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Paid family leave may mitigate stress and health challenges across the transition to parenthood. The current study examined whether paid paternity leave is associated with first-time parents’ trajectories of depression, stress, and sleep from the prenatal to postpartum periods. Expectant parents (72 couples) reported on their depressive symptoms, perceived stress, and daytime fatigue during mid-to-late pregnancy and then again at six months postpartum. At one year postpartum, fathers reported on any paid or unpaid leave taken following their child’s birth. We used a repeated-measures design to compare couples in which the father either did or did not access paid paternity leave. When fathers took paid paternity leave, their partners’ stress and depressive symptoms showed smaller prenatal to postpartum increases than mothers whose partners did not take paid leave. Similarly, fathers who took paid …