overall absorption rates. Creatine is naturally occurring in the body, but the body only produces half of what is required to perform optimally. CON-CRĒT® assists with cellular energy to support optimal brain health.

pH-D Holistic Menstrual Support

How and when do I take pH-D’s Holistic Menstrual Support? Take 3 capsules orally per dose. Repeat doses every 4-6 hours as needed. Do not exceed more than 12 capsules per day. Are pH-D’s Holistic Menstrual Support capsules vegan? Yes, pH-D’s Holistic Menstrual Support is vegan. Are pH-D’s Holistic Menstrual Support capsules gluten-free? Yes, pH-D’s Holistic Menstrual Support is gluten-free. Should I avoid any foods, supplements, or medications while taking pH-D Holistic Menstrual Support? pH-D Holistic Menstrual Support is safe to take with other foods, supplements, and over-the-counter or prescription medications and will not negatively interact with them. What is Alpha-GEE® and how does it work? Alpha-GEE® is a unique peptide compound found in natural sources and foods. It is proven to reduce inflammation* *activity induced

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Getting pregnant during my PhD - is it possible to finish on time?

Badger91 · 14/03/2016 18:58

I am currently in the 3rd year of my PhD - my funding ends August 2017. I'm getting married in July and hoping to start trying for a baby right away. IF we are lucky enough to get pregnant quickly, I would be giving birth in fourth year. So I'd be writing up almost full time by the time baby arrives. How many ladies have had babies in their PhD? Would you recommend it? Did you survive?

Don't have a PhD, DO have professional interest in supporting PhD students... It can be done but do a) check out any maternity leave from your funder and b) suspend your studies for the active bits - if you think you can 'struggle on through' the time most women take maternity leave, and then hit maximum length of candidature without submitting, it can get sticky...

I would say don't assume its that easy to get pregnant when you want to, it will probably take you longer than you think x

I will look into maternity leave but I am hoping to submit on time, without any extensions. But you're right, I want to make sure I'm covered just in case.

Not a PhD, but I wrote my masters dissertation (17,000 words) during my maternity leave. It was hard, and I am glad I don't have it hanging over me this time round! I had already done some preliminary research, but still found that there was a huge amount to do. It was only really feasible because DC went into nursery a couple of days a week and I wasn't back at work. I wouldn't have been capable of sustained critical thought in the first 6 months post delivery and remember bitterly regretting that I took it easy and didn't push to finish it before I gave birth. Now it's a distant-ish memory I'm pleased that I carried on and graduated, but I do suspect that it's better not to put yourself through the stress.

We have decided that of it looks like it's going to take a long time then we will have to stop and wait until I get another "window" throughout my career. Trying to stay positive though. Don't want to be on a downer before we even start.

Well I would have no research left. If by research we're talking about experimental work. That will be finished before the end of this year. I would be writing my thesis full time. I understand that it will be a lot of work but it's nice to know it's possible to get through it.

I submitted my PhD dissertation the day after my due date with DS1. (he was a week late) That was actually okay. I worked very hard in those 9 months to finish nearly on time. I now supervise many Msc and PhD students in a female dominated field. I have dealt with many students who become pregnant, and almost all of them are convinced they can work while on mat leave. None of them were able to do good work while also on leave. You should be able to postpone your funding, but you will need to take a maternity leave and prepare for the fact that severe sleep disruption and dissertation writing are not compatible. Don't plan for mat leave to overlap successfully with dissertation writing. You really just won't care about the dissertation in those first few months and feeing guilty will just make those months stressful. That said, there is no good time for an academic woman to have a baby, and if you can have your funding postponed (and you should be able to) now may be as good a time as any. I am an academic and working flat out during pregnancy and keep getting a hard time for "not taking it easy", but I know that in a field like ours my best asset is my thoughtful attention and that will be AWOL for the first few months with a newborn.

But equally, don't assume you won't get pregnant straight away and plan as if it'll take months, as it can happen (did to me, twice!)

I completed my write-up during pregnancy and then due in part to my supervisor's lazy management, ended up doing my viva when 6 weeks post-partum. NOT FUN when you haven't slept for more than 4 hrs straight for a while. Miraculously, I did well in the viva but it's taken me 2 yrs to find the space in my life to tackle the substantial rewrite that was necessary. I do have other work commitments which have taken precedence. Be warned that working on a PhD once funding has run out and once childcare costs kick in is really tough.

