Working from home with a 1 year old?

[Janedoe95]

Is it possible? Or completely unrealistic.

I work a 9-5 but I’m lucky that my job is more task based I’ve only been back to work a week but have managed to get all my work done using nap time, bedtime and sending the odd email whilst DS is distracted.

is it unrealistic to think I can survive like this for maybe 6 more months hopefully by the time DS is 18 months or even two it will be easier?

im only in my office two days a week so was initially planning for DS to be in nursery 3 days but the prices have just gone up and it’s so expensive!

I'm on almost 28K which I thought was a fair salary to have a baby on but 5 days a week would cost me nearly £2000 a month! Which is obviously more than I earn.

i think I’d probably be better off on benefits staying at home with my baby whilst my partner works but I’d be completely reliant on my partner and then have no pension too.

(my work do know my baby is around when I work from home some days as I breastfeed but they also don’t expect me to be looking after him and working so “legally he’s being watched by someone else”)

I really don’t know how other women do it especially single mums the I’m 26 and the majority of mums I know my age don’t work and others are having babies mid to late 30s and 40s

You are so overly invested it’s kind of sad.

Replying twice to each comment, being incredibly wrong each and every time, maybe take a step back and try to understand not everyone needs to sit at a desk for 7 hours a day.

Do you remember that baby who drowned while his mum was on a work call during lockdown? You can't do this without neglecting both your job and your child.

😂 LOL at the thought of trying to get any work done with my 1.5 year old around..... No, OP. This is not realistic, sorry.

I’m really glad this forum has started to attract some other working mums in similar situations it’s making me feel a bit more positive.
Thank you @BrookieButter @Stickworm @SnackSizeRaisin
and lots of others with helpful suggestions
definitely taking all feedback on board I think I’m going to give it a go but stick to 3 days if I can’t do a good job obviously I’ll stop

Absolutely do not do this. I can understand why you're asking as childcare costs are crippling. However, trying to work while looking after your baby is not the way. Firstly, it's unfair to your employer and your colleagues, as they are expecting you to be working (you will have half your attention on the baby). Secondly, it's not fair on the baby - you won't be giving them your proper attention and they'll be neglected. That's not good for them. Thirdly, the health and safety aspect- if I give my 2 year old an inch there's no telling what he might get upto. I have to watch him like a hawk, and have had to ever since he was mobile. Finally, you'll just feel like you're doing everything rubbishly (which is fair enough as it's difficult if not impossible for that not to be the case if you're trying to do both at once!). I struggle to even send an important email with my 2 year old around. I can't imagine trying to do a full day's work, indefinitely, with him around. I did have my older boy around during lockdown when I was working from home ... and it was awful. He was around 18 months old at the time and I had to just try to do as much as I could when he had gone to bed in the evening. I could not have done that indefinitely.

Of course it is, that’s far more important than decent childcare!

That about sums up your values, enjoy!

Your DD will remember that and not the months of distracted mum trying to parent whilst working.

We will see her on MN in years to come.

As a manager who is very flexible with my team and don’t expect 9-5 from them, would never accept this and would be absolutely taking action if I found one of my team doing this. Completely taking the piss.

Do you remember that baby who drowned while his mum was on a work call during lockdown? You can't do this without neglecting both your job and your child.

Oh god, how awful. I don't remember this, but I'm not surprised. Babies/kids need proper attention.

Again with the silly assumptions, Distracted, trying to parent whilst working.

You just seem incredibly bitter. Sad really

I* struggle to even send an important email with my 2 year old around. I can't imagine trying to do a full day's work, indefinitely, with him around.*

Omg same!! I struggle to send a text sometimes with my 18 month old around 😂

DS is 20 months. I’ve had to do this a handful of times when my nanny has been unwell, and it was horrible. It was hard to focus on work and be productive, and I felt like a failure of a parent as I had to ignore DS for large chunks of the day.

It’s really impractical, and I have so much respect for people who had to manage during lockdown.

Trouble is it will get harder as they nap less as they get older and you won't have much nap time to get anything done. They will also get bored being at home all the time, it's good to be able to take them to groups and the park etc.
Could you look at compressing your hours and doing four days, if you can get 95 per cent work done in two days per week this shouldn't be too stressful. Are you using tax free childcare? Does make a difference
I would look at other childcare options as well child minders, other nurseries. I struggle to look after mine and work if they are off sick from nursery, but your job does sound less pressurised! Perhaps if you did compressed four days and half days in child care you could manage like that.

I remember this. Awful.

Not bitter at all, just think you’re putting a new year in Hawaii above decent childcare, but we’re all different!

enjoy!

No harm in giving it a try, you’re in a skills shortage role, I’ve had to recently recruit a pretty jnr digital marketing role at £65k due to how difficult it is to hire at the moment, so unless your employers are silly they’ll be flexible with this.

Exactly, I’m sure her DM was sure she could do both jobs effectively at the same time…. Only she couldn’t.

Ah so spending the day with their mother, friends and playgroups isn’t decent childcare?

I’d much rather that than a poorly qualified, poorly paid 19 year old with an NVQ looking after her.

Your child will have no input, so can’t complain. So it’s all great if you’re on £65k, just tell your child that.

Depends on the job, my job is really flexible and I can complete my hours between 7am and 8pm and log off when needed. I plan on doing it one a day week to be honest so we will see how it goes for me! Good luck with what you decide. Oh and my employer is completely fine with it as long as my hours are recorded properly and work completed

If you can realistically get your work done in a few hours a day, and even if your son was in nursery that’s still the kind of hours you’d be doing, then I’m sure it’s possible, if you consider nap times and catching up in an evening occasionally if you needed to.

Anything over a few hours a day would be very hard I think (I had a one year old and three year old at home during covid, I usually got 1 hour max done during the day and then caught up after they were in bed, it was basically impossible, dangerous in fact, to get anything much done while they were awake- so I did most hours after they were asleep).

if you weren’t working it would be perfect . …. But you are so it’s shit!

You have no idea what I do for work you have no idea what level of time needs to be put into my role, some days I don’t actually do any hours of actual work, still get paid for it though.

Hence why this works just fine

It's completely unrealistic to think juggling working and childcare will get easier as you enter the toddler stage.

some days I don’t actually do any hours of actual work, still get paid for it though.

What sort of job is this? I need me one of those 😂

Absolutely not. I wouldn’t allow this in my team. You can’t give 100% to your job and you can’t give 100% to your baby. When someone at work wanted to do this I flagged it as a safeguarding risk. Babies need watching 24/7 not distracted by working. Completely unfair on employer or colleagues who have to pick up slack