I am a female graduate student in a competitive phd program. I recently had a baby. Although this is a planned pregnancy, and I thought I have thought through the complications having a baby would bring, I am still very overwhelmed by how much different my life is now.

I don't have any time besides taking care of a newborn, and I am very sleep-deprived. Baby's dad works full-time to support the family. Even though it brings me a lot of joy, I just can't help but wonder whether I would ever have time for my research again. I initially plan to go back to school in September, while baby is about 3 months old. But I am not sure whether I would be able to do anything next semester. Or even the semester after next. I initially plan to graduate next fall, but now I feel that might be a stretch. The application starts next semester, and I should be going around giving talks and preparing for my applications. But that feels impossible now.

And there is the financial stress. I want to put my child in daycare at some point (like around 7,8 months), so I can have some time to do work. But it's very expensive, and I don't know if we can afford this with our current income. Sometimes I thought about finding an industry job after graduate school, so things would be easier. But I don't want to give up research.

What is an effective way to deal with the stresses of being a new mother while on the job market? Specifically, how can I complete my research and apply to jobs in a situation where I am sleep deprived and child care is expensive?

This is a different question than Having children while at graduate school because I believe a female student's experience is differnt than a male student's experience. Especially at infant stage, mother's role cannot be placed by others due to constant feedings. The author in the other post also has his girlfriend/wife staying at home with the baby, so there will be much less work for him. In my case, I would be the one taking care of the baby since my husband work full-time. Another thing is I am already at the stage that I am about to graduate as opposed to the other post is debating whether to start the program, so I am more concerned about graduating timeline.

I am a female graduate student in a competitive phd program. I recently had a baby. Although this is a planned pregnancy, and I thought I had thought through the complications having a baby would bring, I am still very overwhelmed by how much different my life is now.

I don't have any time besides taking care of a newborn, and I am very sleep-deprived. Baby's dad works full-time to support the family. Even though it brings me a lot of joy, I just can't help but wonder whether I would ever have time for my research again. I initially planned to go back to school in September, when baby will be about 3 months old. But I am not sure whether I would be able to do anything next semester. Or even the semester after next. I initially planned to graduate next fall, but now I feel that might be a stretch. The application starts next semester, and I should be going around giving talks and preparing for my applications. But that feels impossible now.

And there is the financial stress. I want to put my child in daycare at some point (like around 7,8 months), so I can have some time to do work. But it's very expensive, and I don't know if we can afford this with our current income. Sometimes I thought about finding an industry job after graduate school, so things would be easier. But I don't want to give up research.

What is an effective way to deal with the stresses of being a new mother while on the job market? Specifically, how can I complete my research and apply to jobs in a situation where I am sleep deprived and child care is expensive?

This is a different question than Having children while at graduate school because I believe a female student's experience is different than a male student's experience. Especially at infant stage, mother's role cannot be placed by others due to constant feedings. The author in the other post also has his girlfriend/wife staying at home with the baby, so there will be much less work for him. In my case, I would be the one taking care of the baby since my husband works full-time. Another thing is I am already at the stage that I am about to graduate as opposed to the other post is debating whether to start the program, so I am more concerned about the graduation timeline.

I am a female graduate student in a competitive phd program. I recently had a baby. Although this is a planned pregnancy, and I thought I have thought through the complications having a baby would bring, I am still very overwhelmed by how much different my life is now.

I don't have any time besides taking care of a newborn, and I am very sleep-deprived. Baby's dad works full-time to support the family. Even though it brings me a lot of joy, I just can't help but wonder whether I would ever have time for my research again. I initially plan to go back to school in September, while baby is about 3 months old. But I am not sure whether I would be able to do anything next semester. Or even the semester after next. I initially plan to graduate next fall, but now I feel that might be a stretch. The application starts next semester, and I should be going around giving talks and preparing for my applications. But that feels impossible now.

And there is the financial stress. I want to put my child in daycare at some point (like around 7,8 months), so I can have some time to do work. But it's very expensive, and I don't know if we can afford this with our current income. Sometimes I thought about finding an industry job after graduate school, so things would be easier. But I don't want to give up research.

I wonder what the experience of other people are like. I know it might depend on the person, everyone is different. But I want to hear your experience, and hope you can share some wisdom. How do you handle the life with an infant? How much does it affect your phd? Do you still choose to stay in academia?

Thanks!

This is a different question than Having children while at graduate school because I believe a female student's experience is differnt than a male student's experience. Especially at infant stage, mother's role cannot be placed by others due to constant feedings. The author in the other post also has his girlfriend/wife staying at home with the baby, so there will be much less work for him. In my case, I would be the one taking care of the baby since my husband work full-time. Another thing is I am already at the stage that I am about to graduate as opposed to the other post is debating whether to start the program, so I am more concerned about graduating timeline.

I am a female graduate student in a competitive phd program. I recently had a baby. Although this is a planned pregnancy, and I thought I have thought through the complications having a baby would bring, I am still very overwhelmed by how much different my life is now.

I don't have any time besides taking care of a newborn, and I am very sleep-deprived. Baby's dad works full-time to support the family. Even though it brings me a lot of joy, I just can't help but wonder whether I would ever have time for my research again. I initially plan to go back to school in September, while baby is about 3 months old. But I am not sure whether I would be able to do anything next semester. Or even the semester after next. I initially plan to graduate next fall, but now I feel that might be a stretch. The application starts next semester, and I should be going around giving talks and preparing for my applications. But that feels impossible now.

And there is the financial stress. I want to put my child in daycare at some point (like around 7,8 months), so I can have some time to do work. But it's very expensive, and I don't know if we can afford this with our current income. Sometimes I thought about finding an industry job after graduate school, so things would be easier. But I don't want to give up research.

What is an effective way to deal with the stresses of being a new mother while on the job market? Specifically, how can I complete my research and apply to jobs in a situation where I am sleep deprived and child care is expensive?

This is a different question than Having children while at graduate school because I believe a female student's experience is differnt than a male student's experience. Especially at infant stage, mother's role cannot be placed by others due to constant feedings. The author in the other post also has his girlfriend/wife staying at home with the baby, so there will be much less work for him. In my case, I would be the one taking care of the baby since my husband work full-time. Another thing is I am already at the stage that I am about to graduate as opposed to the other post is debating whether to start the program, so I am more concerned about graduating timeline.