I used to be in a pastoral role for PhD students, some of whom became pregnant. Most of them were scientists who did 4-year PhDs with 3 years of experimental work and a 4th year of writing. Based on the completion rate of those students, and my own utter disinclination to think straight/ total knackeredness from throwing up a lot while pregnant - and I have never even made it beyond 12 weeks' gestation - I absolutely second the posters above saying don't try to combine writing with a baby. Trying to do work while being pregnant can be awful and that's nothing on having a newborn.

oh and i have known one person who did a lot of experimental work and wrote up, and did her viva, all while on maternity leave with 2 kids under 3. She's superhuman, and generally keeps up a punishing rate of work achievement, but even she had a breakdown a few years later.

I got pregnant towards the end of my unfunded 'write up' fourth year. Managed to finish with minor corrections and get through a viva with pretty severe morning sickness. I know a number of people who have been pregnant much earlier in the phd process, 2nd or 3rd years, and even though it has caused distruption, they have been much better supported. I personally faced being a qualified phd in late 2015 but with no one wanting to employ me at 4/5 months pregnant. Plus, due to the research councils structure, no kind of maternity leave or pay has been available too. I can't emphasis enough how tough this has been money wise. Friends who have been pregnant much earlier in the process have managed to go part time, get mat leave and have flexible working arrangements - that is until funding has stopped and childcare has continued. Huge problems then. I've started to think, there's no good time though with the way academic life is tbh! I wish you luck :)

Hey girls! I'm new and super confused please help if you can !!, yesterday it just randomly dawned on me that I haven't had a period I have never ever missed one in my life, I checked my app and my dates and it turns out I'm 14 days today overdue I took a home test yesterday and I got a negative, we are trying however I have some systis on my ovary I don't feel pregnant then again I haven't been pregnant before lol phoned the doc and he said to try again next week has this ever happened to anyone? And we're you pregnant help please !!! Xx

Whether I am still a PhD student or I wait longer,I will have to work throughout my pregnancy. If I were to believe some of these posts, then I would say it is impossible to have a child. At any point in my career. Unless I'm willing to give up work before I even start trying for a baby. Which I can't and won't do. Very disappointed.

I was pregnant for my viva (though very very early in pregnancy), and now work as an academic with children. But, to add to the tales of woe, did move out of academia in my child bearing years because I could see so much potential for problems with short term research contracts. That said, I am in a department with a lot of female staff, many of whom are still at the stage of babies and mat leaves. They all seem to be doing fine going in and out of academic contracts. It certainly isn't impossible, but writing up with a small baby: I couldn't have done it, and I did manage to hold down a successful professional job at that time.

You could consider a period of part time to deal with pregnancy probably making you not able to perform at your normal level (but you might be totally fine just a but tired in which case won't need to do this), then you can stretch out your funding and will have a bit of flexibility to deal with any pregnancy complications \symptoms etc. Look at the maternity leave situation - if you can have 6 months off with a baby and then return pt after you might be able to get 1 day childcare (or else just work when baby is sleeping) and your partner look after the baby all weekend so you can fit 3 days pt writing up in. It's all possible and seems sensible to do it at the start of your career. Academia is more flexible than other professions when it comes to dealing with pregnancy, babies etc. At the end of the day I think you have to prioritise pregnancy and babies if that's what you want, and that's OK, sure it will all work itself out.

Writing up was bad enough without being pregnant! I found out two things while pregnant which have relevance here... (11 years after my viva - I got to a senior position before even considering a baby, which not everyone is wired for, and I was very lucky to get pregnant at 39...)

• I got hyperemesis. I lost weeks to having to lie in bed motionless and try and drink without being severely ill. Some of that time I was in hospital on a drip. If you are one of the 1-2% of women who gets HG, then you won't be able to do anything. At all.
• When I came out of the bad phase at about 18 weeks, I found I was able to focus very intensely and got a lot of catching up done, but still had to dodge other pregnancy complications like possible gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia. I am sure I'd not have wanted to even try while writing up, in case something went very wrong and I ended up in a bad place mentally and found myself unable to finish the thesis. I would advise not trying until after you submit, and preferably not until after your viva. Plus you would be a lot less stressed - stress really doesn't help while expecting. Good luck.

