For many mothers, the idea of being separated from their children for long periods of time, or not living with them at all, would be horrifying.
But for others, giving up custody of their kids was the best decision for them.
Three mums have shared how they made this decision and how they've been harshly judged for doing so - even though many men often don't have custody.
Appearing on a Topic documentary called The Last Taboo, the woman told their stories. The programme originally aired in 2019, but has recently resurfaced online once more.
One of the women, known only as Rebecca, explained how before becoming pregnant, she had never been desperate to be a wife or mother.
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Rebecca, from London, says her life changed after meeting an Estonian man. The pair had an instant connection and were living together in a squat when Rebecca fell pregnant aged 23.
Without a proper 'nest' to raise their child in, the couple decided to move back to the man's home town in Estonia.
However, Rebecca soon realised this was a big mistake and even though she found pregnancy 'amazing', once her baby was born she felt like a 'caged bird'.
She said: "Even after one day I thought ‘no, this isn’t OK, I’ve made the wrong decision’.
"It was just alien, I was about to go through the most scary thing of my life to that point and I had left everything behind.
"When my son was weeks old I wanted to get out massively, I just wanted to come home. I felt like a caged bird."
She continued: "I knew, although I was finding it really hard, that I couldn’t leave. It was like a bad nightmare that had gone horribly wrong.
"It’s weird for a mother and her tiny baby to be so miserable and unhappy."
When her son was almost two-years-old, Rebecca received an invite to her brother's wedding and knew this was the time to leave Estonia for good.
She returned to England without her son, as she didn't think she'd have the strength to raise him alone.
However, she was nervous to leave him behind as she'd never seen a mother leave their child before.
"If I was a man I wouldn’t be sitting here having this interview. It’s the most normal thing in the world for fathers to do that yet I’ve never met another woman in the world who’s done this," she explained.
Rebecca now sees her son several times a year and while it's different from many mother-son relationships, she says there's still "so much love"
"It’s a very tactile, very warm, very loving relationship," she adds.
"It’s a very different relationship I’m sure compared to most mother-son relationships but it’s beautiful, there’s so much love."
In addition to Rebecca's story, the documentary also features a mother named Maria, who hit her breaking point after her daughter, Hannah, passed away from cancer when she was almost four.
Following this, her marriage ended and she decided to be the one to move out of the family home.
"I definitely felt judged as a mother - I was told that I should have been sterilised and not allowed to have children," she recalls. "But sometimes it is best for the children and the family for the mother to be the parent to move out."
The Last Taboo also features a mum named Nataly, who tells how she never planned to have children and wanted to be a career woman, but felt pressured by her family to get married and have kids.
"Even though I wasn’t emotionally ready to have kids I forced myself to and I had one baby and then 12 months later I had another baby," she said. "I felt like my brain was turning to goo."
Eventually, it all became too much and she gave custody of her son and daughter to her husband, before leaving them and her relationship.
She admits it's hard not to see her children all the time, but when she does see them, it's special as it's "like a reunion all over again".
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