Japanese Women Struggle to Balance Work, Finances, Family amid Sinking Birthrate

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1. Raising a child alone, a practice known as solo parenting, led the woman to experience sleeplessness, stress and fatigue, which stopped breast milk production. Three months after giving birth, she moved closer to her parents’ home with her daughter, telling her husband that the separation would be “only during maternity leave.” Now, she is getting help from her mother and other relatives.

   However, she dreads the thought of returning to solo parenting after her maternity leave ends next spring. She wants to spend time with her child, but if she works a reduced schedule at her current job, her salary drops to that of a part-time employee.

   “Considering various factors, including living expenses, education, and our savings for life after retirement, I’ll have to manage both a full-time job and parenting,” she said.

   She has a sibling and had wanted two children of her own, but now she and her husband have decided to focus on raising just one child.