Introduction Birth cohorts collect information on employment and health of parents (especially mothers) before and during pregnancy, at birth, and often after birth. These valuable and under-utilized data are typically collected for measuring their effects on the health of the children but have the potential to address specific domains difficult to assess in traditional occupational epidemiology studies, such as working life in relation to reproductive life and work-family conflicts.

Objectives We examine how birth cohort data could be exploited to study the bidirectional relationship and interactions between parenthood, work, and health in parents themselves, taking a life-course approach.

Methods Using a web-based database of birth cohorts, we summarize information on maternal employment and health conditions and other potentially related variables in cohorts spread throughout Europe. This provides information on what data are available and could be used in future studies, and what is missing if specific questions need to be addressed, exploiting the opportunity to explore work-health associations across heterogenous geographical and social contexts.

Results We highlight the many potentialities provided by birth cohorts and identify gaps that need to be addressed to adopt a life-course approach and investigate topics specific to the peripregnancy period, such as psychosocial aspects. We address the technical difficulties implied by data harmonisation and the ethical challenges related to the repurposing of data, and provide scientific, ecological and economic arguments in favour of improving the value of data already available as a result of a serious investment in human and material resources.

Conclusions There is a hidden treasure in birth cohorts that deserves to be brought out to study the relationships between employment and health among working parents in a time when the boundaries between work and life are getting stretched more than ever before.