Parents of children born prematurely, as well as those who require a longer hospital stay immediately after birth, will most likely gain a new right in the form of extending maternity leave. This was the promise made to the parents of the Minister of Family, Labor and Social Policy, Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk. The need to introduce changes in this area has been repeatedly signaled by numerous organizations and foundations associating parents of premature children.
Additional leave will be granted at the employee’s request and must be used immediately after the end of maternity leave. The leave cannot be divided into parts. Importantly, the period of additional maternity leave will be paid in the amount of 100% of the sickness base.
Who will be able to take advantage of additional leave?
Employee will be able to take additional weeks of maternity leave in the case of:
- birth of a baby before the 28th week of pregnancy or with a birth weight not exceeding 1000g,
- birth of a baby after the 28th week of pregnancy and before the 36th week of pregnancy and with a birth weight greater than 1000 g,
- birth of a child after the 36th week of pregnancy, when the newborn will require hospitalization from the 5th day after childbirth until the 8th week after childbirth.
Then, additional maternity leave will be granted in the amount of one week of additional maternity leave for each week of the child’s stay in the hospital in the period from the 5th day after delivery to the 8th week after delivery, provided that the child’s stay in the hospital is at least 2 consecutive days in the period from the 5th day after childbirth up to 28 days after giving birth
Both the child’s mother and father, as well as the foster parent, adoptive parent and legal guardian will be able to benefit from this entitlement.
How many weeks of additional leave will you be able to take?
This will depend primarily on the length of the baby’s stay in hospital but also, as detailed above, the baby’s birth weight and the week of pregnancy when childbirth occurre

The changes proposed by the Ministry should certainly be viewed positively, as they recognise the need to support families at the joyful but challenging moment of childbirth, all the more so when complications arise at the outset. The proposed regulations were also modelled on numerous solutions operating in other European countries and are similar to them.
The real date of entry into force of the new regulations is expected to be at the turn of 2024/2025.
Currently, the draft has been sent for public consultation.