It wasn't that long ago that women had to resign from their jobs when they became pregnant to stay at home and look after the children. How times have changed. Today, parental leave is improving by the year - Woolworths recently announced that it will give its female workers eight weeks' paid maternity leave and the Government seems to be serious about some sort of paid parental leave scheme.

Returning to work after having a child is now generally the norm but some mothers are deciding to go it alone and set up their own businesses.

Emma Isaacs is president of the Sydney chapter of Entrepreneurs' Organisation, a global group for entrepreneurs with more than 7000 members worldwide, and chief executive of Business Chicks, a national networking community for women in business.

Isaacs says: "When I joined the Entrepreneurs' Organisation three years ago our membership was 10percent female. We've now almost doubled that because we've strategically targeted women and continue to do so.

"A lot of women resolve to go out on their own. It's not difficult to set up a business and with the flexibility, creative control, and choices, it's an attractive option. It's also easier these days to find entrepreneurial female role models which prompts would-be moguls to explore starting their own business."

Starting a business that makes the most of the burgeoning demand for baby wear, baby toys and baby entertainment is becoming increasingly popular. After all, kitting out and entertaining a baby is expensive, a fact mothers know very well.

Here are three examples of entrepreneurial women who are getting in on the action.

CASE STUDY 1

Oobi Baby

Always the entrepreneur, Alexandra Riggs's first foray into the business world was at local markets where she sold her own giftware which was then picked up by stores in Australia and Britain. The 34-year-old noticed that "Children's wear and children's gifts always flew off the shelves".

So when she saw a gap in the market, she decided to try and fill it.

"My customers said children's clothes and gifts were my strengths. I've been selling to some of them since I was 22 years old."

So she must have been doing something right.

"A lot of mums know an Oobi without reading the label," Riggs says. It helps that celebrity mothers such as Naomi Watts and Cate Blanchett are fans of the clothing brand.

Oobi Baby aims to be inspirational, educational, challenging and inspiring with its stimulating, colourful designs.

The inspiration for the brand came from Riggs's fashion designer mother who had a store in Melbourne in the 1960s called Oobi. "It's a word we used when we were little for anything quirky," Riggs says.

When she started her own Oobi, Riggs admits she took a big leap designing fabric prints and clothing styles herself.

"The minimum order of fabric is typically 1000metres so I took a big risk when I ordered my first designs. Some people helped by allowing me to start by ordering 500metres.

"In the end, people want to see you succeed and small businesses help each other. But you do have to wear your heart on your sleeve."

Riggs, who has done some mentoring, has this advice for new business starters: "You have to take risks and will probably make mistakes but that's the only way to succeed."

She likes the retro, quirky and, as her website (www.oobi.com.au) states, "groovy", look. One of her best sellers are the box-pleated baby bloomers she launched four years ago.

"They take ages to make and were a hard sell at first but now they're our signature product."

Oobi has been going strong for four years, so much so that Riggs's husband Terry quit his advertising job and began working with the business 10 months ago. He says: "My role is to support Al."

Riggs jokes that her husband cracks the whip and makes things happen, helping with structure and planning.

How does she feel about employing her husband? "Why shouldn't I run a successful business and hire my husband? It's an old-fashioned view that it happens the other way around."

As the market for baby clothes grows, so does Oobi. The company also has two other full-timers and a sales representative.

Riggs says: "I don't have to do everything anymore. You can step back when you're established." And Oobi is certainly that.

The company distributes to the US, Britain and Japan and has stores in Scandinavia. But Riggs says Australia is their main focus and where they hope to develop.

"We have a lot of customers all over Australia and it's our number one priority to grow in our home market." So if you spot babies wearing leg warmers or opera gloves this winter, you'll know you're looking at an Oobi baby.

CASE STUDY 2

Dew Drop

When Andrea Dew, 29, gave birth to her daughter two years ago, she delighted in sewing individual vintage garments for her to wear, which got the neighbours talking.