OP, you are overgeneralising. You didn't ask if you could have a baby and be an academic. Yes, of course you can, but it is hard and lots of women drop out. Many make it. You asked if you could have a baby and not disrupt your dissertation schedule. It is unlikely you can have a baby while on a 4 year PhD programme and not delay your submission date. You can work right through pregnancy. I don't know a single female academic who took pregnancy off. I finished data collection and wrote a dissertation with DS1, with DS2 I was a junior academic and wrote several papers and a successful grant application, and with this third pregnancy I am getting a huge multi site trial off the ground. It is bloody hard but you can work through pregnancy. This is true for any woman in any job. You just need to take a maternity leave, like anyone would. Lots of academics/students will take time off working but not time away from being a student. If you view your PhD as a job (as you should) then take your maternity leave and come back. Unless you get one of those unicorn sleeping babies, and you somehow manage not to go all doo-lolly from the oxytocin if you breastfeed, writing and having a newborn is hard.

I know a lot of women who have worked whilst pregnant. Not many people have the luxury of giving up everything and dedicate their life to producing offspring. I take my PhD very seriously and I am on track to finish early so I certainly do consider it a "job". I am also leaving academia afterwards because I have met nothing but unpleasant people. I will, though, still have a career and have my children throughout my career - whilst working. Regardless of what job I'm doing

I would strongly consider either a period of mat leave (most funders cover this) or waiting for six months or so to ensure you're really on track. I finished my PhD in Nov (I started it with a 10 month old baby) and the final stages where you think you're nearly there are longer than I expected (things like submitting, waiting for viva dates, viva prep, corrections etc) all surprised me. Not something you want to be even thinking about while pregnant or on early mat leave. I'm pregnant now with second baby and wanted to start trying to conceive while in my final year - I am so glad I waited. I appreciate everyone's situation is different though. Good luck with both!

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OP it sounds like you have already made up your mind! Come back and tell us all how you found it, won't you? BTW if you have already decided not to pursue a career in academia is it essential to complete the PhD? I imagine it's industry specific but in my line of work it wouldn't matter a jot whether you finished your PhD or not: the academic side is very far removed from practice.

I had IVF and was pregnant during my research & writing up. Took 6 months off then went back to work for 3 months. I'm a doctor too so then got a consultant job, finished writing up & submitted when baby number 1 was 15/12. Had viva (& passed) when baby no 1 was 18/12 and 6/12 pregnant with no 2. It can be done!

Haven't rtft but I got pregnant towards the end of my PhD. I started writing up beforehand but stupidly thought I'd finish it while on mat leave..that didn't happen! I submitted 4 months after going back to work and completed a month later when baby was 9 months old. It was doable and not horrific. Good luck with it all!

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Can You Take Tylenol While Pregnant?

P regnancy brings a lot of rules regarding food, drinks, and medication. We turned to experts to learn whether Tylenol is safe while expecting.

Between all of the headaches, backaches, and you-name-it-aches that come along with pregnancy, a good pain reliever is an absolute necessity. Many parents-to-be often wonder which medications are off the table, leading to a big question about a common household staple: Is it safe to take Tylenol while pregnant?

Thankfully, Tylenol, also known as acetaminophen , is considered a safe option for you and your unborn baby. 

“Tylenol is safe to use during all three trimesters,” explains Jian Jenny Tang, M.D. , an OB-GYN at Mount Sinai Hospital and Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “There is no strong evidence that consuming Tylenol causes adverse pregnancy outcomes such as increased risk of pregnancy loss , congenital anomalies, or neurodevelopmental delay.”

Kyler Silver, M.D. , an OB-GYN and the Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UT Southwestern Medical Center, also tells Parents , “[Tylenol] is the safest option we have.”

As long as you stick to the appropriate dose, Tylenol offers safe, much-needed relief for anyone dealing with the aches and pains of growing a tiny human . 

How Much Tylenol Is Safe While Pregnant?

During pregnancy, the daily maximum dose of Tylenol is 3,000 mg, says Dr. Silver. That said, she recommends sticking to the minimum amount possible. “The general rule in pregnancy is to take the lowest dose for the least amount of time,” she says. 

