AIBU to think I could work from home with a brand new baby?

[SanitysSake]

Just mulling over a few ideas to keep the funds coming in whilst at home.

Is it possible, or am I living in cloud cuckoo land?

Would be grateful to hear from any stay-at-home mums who also manage to work from home.

Any hints, tips, experiences, advice would be most appreciated.

Very very unlikely, you have such visions until they arrive, then managing to shower and put some washing on is an achievement!

I did part time study for my PhD when dd1 was born. It was actually nice cos it gave me some space for my mind to be active. Dh is incredibly supportive though

Almost impossible I'd say!

Maybe in the first couple of months.. Depends on your work and your child I guess. My DD2 (5mo) sleeps 3x 30 minutes during the day, preferably in motion ( carrier, pram ) so working would be impossible for me.

Yes you can. With lots of planning.

I did it, running a holiday letting business - including all aspects of office work, meeting and greeting guests and cleaning holiday lets (and co-ordinating cleaners on busy changeovers ie 20 + holiday units).
It was darned exhausting though!

It really depends what you intend to do.

Good luck 😊

Yes you can do it! I work from home and went back to working when DC1 was ten days old and then again when DC2 was three days old. I had very straightforward labours with both so that definitely helped. I know a lot of other Mums who have done the same. Good luck with the baby and with whatever you decide re: work 😊

Most jobs if you are WFH .. you have to prove you have childcare.

I worked from home with a newborn and a three year old. But I was self employed and couldn't really take maternity leave. It was mainly computer based so not hugely difficult to juggle.

Most jobs if you are WFH .. you have to prove you have childcare

I'm guessing most of us who have done it were not regular paye employees. since we would have proper maternity leave if we were?

i was regular paye and never had to prove childcare. in fact they suggested i work from home so i didnt need so much childcare

Sorry, shouldn't have assumed

It mostly depends on your baby. If you have an easy baby who likes to sleep you could be fine but personally, I was unprepared for how tough it is looking after a tiny baby is with chronic sleep deprivation. Now my two are a bit older, it is easier but I definitely couldn't have done it when they were little. Good luck 🙂

Baby number 1 is the biggest learning curve of your life. The poster who said that all of their energy was put I to keeping baby alive has it spot on. All babies are different. I had a demanding baby number 1 and I returned to study part time when he as 3 weeks old. I don't know what how I did it. I almost didn't do it. It was tough getting assignments done at home and if he napped I needed to recharge.

Yes.

Babies sleep very differently from each other. My friend's baby slept through for 12 hrs a night from day one, so she could work evenings no problem, my son woke every 2 hrs for 2 years and we tried everything, he was just shit at sleep. Would only nap while in moving car/buggy too. I couldn't have functioned competently in an office let alone worked from home! So much depends on what your baby sleeps like. And if they have colic. My cousin apparently cried for ten hrs a day for the first few months!

I WFH as a freelancer with 2 younger DC and a baby. In fact it was having DC3 that made me do it. I was sitting breastfeeding for so long I thought I'd put the time to use.

I was very careful about only taking on what I could genuinely manage though. I'd give myself about 4 times longer to complete something than it would usually take.

I was also doing work that was just sitting at a computer browsing MN and stationery websites with no one on my back, and obviously I could do it in my pyjamas with my nipples hanging out.

But yes, it's possible. Just be realistic and ready to change course if necessary.

Dependso n the baby. We didn't have sleepers and it was hard to get dressed. I was back at full time work in weeks (although up most of the nights breastfeeding) and we paid 50% of each of our net salaries on child care (we earned the same as each other). That was an expensive time but it really paid off as two full time careers were preserved over 20 years.

Other people have sleepy babies to start with.

Is there any reason you are thinking about this and not the father though? The basic assumption sounds rather sexist to me!

As soon as I got my boys into a long lunch nap....probably around 3 months, I taught from home. I managed 2 students in that time. I'm a singer and singing teacher.

I think if you have a reasonably easy baby who sleeps ok (like, you're getting one 4 hour stretch at least) & as you say your partner is able to be flexible, then it's doable. For me, both kids were/are terrible sleepers, not at all colicky but not keen on being put down and while by 4.5 months DS took his naps like clockwork - 90 minutes, 45 minutes, 45 minutes, which was nice but would only total 3 hours work a day, & I'd not have been able to eat or wash - at 8 months DD is still totally unpredictable and often sleeps only 30 minutes, on the boob the whole time. DS breastfed every 90 minutes until he was 1 (and took 45 minutes minimum per feed for the first 3 months) and was latched continuously from 5 to 10pm for the first 10 weeks. DD goes 3 hours between feeds which is better, and only takes 5-15 minutes to feed but won't let me do anything else including speak or she won't eat. She's not crawling yet, but once DS was I couldn't take my eyes off him. If I put him in the playpen, he pulled up on the bars and shook them and shouted continuously until I took him out. I smiled at the poster who didn't drink a whole cup of tea hot until 4 months. It was about 2 years for me, while in sole charge of DS at least. So... YMMV. But I 100% could not have done it without neglecting my child or going insane or both.

A brand new baby? Yes, absolutely. But as PPs have said over 6 months and under school age is hard.

I managed to write the second half of an academic book during the first six months of DD's life but she was a very peculiar baby. All she wanted to do was breastfeed, so I'd pop her on a pillow on my lap and she would breastfeed and sleep while I typed away. The job was quite particular as well as I was working entirely alone and the work could be cut up in really small chunks so I could stop often without loosing my train of thought. Having said that, the book has a million typos!

Never had the same luck with DS.

I worked from home before I was pregnant and continued when DS was a baby. When he was awake I would do the admin/note writing/reading tasks. However, if I wanted to make business phone calls I preferred to do it when he was asleep - or with someone else who could pick him up if he cried . It's far too distracting for both parties to hear a baby when you are in conference.

I have a friend who did this, working during nap times and after the baby's bedtime. She did have an exceptionally easy baby, though. I don't think it's a good idea generally.

I "went back" to work (WFH) when DC3 was about ten weeks old, on very reduced hours. I just about got enough done until he started at nursery at about 9mo (coinciding with older children's term dates).

Really hard though. WFH sucks in many ways.

Here are the practical bits in my experience.

When I had a bf newborn with reflux I was also doing the school run every morning so there isn't any way of just not getting dressed, not leaving the house until noon, etc. Up at 7am, everyone dressed, breakfasted, everyone out, every weekday. So by the time I came home the first hurdles had been overcome. I was dressed and fed and so was the baby ready to start doing something. So I would sit and feed the baby on the sofa, and work on the tablet for a couple of hours, baby would be feeding, sleeping, crying, feeding, sleeping upright on my shoulder during that time so I'd usually be able to work a good couple of hours as I was sitting anyway. I had daily medical appointments for that newborn so I'd go out on the bus daily, baby in the sling, motion of the bus, work on my phone, or read texts and reports on the way. I'd usually get an hour, hour and a half in the evening when oh was on baby duty and doing everything except feeding, after the school run, dinner and bed, where I could do some more, if I wanted. Or sometimes I'd sleep instead. But on a normal day I could work 2.5-3 hours without hardship, and if I pushed it, 4-4.5 hours. Less at weekends.

That baby had no reliable naps, just random ones, and if I'd waited until I was getting a full night of sleep to work I'd have been unable to work for over four years, the first time that child slept a five hour stretch was aged two.

Practically, being mobile in your work, having a good sling, breastfeeding all helped, but also I am the type of person who can't concentrate on one thing at a time and need to be doing lots of things. Maybe that helps.