Before the due date

As an expectant mother, you are entitled to maternity leave and pay four weeks before your baby is expected to be born. If you have a doctor's certificate confirming that continued employment may put the health of you or your baby at risk, you can begin your maternity leave 13 weeks before the due date, but you can only claim maternity allowance from 8 weeks before the expected birth. The doctor's certificate must be valid until at least four weeks before due date.

You cannot set aside your weeks before the birth, in order to use them afterwards.

After childbirth 

After the birth of the child, parents are entitled to stay at home with the child for up to 52 weeks altogether. They can claim parental allowance for 52 of those weeks. Of those weeks, 14 are reserved for the mother, 4 for the father or the co-mother and the remaining 34 weeks the parents can divide between them.

The weeks that the parents can share, can only be used after the first 14 weeks following birth and can only be used by one parent at the time. However, there is nothing that prevents the parent, who is not on leave, from taking a holiday at the same time.

The parental allowance must be claimed within 52 weeks of childbirth.

Before the due date

As an expectant mother, you are entitled to maternity leave and pay four weeks before your babies are expected to be born. If you have a doctor's certificate confirming that continued employment may put the health of you or your babies at risk, you can begin your maternity leave 13 weeks before the due date, but you can only claim maternity allowance from 8 weeks before the expected birth. The doctor's certificate must be valid until at least four weeks before due date.

You cannot set aside your weeks before the birth, in order to use them afterwards.

After childbirth 

After childbirth, parents are entitled to stay at home for up to 56 weeks altogether. Parents of multiple newborns (e.g. twins) can claim parental allowance for 56 of those weeks. Of those weeks, 14 are reserved for you, 4 for the father or the co-mother and the remaining 38 weeks the parents can divide between them.

If you have multiple births, the father or co-mother is entitled to an additional 48 weeks of parental leave on top of the 4 weeks (applicable to everyone having children on or after 1 May, 2025).

The 48 weeks can be used simultaneously with your parental leave and must be used within 52 weeks after childbirth.

Caregiver
If you are alone with the children, you may, upon application, transfer the 48 weeks to a caregiver (applicable to parents having children after the law comes into effect on 1 May, 2025).

Premature birth

Children born between 1 January, 2021, and 30 April, 2025
After childbirth, parents have a legal right to stay at home with the child for a total of 60 weeks. They are entitled to parental allowance for all of these weeks. Of these, 4 weeks are reserved for the father or co-mother, 14 weeks for you, and 42 weeks can be shared.

During the shared weeks, which can only be used after week 14 following childbirth, only one parent can receive parental allowance at a time. However, the parent not receiving allowance may take paid vacation leave.

The weeks with parental allowance must be used within 60 weeks after childbirth.

Premature births (after 1 May, 2025)
If a child is born before week 37 of pregnancy, the number of weeks between the date of birth and the due date can, upon application, be added to the 34 weeks that parents can share between them.

During the shared weeks, which can only be used after week 14 following childbirth, only one parent can receive parental allowance at a time. However, the parent not receiving allowance may take paid vacation leave.

Hospitalizations

(after 1 May, 2025)

If you or the child are hospitalized within the first 52 weeks after childbirth, or if the child is hospitalized within the first 56 weeks after adoption, the parental leave can, upon application, be extended so that the weeks during which you or the child are hospitalized are added to the 34 weeks that parents can share between them.

If you are hospitalized, the leave can only be extended if the hospitalization is due to complications related to childbirth or if the child must be hospitalized with you.

Parental leave must be extended by at least 2 weeks at a time and may be extended by a maximum of 26 weeks in total (only applicable for hospitalizations occurring after the legislation comes into effect on 1 May, 2025, and up to 52 weeks after childbirth or 56 weeks after adoption).

If the child dies during the parental leave period, the right to parental allowance ends on that day. If you are receiving parental allowance, it is important to notify Barsilsskipanin as soon as possible to stop the payments, so that you do not end up owing money.

You should then contact the Social Services to explore the possibility of receiving compensation for lost income instead. This applies if the child dies after week 22 of pregnancy. If the child dies before that, you should contact your general practitioner.

Then you receive all the weeks yourself, including the four weeks allocated to the father or co-mother. In terms of parental leave, you are considered to be alone with the child if the father or co-mother is not present.

Caregiver
If you have multiple births or adopt two or more children at the same time, you may, upon application, transfer the 48 weeks that the father or co-mother would otherwise have received to a caregiver (applicable to parents who have children after the legislation comes into effect on 1 May, 2025).