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.

I have worked from home since my youngest was 2. (own business) But I put them in nursery 4 days per week in order to do it. And I still find it's tricky around school hours, and end up working most evenings and weekends.

i work from home with a one year old, its not easy but it is do able, i schedule everything well, Conference calls at nap times and when dad is home (twice a week he gets home for 5 and i rush off to do 2 hours of calls). Emails during the day and reports etc once she has gone to bed.

I think it is worth the sleep sacrifice, i have managed to earn decent money and i am there every day for her. Now she is a bit older i am going to put her is nursery 2 afternoons a week, but more for her development and to give me to to schedule in more work.

Go for it, what have you got to loose

I work from home 3 days per week my so. Is in nursery 2 days where I go into the office. We've done this since he was 4 months old. I'm a solo parent. My company are flexible and supportive but please know my days start at 0630 with emails my lap top stays on until midnight, which allows me to catch up on hours missed during the day but make the days eye wateringly long & soul destroying!!! The past few months I have had time critical work & a poorly child. It's driven me close to breaking point with stress, tiredness & guilt. I have no choice & have seriously lately thought of quitting and struggling financially so I can be a good mum. But I need to work!! It's important to me & for him. He is 20minths now. It's HARD!! Relentless, stressful, exhausting & amazing. If you can return on reduced hours or part time and keep your work away from home & the time you have with your baby, my advice is to do that... if I could afford it, I certainly would xx

Depends on how the baby is, I did as my daughter was very quiet and relaxed.

I've worked from home since eldest was 11 months and only took 2 weeks off when youngest was born. I'm an accountant and set up working for myself.

Honestly it was bloody hard. I never felt I could make phone calls when they were awake/here as they would start moaning or want something right at that minute. I worked very late evenings most often until gone midnight and weekends when hubby was here.

My business has grown like mad in that 5 years so not all bad but

In September my youngest started at school nursery with wrap around care. So I can now work every day 9-4.15 and the relief is immense! I never realised just how stressed I was. I was grumpy and snappy all the time. I still haven't completely recovered from the exhaustion but I'm slowly feel less and less like I'm under a dark cloud.

It can be done but I'm not 100% it's entirely worth it.....

It's possible, with the right work. I chose to WFH (self employed) just before DS1 turned 1 and I didn't want to go back to my previous FT job. I had always planned on going freelance at some point, and it was a good push. I have built up a solid client base since then. When DS2 came along I only took 6 weeks off - clients can't wait and they will go elsewhere, and I didn't want to lose everything I'd built up. So since DS2 was 6 weeks I have continued to WFH. The first 6 months were tough, and then DS1 started school and it got easier. DS2 is 13 months now and I'm at the maximum client load I'm willing to take on. I absolutely love it. There are negatives - I work a lot of evenings, I'm always tired, I don't get huge amounts of downtime. But the positives out weigh it for me. I have so much time at home with DS2, as I did with DS1; I can do all the school runs, go to all school events etc as I can be flexible with when I work; I earn a decent amount of money for a lot less hours than going back into employment; I keep weekends free from work for family time; I can shift things around for school holidays to be able to spend as much time with both kids as possible. My clients are happy with my work (being self employed, I need to submit good work or I'd lose the contract) and both kids get loads of time with me. I do have a DH too, who works FT but starts/finishes early so takes over in the evenings to enable me plenty of working hours. I also now use childcare 1.5 days a week and can increase that if I need to, but I try and keep my workload to the right balance of earning what I need to and spending time with the kids. I do know how lucky I am though, and it isn't a situation that works for everyone. I just wanted to add a positive story of it working out.

I remember trying to prepare for job interviews when DD was about 9 months old. It was absolutely impossible.

I sobbed down the phone to my sister because DD would just not nap when I needed her to.

Don't do it.

To be honest, no. I thought I could (this was 17 years ago) and soon realised that the only way I would get anything done was if DS went to nursery a couple of days a week. This was also the case when they were older (up until about 10) when working from home in the school holidays was a real jugglng act.

Until your kids are independent (ie can go out to play with friends/do sports/get on the bus and go places) independently without needing more than a bit of cash and perhaps a lift from you), you will need to make childcare arrangements if you want to work from home in any serious way.

