If you’re reading this blog, chances are you’re pregnant….(if so congratulations!) or want to have a baby at some point in the future.

You’re also probably worried about how your blog will manage if you take time off.

I completely understand. Being a full-time blogger is great and offers freedom and flexibility. But it doesn’t quite offer the same maternity benefits as being employed.

For starters, there’s no one to cover your job while you’re away and there’s the worry that taking time off will lead to less traffic and fewer sales, especially when you return.

But it is very possible to take maternity leave as a blogger and still maintain your traffic and profits. I’ve done it twice.

I have two bubbly and energetic toddlers. My daughter was 3 months when I fell pregnant with my son. So, I pretty much had to prepare for maternity leave for two years in a row.

The first time I planned for maternity leave I didn’t know what to expect. But the second time round I learned from my mistakes and had a better experience.

In today’s post, I’m going to cover how to prepare for maternity leave as a blogger. I’ll go over the steps you need to take beforehand to make sure your blog ticks along without you.

1. Start preparing early

The sooner you start planning your maternity leave the better. The first time round I didn’t start preparing till the second month before my baby was due. Oops! It was a mad rush of planning and preparation close to my due date while also preparing for our new bundle of joy.

Believe me, when I say I did not make that mistake again! Instead, the next time I started planning within one month of finding out I was pregnant. And I felt all the better for it.

2. Decide how long your maternity leave will be

Take a look at your finances and work out realistically how long you can manage on a reduced income. Also, think about how much content you can create in advance.

If you’re not going to use childcare after maternity leave, consider how long it’ll take to get your little one into a routine so that you can balance blogging and motherhood. To do this, you’ll need to work during nap times, in the evenings, and get a decent night’s sleep.

Now, this isn’t something that you can be sure of in advance but it can take anywhere between 3 to 6 months to get your bubba into a routine. I’d say 6 months to be on the safe side.

But each baby is different, my daughter slept through the night when she was 3 months old, thanks to this book by Suzi Giordano. She could also settle herself back to sleep when she woke up so I didn’t have to contend with sleepless nights.

My son on the other hand was able to settle himself by 6 months. This was just as well because I took a 3 month maternity leave the first time and 6 months the second time so it worked out fine.

3. Plan your content ahead of time

I use an editorial calendar and plan the majority of my content at the beginning of the year. So in January, I have a fair idea of what I need to blog about in December.

This made preparing for maternity leave really helpful because I already knew what I needed to write and when to schedule it for.

If you don’t have an editorial calendar, I recommend you start one asap and fill it with content ideas for the duration of your maternity leave.

4. Schedule blog posts to cover your maternity leave

Create a list of all the blog posts you need to write starting from one month before your maternity leave to one month after your maternity leave.

Why should you schedule posts once your maternity leave is done? Because when you return back to work, it’s nice to already have content scheduled so you can focus on catching up with everything you’ve missed.

Write an extra one or two blog posts a week from your list, depending on how much you can manage because, well, there’s morning sickness and pregnancy tiredness to contend with. My pregnancy tiredness was off the scale because my iron levels were so low.

Remember I said to prepare early? This is why.

If you can start writing your extra blog posts early on, it avoids the added pressure of creating content when you’re closer to your maternity leave date.

I started creating content 6 to 7 months before I was due to take maternity leave. Also, don’t forget you can always refresh old blog posts and republish them, as well as invite guest bloggers to post content during your maternity leave.

5. Scale back

Let’s say you publish 2 or 3 blog posts a week, there’s nothing wrong with scaling back to one post a week or every two weeks during your maternity leave.

This means you don’t have to write as many posts when you write content ahead of time.

And if financially possible, you can also continue to scale back after your maternity leave, till you’ve fully settled into your new role as a mum.

6. Apply for maternity allowance

If in the 66 weeks before your baby is due you’re registered as self-employed for at least 26 weeks and are earning £30 a week more then you’re eligible for maternity allowance for 39 weeks.

You only need to be able to show that you’ve made £30 a week for at least 13 weeks of the time you’ve been self-employed. And it doesn’t have to be 13 weeks in a row.

How much you get depends on how many weeks of Class 2 National Insurance you’ve paid and HMRC will let you know if you need to pay more towards your NI contributions to get the full amount of maternity allowance.

It’s best to do this if possible ’cause the full rate is £151.20 a week and the reduced rate if you don’t pay is £27. Huuuge difference!

You can apply here when you’re 26 weeks pregnant.

You’re also allowed 10 days to work if needed (they call it keeping in touch days). Apply in good time, ’cause it can take a while to process your application depending on how busy they are. If your application isn’t approved until you’ve had the baby (this happened to me) you’ll be sent a lump sum to cover the missed payments.

7. Hire a VA if you can

If you can afford it, hire a virtual assistant to handle tasks that you can’t pre-schedule. So perhaps social media updates for Instagram or Pinterest, responding to comments and checking emails. If you’re super organised and can’t hire a VA you can always schedule posts on Pinterest and Instagram with Tailwind. Tailwind makes it REALLY easy to schedule social media updates, this saves time and guarantees you’re still getting traffic back to your blog. For Twitter and Facebook, I like to use CoSchedule.

8. Set up an email autoresponder

It’s really important to set up an email responder to let people know you’re on maternity leave and won’t be as responsive, especially if you make money with sponsored posts.

The last thing you want is to lose clients or have to constantly reply to emails while you’re on maternity leave. Explain that you’ll be back in action soon and ready to take on opportunities in the future.

9. Be honest with your readers

Your readers will understand if you don’t show up in the same way you used to. Write a blog and social media post, letting your audience know you’ll be taking maternity leave and won’t be able to respond as quickly to emails, comments, and social media messages. Also, give them an idea of when you expect to be back.

Finally, try to actually take maternity leave

So, here’s the thing it’s really easy to find yourself sliding back into work mode when you have a newborn. They sleep a lot during the day and it can be so tempting.

And yes, you probably will have to get back to certain emails. I did check emails from time to time when I was on maternity leave and responded to anything that was super urgent. But be strict with how much time you spend responding to emails when you should be taking a break.

You’ve just had a baby, you need rest too and you need to enjoy time with your newborn. After all, you can’t get that time back!