Dr. Tang adds that 650 mg every 6 hours (with a max dose of 3,000 mg) is suitable. A “therapeutic” dose is around 1,000 mg to get rid of headaches and other nagging pains.

In terms of frequency, Dr. Silver explains that while Tylenol can be taken fairly regularly for headaches, backaches, cramps, fever, or other pain, it’s still important to monitor your intake. If you're experiencing chronic pain, consider speaking with a health care provider about alternatives, and be sure to communicate your symptoms in the event there's an underlying cause beyond the expected aches and pains of pregnancy.

However, if you have specific allergies to certain medications or a history of any liver disease, you should be sure to consult with a health care professional before consuming Tylenol.

Tylenol is safe during pregnancy for periodical aches and pains. Be sure that you're following the recommended dosage on the bottle, and note that the maximum daily amount is 3,000 mg. If you're experiencing chronic pain or severe discomfort, please consult with a health care professional.

Related: Which Medications Are Safe During Pregnancy?

Is Tylenol During Pregnancy Linked to ADHD and Autism in Children?

Recently, there have been a number of lawsuits that suggest Tylenol during pregnancy leads to ADHD and autism in children. Although alarming, there is reassuring evidence that acetaminophen (the main active ingredient in Tylenol) is still considered safe while pregnant.

Dr. Tang points to a FDA Drug Safety Communication assessment that looked at all available evidence and found inconclusive data regarding a possible connection between acetaminophen use in pregnancy and ADHD. Moreover, the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (which specializes in high-risk pregnancies) confirmed these findings, also stating that acetaminophen is still an appropriate medication for those who are pregnant.

When it comes to the link between Tylenol and Autism, Dr. Silver notes that more research is needed to determine if acetaminophen is a direct cause. “There are studies showing correlations between [Tylenol during pregnancy] and Autism, but there’s no randomized, double-blind control studies. They show a correlation but not a causation ,” she points out. 

Furthering this point, Professor Xiaobin Wang, the corresponding author of a Johns Hopkins University study that shows a correlation between Tylenol and Autism and ADHD, states that the data should not be interpreted that Tylenol is the cause of the two disorders, and that more studies are needed to clarify the possible connection.

While we may never be 100% sure about a medication’s safety during pregnancy, Dr. Silver believes the evidence suggests that Tylenol is still a suitable solution for pain.

Other Methods of Pain Relief While Pregnant

If you’re looking for pain relief outside of medication, there are quite a few safe alternatives. Dr. Tang recommends relaxation techniques , getting enough sleep (always easier said than done, we know!), practicing stress management , or trying aromatherapy with essential oils like lemongrass and lavender.  

Exercise offers a lot of benefits during pregnancy, including pain relief—and you can safely work out during all three trimesters , with some minor adjustments to protect your abdomen from falls or impact. Of course, be sure to speak with a health care professional before beginning any new workout regiment while expecting.

For back pain in particular, massages, belly bands, or a visit to the chiropractor can also be effective, says Dr. Silver. As for headaches? “Caffeine works really well,” she says. “Just a little dose of coffee [can solve] the problem.” She recommends sticking to a maximum of 200 mg a day, which equals about two cups or 12 oz total.

Related: Breast Pain During Pregnancy: Symptoms and Solutions

When to Contact a Health Care Provider

If any pregnancy pain you experience is causing you to take the maximum dose of Tylenol on a daily basis, it’s best to contact a health care professional. “If you’re a chronic Tylenol-taker, have a conversation with your doctor to make sure you're maximizing the alternatives,” says Dr. Silver. 

While occasional headaches are to be expected during pregnancy, a severe headache that will not go away could be a sign of something more serious, such as preeclampsia. Additionally, if you suffer from migraines , it’s important to speak with your doctor about appropriate treatments. 

Of course, if any pain you are experiencing is concerning, especially headaches that cause dizziness, blurred vision, or fainting , intense back pain, or cramps accompanied by bleeding , always contact an OB-GYN or health care provider right away. While pregnancy can come with a variety of aches and pains, you know your body best—and it always helps to get a little reassurance from a physician that you and your baby are staying as healthy as possible. 

Related: When to Worry About a Pregnancy Headache

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Read the original article on Parents .