It’s a great time to be a new parent, particularly one holding down a fast-track job in Silicon Valley or on Wall Street. Both have been outdoing themselves lately in heaping generous benefits on to workers as their families expand.

Netflix NFLX, -2.82% fanned the post-natal arms race this past summer by offering parents unlimited leave during the first year of their child’s life. That surpassed peer companies like Google GOOG, -1.66% , Facebook FB, -3.30% and Twitter TWTR, -0.63% , which were already considered progressive for giving 16- to 20-week leaves. (Big-family lovers take note: Facebook also pays employees $4,000 for each new child, including adoptions.)

Not to be seen as Grinches, Microsoft MSFT, -1.04% and Adobe ADBE, -0.35% quickly increased their family-leave policies, the latter allowing birth mothers 26 weeks of paid furlough.

And private-equity heavyweight KKR KKR, -2.04% increased its parental break to 16 weeks from 12. Not good enough, you say? The firm also now covers parents for the cost of bringing infants and caregivers on business trips, making it one of the first U.S. companies to introduce a paid-family-travel benefit.

“ It won’t be long before many of those accidental homebodies will be checking office emails and texts, yearning for a calendar invite to join a conference call. ”

Cynics might detect a public-relations ploy in these moves, following the reputational hit some leading technology and financial firms have taken from high-profile workplace embarrassments.

That includes news reports of Amazon’s AMZN, -2.25% punishing treatment of employees who dare to take personal time, or the sex-discrimination lawsuit against venture-capital icon Kleiner Perkins by former senior staffer Ellen Pao. Kleiner beat back the claims at trial, but the case cast a harsh light on the clubby male-dominated culture of private investing, where women barely scratch 15% representation among the biggest firms.

Still, it’s hard not to cheer employers who otherwise demand 24/7 focus from their workers making a serious effort to accommodate family time, including for fathers and same-sex parents. As new dad Mark Zuckerberg crowed in November when starting a two-month sabbatical following the birth of his daughter Max: “Studies show that when working parents take time to be with their newborns, outcomes are better for the children and families.”

The question is, are Type-A employees willing to take advantage of these new parenting perks? And will those opting for multi-month leaves form stronger bonds with their children than those of us who had to get by with the traditional two weeks and a copy of Dr. Spock’s book?

Unless your newborn is colicky or has some other malady, expect it to sleep, a lot. Granted, new parents spend long stretches staring at their inert babies, but that still leaves plenty of hours for other activities.

It won’t be long before many of those accidental homebodies will be checking office emails and texts, yearning for a calendar invite to join a conference call. I’ve known employees who’ve soldiered on through bouts of pneumonia or concussions. How do you expect them to stay disengaged from work simply because they have a baby to tend to, miraculous as that might be?

After my children were born, I regularly rushed home to give them a bath or stroll proudly around the neighborhood. And I zombied my way through plenty middle-of-the-night feedings. Their primal need for nourishment and comfort put the artificial demands of my job in perspective. Of course, there is no luxury like not having to shove off for work while your little one is cooing in bed.

Yet as cozy as it was to cocoon for the short term, had I taken leave for months on end, I’m certain I would have driven my wife crazy and felt caught in limbo between two worlds — redundant at home and out of touch at work. And a true confession: There were many days when once the cooing was replaced by coughing and fussing, I was glad I had someplace to escape to, never mind if the fussing continued from grown-ups.

My hunch is that many of those taking extended leaves are spending as much time at the gym, Starbucks SBUX, -1.84% or scanning their news feed as they are engaged in the hands-on chores and wonders of parenting. Or they’re just plain bored, counting the days to get back on an ASAP schedule.

And with today’s virtual workplace, who needs several months off when you can stay productive just a few feet from the nursery, especially with a spouse or caregiver on hand to test a bottle or change a diaper? It could actually be a disservice to co-workers and organizations to grant employees so much family R&R, under a false sense of security that an absence doesn’t alter on-the-job dynamics. In fact, many staffers far below the Zuckerberg rung may be reluctant to go off the office grid for so many months for fear of becoming irrelevant or forgotten.

Yahoo US:YHOO CEO Marissa Mayer may have set a better example for newbie parents by limiting her leave to the two-week variety — and that was after having twins in December. “Moving forward, there will be a lot to do for both my family and for Yahoo. Both will require hard work and thoughtful prioritization,” she posted on Tumblr immediately following the births. In other words, says the mother of three infants who is also grappling with shareholder activists and the potential forced sale of her business, the sooner you learn to juggle the responsibilities that go with both parts of your adult life, the better.

That’s not to say KKR’s allowance for bringing neonates and nannies along on a cross-country business trip sets the right balance. However, it sounds like a great premise for the next Amy Schumer/Judd Apatow movie. Call it “Dealwreck”: Watch Mommy nearly blow that billion-dollar buyout after baby ransacks the mini-bar and spits up all over her monogrammed blouse.

My own view is that any highly compensated parent who would choose to hit the road with a swaddled entourage has been drinking their own tiger’s milk.

Whether an employer gives one month off or 12, and pays for a year’s supply of Pampers and pacifiers, new parents quickly learn they’ll always be judged for divided loyalties — by your kids as well as your bosses. More time off is always welcome but for professional parents, there’s no such thing as a time out. Get used to it.

Allan Ripp is principal of Ripp Media, a press-relations firm in New York.