Hungary provides tax incentives to encourage big families, and other recent news

For all of you mamas who don’t have much time your hands, we’ve found a few interesting reads from around the internet that we thought you might like.

Here are our latest favorites for discussion with friends:

Hungary provides incentives for big families—have 4+ babies and pay no income tax

Globally, women are having fewer children—and this rate has been declining for the past half-century, leading to some economic issues.  This is not new news, but only recently are some countries are starting to do something about it.

The lowest fertility rates in the world exist in the more economically developed countries, including most of Europe, the US, South Korea and Australia. Hungary is among these, with one of the lowest birth rates in Europe.

In efforts to address this decline, Hungary’s prime minister announced a “Family Protection Action Plan” earlier this year. This plan includes policies aimed at promoting marriage, family life and having children.

The measures included waivers on personal income tax for women raising at least four children for the rest of their lives and subsidies for large families to buy larger cars. The plan also extended a loan program to help families with at least two children to buy homes.  In addition, grandparents will receive payments if they are caring for their grandkids.

As the number of elderly continues to exceed the number of children, it is likely that more countries will adopt policies like these in hopes of encouraging the next generation of parents.

New baby formula startup promises healthier ingredients

Mothers looking for healthier baby formula may soon have a new option at their fingertips. A tech startup called Bobbie, founded by two moms in San Francisco, has created a formula that contains only wholesome ingredients. Bobbie follows the higher formula standards set by European models, where grass-fed cows milk is the main ingredient, and leaves ingredients like corn syrup (found in most U.S. baby formulas) out of the picture.

Bobbie received $2.5 million in funding last year and began taking orders this past Mother’s Day. However, they currently only offer delivery options in the Bay area. Keep an eye on this company as they continue expand—they plan to offer delivery options to other cities soon.

Fighting to keep a paycheck—Nike penalizes mothers for having babies

In a recent New York Times op-ed, professional track runners and mothers Alysia Montano and Kara Goucher, opened up about their maternity leave policies with Nike—or lack thereof.

They had to fight to receive their paychecks after requesting temporary time off to be with their babies.

For many professional track athletes, sponsorships do not “guarantee them a salary during pregnancy and early maternity” even though they will provide paid time off in cases of injury.

In addition to the issue of unpaid maternity leave, both Ms. Goucher and Ms. Montaño lost their health insurance because they were not competing.

“Getting pregnant is the kiss of death for a female athlete,” said Phoebe Wight, another professional runner formerly sponsored by Nike.

In response to the backlash, Nike has officially changed their contract policies to accommodate maternity leave. “Last year we standardized our approach across all sports to support our female athletes during pregnancy, but we recognize we can go even further,” the company said in a statement. “Moving forward, our contracts for female athletes will include written terms that reinforce our policy.”

This mom found out her baby had Down syndrome while her husband was in the army

Hannah Lorain Seadschlag found out that her unborn baby had Down syndrome just after her husband left for basic training for eight and a half months. Four and a half months after their daughter was born, Hannah’s husband was finally able to meet their daughter at the airport. “It was honestly surreal,” said Hannah in an article on POPSUGAR. “That moment will be something I never forget.” Full story here.

Stay-at-home mom documents her busy day with 2 girls in a video everyone’s talking about

In response to an Instagram comment that said: “stay-at-home mothers don’t do anything all day,” this mama documented her entire day of chasing around toddlers, and filmed it all. The video has over 150,000 views, and it’s got people talking about just how much stay-at-home moms do. And it’s impressive. Watch the video here.