"More and more people started to comment on the clothes Ruby was wearing and asking where I got them from," Dew says.

The comments encouraged her to get the clothes out there.

She launched her label, Dew Drop, earlier this year and sells her unique handmade garments in Cat Bird Gallery and the Dungog Village Store in Dungog in the Hunter Valley and plans to expand to Newcastle and Sydney for the 2008-09 spring and summer ranges.

What got her started? "I haven't always been able to sew", she says. "I was taught by my mother-in-law to sew a basic pattern when Ruby was tiny and I've also had a lot of support from the owner of the local craft shop in Dungog."

She's come a long way in just two years, with her own label and recognisable look.

The label will include maternity wear in the future, but Dew is keen to keep a good balance between work and family life.

"It can be difficult to look after a two-year-old and find the time to sew. Learning to sew fast while Ruby has a daytime sleep is a godsend."

Dew sets aside a few days a week to concentrate on her sewing, when Ruby is looked after by her neighbour or her doctor husband, Duncan.

Her sewing room is piled high with different materials and fabrics she has collected from the internet, opportunity shops, mainstream retail stores and "anywhere I can find something a little different".

"Many of my items are one-off designs and some of the fabrics used are vintage and out-of-line designs. I like to support the local op shops and often find fabrics from these stores that I can recycle into beautiful outfits.

"Sometimes the fabrics I use come from friends and family that have found offcuts they no longer need."

Dew likes to combine vintage and new fabrics to create clothes for babies ranging from about three months to four years of age.

"My range includes winter coats, pinafores, vests, pants and dresses. The fabrics I use vary greatly - pure linen and wool are definite favourites and I like to combine different materials in the one piece for contrast.

"I take a lot of inspiration from past eras, so a great deal of the clothing has a vintage feel."

While still quite a new label, Dew Drop's home-made quality garments have already caught the eye of the punters and sold in Australia and Britain. Dew is currently in the process of launching her website which, in the future, will be http://www.dewdropkids.com where she can also be emailed.

CASE STUDY 3

Mini Maison

Georgie Hinrichsen, 35, the mother to three children, opened Mini Maison, a children's clothing and toy shop, in Orange in December last year with her business partner Simone Madigan, 36.

"I think something strange happens when you have your third child and nothing seems unconquerable," says Hinrichsen. "At the time, my business partner, Sim, and I had six children between us with one at school."

The pair got together and compiled a wish list for their ultimate store, which included a cafe, a play room and a shop front.

"We both have very supportive husbands who were happy for us to start up the venture and who were both able to contribute to establish the business," says Hinrichsen.

Once they'd found their site, received development approval and bought online the items they wanted to sell, they were ready to open. In all, it took just seven weeks and Hinrichsen admits they had a few crazy days where the kids would run riot and turn the house upside down. "But that's just motherhood. Life has to be a little crazy sometimes," she says philosophically.

At first they used the back half of the store for their own children and hired a nanny, Kim, to look after them.

But after the first two months, they started to work three days a week and the children went to day care three days a week. Kim helped in the store and they began to earn a wage.

"Our financial strategy from the start was to pay for everything upfront, buy nothing on credit and keep building from there, Hinrichsen says.

It's a simple strategy which has enabled them to stay out of financial trouble and build steadily for their future - organising children's birthday parties and opening a teaching room for pre-school French lessons and music classes in conjunction with the Orange Regional Conservatorium.

Hinrichsen and Madigan are opening a second store in the historic community of Millthorpe (famous for the filming of the Australian movie Jessica) in the next couple of weeks.

Their website - http://www.minimaison.com.au - will be launched in 2009 as a side business, and they have started their own greeting card business, called GANDS.

"We don't have any guilt about being working mums," Hinrichsen says.

"There is no perfect formula for mums - you just have to do what feels right for you and your family. Generally, if you are happy and feel good with what you do, this has a domino effect within the family."