I went back to work at 6 months. Partly money reasons, and partly because I felt like I was going crazy at home just doing baby things (I don't really have any friends with babies at the time, although there are some around now.....). My maternity leave could have been stretched out a bit longer, but we chose to take it at a higher rate of pay over a shorter period of time. TBH, at the moment I'm kind of wishing I didn't have to go back. I mean, I know that for us we need the money to get by (the effect of having an expensive house in a desirable suburb I suppose, but we wanted to get the house before having kids as we figured it would be harder once they were born ITMS?). I sometimes wish we had more financial freedom though. I'm actually wondering if we should move before having #2 so that I can stay home with them both for longer....