I did not take any maternity leave. In hindsight I regret not having taken time off after the birth of our second child. Our department has a policy that kids may not be cared for in the lab, for safety reasons, though they are allowed visits. Infant care in my office did not work as it disturbed a colleague. Our children have been in daycare, one since 7 months and the other since 4 months, though half-time initially.
Full time is cheaper per hour than is part time.
Openings in good daycare programs are in high demand and you may need to get on a waiting list even before your child is born. We are happy with our university s childcare programs. Our kids love it and it provides us with a sense of community with other parents, and a chance to see that our children s monster behaviors are age appropriate, just part of normal development. My impression from scanning the literature and our own experience, is that good daycare is NOT bad for kids emotionally or intellectually and has some pluses, including parental sanity which makes for better parenting. One study of kids that had been in a university daycare found that kids that started earlier as infants in the daycare had higher second grade math skills and likability scores.