Oh my sweet summer child.

I wfh when my DS was newborn until he was 6months plus. Newborns do sleep a lot, plus I just used to lay him on his gym / in his pram. Much more difficult as they get older and sleep less, but at 15months DS still sleeps for at least 3 hours a day, so I get a big chunk done then. Good-luck op.

I worked from home on an ongoing contract throughout my first maternity leave. It was about 10 hours of work per month I needed to do on the computer (spread over a week) with versions sent to the clients and changes made. I continued this contract with no interruption in service to them and they didn't even know I had a baby! They were based in another country and we only ever communicated via email though. I wouldn't say I had an easy baby but I was able to do the work with him sat in my lap or whilst feeding him even so I think very much it depends on the work and how much you need the money as to whether you can find the time and make it work. Showering and getting dressed are not essential parts of the day

I'm doing at the moment and it's really hard. When I had my first I had to stop work just a contract ending and I missed the security of having a job to return to. DS1 was a really good sleeper and I was often bored waiting for him to wake up. So when DS2 came along and I had the chance to freelance for 12 hours per week I thought great. Unfortunately he's not a good sleeper and likes to be held so I never get decent stretches of time to concentrate. I've ended up feeling like I'm failing on all fronts and it's not fun. He's 8 monhs now and I'm looking for some daycare when he turns 1 before I drive myself insane. Moral of the story think hard about the type of work and deadlines before committing as it may be more trouble than it's worth.

Depends on the baby. I've done it since DD was 9 months old and when I had DS I ended up only taking a fortnight off as 'maternity leave' because my biggest client was making noises about having to find someone else if I was off any longer than that.

Bringing in money is good and mostly it's a pretty charmed life. I work on average 15-20 hours a week and do what I can to fit around naps, working evenings / weekends etc.

The plus side is that I spend time with my DC every day and save a lot in nursery fees (although DD does three half days now and DS will be doing two (of the same) half days after he turns one - that's as much for their development / socialisation as my work time though.

The down side? In the almost three years I've been doing this I've never sat down of an evening and watched crap on TV without thinking 'I should be doing x' or picking up my laptop to answer emails. On balance its worth it for us as a family but sometimes it's hard and on days when the kids are ill and clients are ringing and you're skulking in the kitchen trying to talk to them while the kids grizzle from the living room you just feel like you're doing none of it properly.

Sorry but yes you might be a tad unrealistic. Any spare time was reserved for sleeping or connecting with other mums pre 4 months then after they need you to be 'present' if you know what I mean. Even if I had time I doubt I would be able to switch work brain on for 45 mins then off again!

I sort of did, when each child was tiny, but only enough to keep a toe in the water.

The best arrangement I came up with was with a very amenable local childminder, who took DS1 for the mornings only (9-12), then returned him nicely worn out for me to feed, after which he would sleep like the dead for another good two hours - hence 5-6 hours' work for three hours' fee! (She had after-school mindees, but liked having part of her afternoon free for her own son, so it suited both of us.)

I do reduced hours wfh and use childcare for the majority of the time. I often have overlapping conference calls and the rest of the time I'm working on files that need to be updated, shared and turned around during the working day. So I'm constantly online speaking to colleagues. Even with the best routine in the world that isn't a job you can do without childcare. I've done other, less 'talky' work from home alongside my main job and that is doable if extremely hard and tiring to do well, especially with difficult babies but even with good babies it must be hard. But as for my main job, just no way without childcare. I am self employed but wouldn't last a minute if my clients knew I had babies wailing in the background. It just depends on the job.

I thought the same before the baby was born. maternity pay wasn't going to cover the rent let alone food and nappies. Someone had told me they sleep loads. Turns out they feed constantly and never sleep. Went back to work at 13 weeks, and wish I had done it sooner.

I went for an interview when I was 8 months pregnant plus a 15 month old a home. (Quite a long time ago now!) It was at a company who needed a to type up all their procedures and other similar word processing tasks. I assured them it would be fine and it was. I would work while they were sleeping during the day, and do a in the evenings/weekend when hubby was home. Didn't do a huge number of hours but it kept us solvent before I started work as a Skimming World consultant which also fitted in brilliantly with the children (I had a third 2 years later). Can't quite believe I did it now, but needs must...

