<prompt> Human: What information do you need from me to help me sort through this? To start, I earn 2500 per month, take-home, and daycare for one child in our area is about 1700 per month for the first six months, and 1350 per after that it changes based on the age of the child. My company is not likely to let me take an unpaid hiatus for the first six months, but I am going to ask. My insurance will increase by about 40 per month, and my gas will increase by about 150 per month. I believe my additional food purchases due to time constraints at home and customer meetings at work will add conservatively 200 per month. I live in an area with year-long paid maternity leave, and we would like to have a second child. If I dont go back to work, I obviously wont qualify for the payment for the second child, which is about 1500 per month after taxes.My husband makes enough that we would get by without being paycheque to paycheque, but we would be saving a little less each year. We arent really big on paying for trips and holidays, so thats not an issue. I feel like there are other financial factors Im not thinking about; please enlighten me? The nonpecuniary major issue of note is, of course, time. We will be out of the house from 7:30 until 6:00 every day, on good days. We will have very little time with our baby, only an hour in the morning and an hour at night before bed on weeknights. These two hours will be spent getting the baby ready for the day in the morning, and getting the baby fed, bathed, and to bed at night. We will only have quality time on the weekends, but due to the scheduling well have a good few chores to do on weekends. This is the tipping factor for me, if the financial side is nondeterminant. Please note I am not interested in cheaper daycare because it would be in the form of unlicensed home daycare and I am not willing to take that kind of risk with my child. We have no family nearby to help. I also would go back to work once our child is in preschool, and if we have a second child, once that child is old enough for preschool, so I anticipate no more than 5 years out of the workforce. I am a licensed professional and dont anticipate having difficulty finding a job later because there is high turnover in the industry, and there are often job openings. Furthermore, I would basically be guaranteed to get my current position back with my company if one were available, which is a bit of an if, but my specific position comes available a couple times per year, currently. What do you think? Edit: Part time is not an option. There are no part time jobs in my company, and few worth their wage in the industry. Assistant: Is there any chance youd be able to work part-time? Dont underestimate the cost of being out of the workforce for 5 years that tend to be key career-building years. My salary increased 50 between ages 28 and 33. Is there a daycare near your work such that you could come visit at lunch time doesnt work once they get older and separation is hard, but is nice early on.Human: Great point, thank you, but there are no daycares near my work. I understand that being out of the workforce is risky, but my industry is government regulated, so not much changes.  <response>: Its not risk Im suggesting, per se. But even in a government regulated industry I assume at best pay is tied to years of experience and you wont be continuing to accrue those years if you arent working. A lot of people do the calculations just considering their pre-child salary while the actual cost is much higher. Even once youre back in the workforce youll forever be that much further behind.If you do leave your current position see if you can find ways to stay active in your field - consulting, blogging, getting further related education. Whatever you can put on there to help fill the gap and pick up ahead or where you left off the better. 