Background: my partner left me and I lost my job while pregnant last year. I have a property in a large city. My parents invited me to move in with them 3 hours away in the countryside before I had my baby for support but also so I could STR my house to help cover the mortgage and bills with no income. Baby is now 9 months old and really happy living with my parents. My property in the city isn't suitable for a child and I couldn't move back there with my baby.
I've been looking for a new job for the last 5 months and was hoping to get a remote job (common in the industry I work in even before covid) and then my baby would be in nursery 3 days a week and with my mum 2 days a week, but I've been getting no where. I must have done at least 30 interviews, which has been really time consuming with the prep and a burden on my mum who's looking after my baby during prep and the interview time, not to mention demoralising. I've never had an issue getting a job before, but the market seems really tough.
I've lost out on a few opportunities as they wanted me to be in the office 2 - 3 days a week every week in the city and while I could go and stay in my house, this would involve me leaving my baby with my parents overnight every week for 2 - 3 nights.
My mum has said this is fine and that I just should compromise and they'd support me with childcare, and I'm considering that I'll just have to do this, but I worry about my impact on my baby.
Will he be ok if I'm completely absent 3 days a week and then pop up the rest of the week? I know loads of dads do this all the time and maybe this is just mum guilt. Do other mums do this?
Couple of factors:
-I have zero income apart from house rental which just about covers mortgage and bills in the city. I don't qualify for any UC due to savings. I don't receive CM (don't want to go down a rabbit hole with that discussion as that's a whole separate topic - dad isn't an option for physical or financial support).
-Baby is currently breastfed to sleep and we're co-sleeping so I'd have to turn this around really promptly. He's showing less interest in breastfeeding though and is eating well
-I'm quite senior in my career and have been earning over six figures
-I was hoping to sell up in the city and relocate nearer to my parents. My parents aren't rushing me to move out though.