Did meet up with my "boss" once in a café with my double buggy and children, so he could discuss some work with me :-)

I've WFH since my DD was 4, and prior to that did a diploma via correspondence while she was a toddler, but it is not easy and juggling everything can be difficult. Obviously my main work hours are during school time but it is very frustrating to have to pack up at 2.50pm every day to do the school run. I don't think I could have done it when she was a tiny baby, it would have been too much, but I started the diploma when she was about 2.5 yrs with a view to hopefully starting a new 'career' at the end of it and it saved my sanity as after being out of the workplace for a few years my self esteem was very low and I was becoming depressed. Using my brain for things other than mum duties really helped me, and slowly but surely I was able to start freelancing. I now do a job that I love from home and my DD is now 8. I wouldn't say it has got easier as she's got older particularly, and school holidays can be very difficult when you have work to do and a child to entertain (and all your friends and relatives want to visit while your child is off school). Last year I very deliberately scheduled my workload to be much lighter over the summer holidays, otherwise it is just an utter nightmare tbh. And then there is the guilt of having to work sometimes when your child is home because you have a deadline to meet (and your child is endlessly tugging on your sleeve wanting attention) - and you feel like you are spoiling their holidays. It's very difficult at those times, but the flexibility of not having to rely on childcare because you can work at times that suit you and still do the school run is fab.

I did.

With all three of mine, I had them with me in the office, until they were four months, and after that I had a nanny.

Needs must where the devil drives.

I have a 13yo, a 10yo and a 7yo. I needed to concentrate for exactly 5 minutes the other day. My 10 yo needed to ask me 7 questions about giving my mum's dog a treat in that 5 minutes. I ended up in tears.

It depends what sort of person you are and what sort of baby you have.

I did it. I'm self employed so no choice. Had my DS in our busiest period so was working as soon as back home. I breast fed him in meetings and took him to presentations in his sling.
Baby slept loads any way so what else are you meant to do.
You just get on with it if you have to.
I know an event photographer who was back photoing events with her baby in a sling. Where there's a will there's a way.

I managed that up until around 5 months either wfh or took him to the office where he had his own Moses basket on my desk right next to me, then later a cot, swing chair, lots of attention etc etc. 3-6 months got a bit more tricky.
After 6 months no hope as he was move by then, much more alert and awake so wanted to do stuff.

Now he is 11 months I get a few minutes done here and there when he is around but maximum 20 minutes at a time and I barely take him to work with me any more as he is much more full on now. Cram the rest into nap times.

Like I say where there's a will there's a way. I do a lot of work after he goes to bed, and two hour naps are a god send.
Having limited time makes you much more focused, driven, concise etc etc.

Also as said being able to work on the go makes a massive difference. Those 10-20 minutes soon add up. Baby fallen asleep in the car - emails done on the phone. Baby won't sleep, rock with one hand, read documents on phone with the other.
It makes end meet.

I couldn't have done it.
I got a velcro baby who didn't sleep day or night for over a year for more than an hour at a time.
I had a permanent tiredness headache and couldn't stand up too quickly or I'd black out. I got to the point where I'd turn the gas on the stove without sparking it and then put the electric kettle on top of it.
If you're lucky enough to be able to function without sleep or get a placid baby then it's doable.
But I wouldn't bank on it.
I was unlucky though.

It's possible.

I've worked from home since my DD was 18 months and my DS was 4/5 months. It worked out quite well until my DS became mobile and then the daytime naps reduced.

It definitely has its positives like not having to worry about childcare and taking time off work when the children are ill. Being able to make a brew whenever you want/have eastenders on in the background.

But the negatives i find are that i feel tied to the house. When i've got work on i find it so difficult to relax juggling kids/housework/work. At least when you work out of the home that is all you need to focus on at that moment in time; work. Then you go home. Working from is constant.

Set a schedule for when chores around the house are completed and perhaps stick to some time off when you are not working to make it easier.

Batch cooking loads of meals helps too!

Good luck with your decision :)