Preparing to Welcome a Child with the Help of Sanofi Benefits

I came into 2023 knowing I’d have a life defining year. At the end of 2022, my wife and I found out we were expecting our first child – a baby girl. At that time, I knew Sanofi would be there to help me through this life moment. However, as I reflect three months after our daughter was born, I realize they not only had my back, but they helped lift my family through the crazy journey that is preparing for a newborn.

It all started before my wife was pregnant when we accessed Maven, a free, digital health platform provided by Sanofi that helps people navigate pregnancy, postpartum, egg freezing, fertility, adoption, surrogacy, returning to work, and menopause. The Care Advocates at Maven were helpful connecting my wife and me with a Fertility Awareness Educator to help prepare ourselves for the road ahead. Once pregnant, those resources expanded:

• A Nutritional Coach helped my wife through mild morning sickness during her first trimester.
• A Physical Support Coach provided my wife with tools on preparing herself for childbirth and exercises she should focus on (we’re Peloton enthusiasts, so keeping active on the bike and strength training was important).
• A Doula and Birth Planning Specialist helped us both know what to expect leading up to and during birth.
• A Childbirth Educator provided us with resources and questions to consider as we prepared our home and family for our new addition.

While Maven continues to offer us help post birth with Lactation Consultants and Pediatric Sleep Coaches, this service is just the tip of the iceberg of what Sanofi offers parents. For example, we also have access to back-up child care with low copays (either center-based or in-home care) which provides us with reassurance that our daughter can be taken care of in a pinch.

Beyond these services, my wife and I found that the best support for new parents came from Sanofi’s Parental Leave policy and health insurance benefits.

While much can be said about the need for federally offered paid leave for new parents, Sanofi provides 16 weeks of gender-neutral parental leave (14 are fully paid and 2 unpaid) to help bridge that gap for new parents following a birth, surrogacy or adoption. As an added benefit, you have flexibility on how you can take the leave. For our family, this flexibility helped extend our daughter’s time at home to support her early development before giving her the opportunity to socialize and grow in daycare.