PhD & Baby?

[~V&M~]

Hi there :wave:

This is my first post! I've been lurking for a few days and just had to join! I can see I'm going to become addicted to this site very quickly!

I just have a question that's been bugging me for weeks now.

My husband and I have just started ttc :smiliedance: BUT I am starting a PhD next year as well :smiliedance: I'm really concerned as to how we'll go with me starting such a difficult degree and having a new baby at the same time. If we're lucky enough to fall pregnant fairly soon, that means we'll have a newborn just as I start eeeek! Either that or I'll be pregnant as I start which I just know is going to be frowned upon at uni (hoping to get into UQ), especially in my discipline (science).

I guess my question is how did you cope with studying with an infant? I know so many people manage to juggle the two but I have never heard how they did it, or how they coped!

I would love to hear your stories :)

Thanks!

[shed]

I deferred my studies on the day I forgot my own phone number. If you had offered me a thousand dollars I wouldn't have been able to tell you what it was at the time.

Your brain turns to mush. Its not an old wives tale, its true.

Pregmentia is the word that has been used on this site and its pretty apt.

I don't know about having a newborn, but I would probably just take three or four hours sleep OFF the above situation. :D

[aardvark]

I'm finding it hard with 2 school aged children and a newborn, doing one Master's subject.

I did do undergraduate study with #1 as a newborn, and it was nowhere near this hard.

It gets harder to study as they get older, would be my comment. It's easy to park a contented bub on the floor next to you with some toys while they are not mobile. Once they get on the move, it changes things quite a bit.

I'd not be brave enough to start a PhD with a baby. I wish you luck.

[anna's mum]

Hi there!

I just started a PhD & had my dd when I was an undergrad. I had about 4mths off after the birth (over summer) & then went part-time for one semester, then back into full-time.

The beauty of a PhD is that you can take it at your own time (sort-of :) but I would definitely recommend taking a few months off because you will more than likely be exhausted & it takes a bit of readjustment before you launch into something new.

Good luck with it all!

Jayne