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[Innominate]

Maybe I'm just paranoid, but of the three female dwarves in my fortress with babies, they seem to form at least three quarters of the idlers at any given "On Break" removal check. So are dwarves with young children more likely than non-child-bearing dwarves to take breaks? If so, does it seem fairer to sacrifice the mother or the child to Armok?

[Vester]

Sacrificing the mother loses you the child as well, so sacrifice the baby.

(Side note: you are a monster. That makes you a perfect DF player.)

[Chewykittens]

As Vester said, it's less of a loss if you sacrifice the child. If your observations are true then I suggest you create a hospital wing actually devoted to slaughtering the children, while keeping the mother happy. Bonus points if you find reliable way to have pregnant dwarfs miscarry and call it an abortion clinic. 

If what you notice might be your paranoia and mothers actually work the same amount then you just proved to us how sick and twisted you/we are.

[Skorpion]

Actually, the years of the mother not doing much work are a tradeoff for the awesome stats of a child that's grown up in your fortress, and had a strange mood on the way.
I now have one who got up to skilled macedwarf in the course of a season, wearing all-masterworks chain and plate, and wielding an artifact pig iron mace.

[SquirrelWizard]

It might be just how you percieve it. I have a fortress which is popping out babies left and right and my dwarves still work.

Whats really anoying is when something happens to the mother (like she gets dragged off to jail, or is injured and dragged to bed) and her baby just wanders around in the meeting hall area and slowly dies...

[AxisofLint]

As Vester said, it's less of a loss if you sacrifice the child. If your observations are true then I suggest you create a hospital wing actually devoted to slaughtering the children, while keeping the mother happy. Bonus points if you find reliable way to have pregnant dwarfs miscarry and call it an abortion clinic. 

If what you notice might be your paranoia and mothers actually work the same amount then you just proved to us how sick and twisted you/we are.

Epic omg.

[shadowclasper]

... wow... I think I have to stop coming to this thread, incredible levels of political incorrectness and just plain wrong o_O

anyway. Again, sure, less of a sacrifice if ya lose the child. But seriously dude, that is a HUUUUUGE level of unhappy being created. For both mother and father. I wouldn't risk it. Killing the kids might just trigger an unhappiness spiral and kill your fort FAR faster than idling will.

Besides, kids are pretty damn useful. They fish, they haul, they do various odd jobs, and if they get a strange mood. BAM! you're set with a 1-2 year old epiced out dwarf.

[Nidokoenig]

Another thing about kids is that once they're on their feet, they'll help out with the harvest, the same as nobles. Your growers lose the harvesting exp, but they get down to fertilising and planting quicker. I often have a bunch of legendary minors with all the social skills and grower at legendary, even if they don't get moody.

I haven't noticed any increased chance of being on break for mothers, but the most prolific breeder in my fort is the countess and I don't interfere with breaks, anyway. Dorfs mostly get married and start having babies because they have too much free time, right? They socialise while idle and make friends, become lovers, yadda, yadda. So just make sure there's always an excess of work to minimise socialising. Not having a designated meeting hall might help, too, since that would help keep dwarves more spread out while on breaks. Once the next release comes about, it might even be possible to make gender segregated burrows and prevent reproduction entirely.

[shadowclasper]

which would be stupid, again, because having the little tykes is like having free haulers who can become super skilled in just about anything.

[Nidokoenig]

And if a couple of them die in quick succession, you've got a tantrum spiral on your hands because of how many friends they have. I quite like having a few kids around, but there are risks involved.

[shadowclasper]

Yeah, but kids are often grabbed up and moved away from danger by dwarves I've noticed. So if they're getting pwned by something, then it's almost certainly going to end in an unhappiness spiral anyway.

[SquirrelWizard]

As to mothers not functioning after a child; One of my marks dwarves has a herd of her children following her and she lugs around a baby, and she has 42 kills to her name.

[Albedo]

If so, does it seem fairer to sacrifice the mother or the child to Armok?

Sacrificing the mother is fairer.  She had her chance, and blew it.

Also, children seem to be more resilient to depression than working adults, so fewer tantrums. Which is fairer to you.