Exiting studies have shown work-family conflict to be stronger in familialistic welfare regimes compared to other institutional settings. Among the western countries, Italy shows the lowest levels of both fertility and female employment. Reconciliation between family and work is particularly difficult for mothers of young children aged 0-2 years, especially in situations of limited childcare resources. This paper stems on micro-data from the Italian Birth Sample Survey to investigate the employment discontinuity of mothers with young children, by analysing the probability for employed women to do not return to work 18-21 months after the birth. We particularly aim at broadening the understanding of the individual and contextual characteristics that can affect the probability of mothers of becoming unemployed after childbearing. We take into consideration the different reasons for not returning to work (i.e. voluntary or involuntary) by distinguishing among mothers who left and who lost their jobs. We, therefore, attempt to evaluate whether the probability of leaving/losing the job as well as the factors affecting these probabilities changed during the considered period (2005-2012).