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Ideas for WFH alongside looking after a 8/9 month old

18 replies

Fressia123 · 07/07/2020 18:02

Originally I was supposed to go back only PT but they've let me work any time as long as I do 35hrs PW (they really begged for me to take the extra hours).

I have no clue how to do this alongside looking my baby boy.

Any tips will be appreciated!

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Purpleartichoke · 07/07/2020 18:04

Hire a nanny for at least part of your hours, do the rest of your hours while baby sleeps. Work evenings and weekends while your partner is in charge of baby?

NerrSnerr · 07/07/2020 18:05

I wouldn't have been able to work from home with my children when they were 8 months old and it get worse in the toddler years as they get very demanding. My advice would be to use childcare.

I have always worked from home for about 80% of my working week and now my daughter is almost 6 I can do a few hours uninterrupted with her there but it was really hard before then. I can't do any with my 3 year old as he needs my attention.

Fatted · 07/07/2020 18:06

Get a childminder. Seriously. Unless you want to work in the evenings when your partner comes home, assuming you have a partner.

Personally, I've sent my DC back to the CM the days DH is working as well.

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EyeDrops · 07/07/2020 18:06

Can baby go to nursery or other childcare? At least one day a week would take a lot of pressure off to fit the rest in naps/evenings/weekends. Realistically you cannot WFH while baby is awake and needs looking after.

TheSunIsStillShining · 07/07/2020 18:41

Depends on what you do. I did translation when my son was about that age. It worked. Anything more time restrictive: no way.

Elmo230885 · 07/07/2020 18:49

I seriously doubt you can get anything meaningful done when looking after your child alone. I have a 1 and a 3 year old and have just started back. Working from home now but I am having to use pre school and family on days when DH is out of the house. There's no option for me to shift my hours around much other than doing maybe my last hour after the kids are in bed

Fressia123 · 07/07/2020 19:15

I do customer service/content moderation on MW. So a nanny is definitely a no-no and childminders aren't taking any new children in the area.

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NerrSnerr · 07/07/2020 19:20

What childcare provision had you planned?

Spaces may come up with childminders and nurseries in September when the preschoolers go off to school.

Fressia123 · 07/07/2020 19:21

Originally it was supposed to be my mum coming from Mexico but obviously that isn't happening.

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WorriedNHSer · 07/07/2020 19:23

I am in birth month Facebook groups for my kids and I’ve noticed that working from home while caring for young children seems a lot more common in the states. Might be worth asking your question somewhere that has more Americans about. In the UK it seems much less likely that employers will consider it acceptable.

whatswithtodaytoday · 07/07/2020 19:24

Having just done 14 weeks of WFH while looking after a toddler, I advise you pay for childcare. You will be utterly exhausted if you try to work around caring for a baby. It only gets harder once they're mobile.

BertieBotts · 07/07/2020 19:24

Do you have a partner? Can you do your work when he is around or do you need to be available set hours in the day as well? Is it all text-based or do you need to answer calls and things like that?

Fressia123 · 07/07/2020 19:26

I WFH for almost 7 years from when my youngest was 15 months old. Eventually she did go to nursery but never FT. The baby is still very much a baby and is demanding at random times during the day. (Especially now he's teething).

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Fressia123 · 07/07/2020 19:28

It's all text based, this why they've let me split the hours as I like during the week. It looks like I might do a couple of hours when he gets home and a few over the weekend.

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hopefulhalf · 07/07/2020 19:32

My best shot is a cast iron routine, with 2 naps of 1.5 hours each. (something like 9:30-11and 2-3:30) then either partner comes home and you do 5-8 or get baby down for 6:30 and work 7-9:30. It will be tough, is a cleaner an option at all ? I would invest in ready meals...

BertieBotts · 07/07/2020 19:45

The content moderation you likely can do around a baby. Customer service if you're able to pick tickets from a selection and again it's text based, you can likely do. I reckon it's doable to fit in 3-5 hours during the day with a baby of that age, dependent on how well they nap, how well they sleep (ie whether you need to catch up on sleep during the day) and how well your house is babyproofed. You would have to spend time in the evenings and weekends to make up the rest of the time.

You can do a solid hour or two while they nap, depending on length of nap/s if they nap on you or alone in a cot/pram - not so much if they need you to walk them around in a pushchair constantly. If you're breastfeeding you can potentially utilise the time that you're feeding them to sleep as well.

You can fit half an hour or so in during mealtimes, if you put the highchair next to your computer and they mostly self-feed so you're really there to make sure they don't choke. Although this isn't ideal as you're not really spending that focused time on them. It also means you would need to be working while you eat yourself as well.

Then you can fit in another hour or two around them playing if you can find activities they're happy to do on the floor near you while you work where you just need to watch them/make interested noises every so often/make sure they haven't decided to investigate plug sockets or high shelves or whatever. I find first thing in the morning is brilliant for this as they tend to be full of investigating energy. It means you need to be ready to go ASAP after they wake up, though!

If you're happy with TV, that's another 30-60 minutes, though I would try not to overuse it just because it becomes the easy fix and is hard to slow down or stop, IME. The best one you want to encourage is them playing with things/investigating things while you work.

It's not ideal/great. Because it means that you're using those moments that you would generally get as downtime to work, which is hard on you. It also means that you're only giving your child half of your attention a good chunk of the time, which makes you feel bad as a parent, and if you suffer from screen time guilt that can eat you up as well. But if you start at say 7 and your child has 2 naps of about 1-1.5h and then 45-60m, that's about 4-5 hours working/half parenting, 2 hours say on things like food prep, setting up/clearing away toys and nappy changing, and about 3-4 hours left before 5pm-ish to be split between time where you give them quality one on one attention/fight fires (tantrums, accidents) and downtime/moments where you just collapse with a cup of tea or mindlessly scroll facebook. If you ever go out, that would have to come out of those 3-4 hours too. (Assuming that after 5pm you would have a partner home to help).

It would need to be a short term solution - I'd get on all the childminder and nursery waiting lists you possibly can for a part time place ASAP, because then you can concentrate more hours into their nursery time and don't need to do so much when they're there and awake.

But for minimum wage, if they are that desparate I'd be asking for higher pay for the extra hours!

BertieBotts · 07/07/2020 19:46

Xposted - if you've done it before then it sounds like you know the drill :)

Fressia123 · 07/07/2020 20:01

Thanks @BertieBotts ! That's more or less how I did it with my youngest! Really thoughtful answer too :) I'll try to make the most while WFH so I can save on nursery fees as much as I can.

I do think with the nursery savings a cleaner might be a good idea. However my husband is of the idea that we're "working class" and working class people don't have cleaners.

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