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?

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This is a different question than [Having children while at graduate school][1] 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.  


  [1]: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/45855/having-children-while-at-graduate-school