What can I do to make working from home easier with a six-week-old baby?

[VodkaCranberry2]

I’m a freelance writer and I have decided to end my maternity pay to go back to freelancing. My work has agreed that instead of going back to 5 casual shifts a week which I have been doing for the past five years due to being unable to travel into the office regularly due to chronic illness, that they will commission me on a piece-by-piece basis. They have told me I can pitch them every day and they will commission the ideas they like best, and I am also pitching to other places as much as possible to get commissions in.

My partner works part time in a supermarket as he is studying at uni. He finishes in July (he’s currently completing it online) so will be going full time then.

I have a six week old baby who my partner is amazing with but I also don’t want to hand him all the parenting duties as he has a degree to finish.

I’m just wondering if anyone has any tips on working from home with a newborn and how to make it work?

Honestly, my advice would be to just hold fire to July

I did a couple of hours of work a day from when DS was about 4 weeks to about 16 weeks. I did it with him asleep in a sling and me stood up with the laptop on my kitchen counter. It was ok-ish, but I definitely would have struggled to do more than an hour or two over the whole day, and it would have been awful if I had tight deadlines as some days it just didn't happen. My productivity/concentration was quite low because I was so tired! DS also decided very abruptly and without warning that he was no longer up for this and stopped sleeping in the sling unless I walked, and then that was that - he would only sleep for a pretty useless 20 mins unless in motion. For me that was a bit annoying but if we had been reliant on me working it would have been so stressful. I found I could send an email or something while he was in his bouncer but nothing more involved - like you, I was trying to write.

Are you breast feeding? If so its going to be challenging. If bottle feeding then your partner could do some feeds freeing you up to write.

Personally I found it hugely challenging to do anything other than baby related things when my son was 6 weeks old. Even now at 8 weeks it'd be difficult, though a bit more manageable.

Is it for finacial reasons you want to end mat leave?

Thanks everyone. I can’t hold until July at the moment as I didn’t qualify for a grant and we’re not earning enough now!

And no I’m not breastfeeding @Letsallscreamatthesistene I’m formula feeding luckily so it will make it a bit easier and DP can do the feeds while I work. He’s also a super chill baby so I’m hoping it will be okay. I don’t have much choice at the moment, wish I could stay on maternity but I’m hoping to maybe have a couple of evenings where I just bash it all out, some pieces only take around 20 mins - half an hour a night. And maybe DP can do more of the night feeds on the nights before? Just need to know how to stay productive when all I want to do is nap with little one

Im also formula feeding. When I need to get stuff done I hand baby duties over my husband for the evening. So if your pieces of work only take 30mins or so its easily done

This is going to be really, really tough, if I'm honest, because they sleep less and less as time goes on. If you need to be working, I'd outsource as much as possible, cooking cleaning etc, becayse you'll be fucking exhausted, so whenever you get time to yourself, REST.

I wouldn't try and work in the evenings if at all possible - I'd find a time in the day that the baby is either asleep or happy to sit in a bouncer/on a playmat/in a sling on you if you really do only need half an hour. Working in the evening is SO HARD when you're in the baby sleep deprivation stage.

I went back self employed when my baby was 5 weeks, the best thing is a good, well fitted, well chosen sling, not a rubbish one, a routine for the baby but flexibility for you, so you don’t sweat the small stuff, and if that means working in half hour stints at 2am, 5am, 7am and 6pm then that’s OK. With another baby I chose to go back at 3 weeks so it can’t have been that bad. Good luck

I had to go back to work at 8 weeks. My DS had set times to be fed through the night (he was prem, hosp set schedule of 8pm, 12am, 4pm, 8am. I found staying up after 4am feed (he went straight back to sleep if he even woke) gave me a good 3 hours to work. I then snuck in an hour here and there after each nap. I went to bed after his 8pm feed and DP took the 12 feed. It worked till I got furloughed.

A small thing, but maybe consider a sling and a standing desk.
Mine would be happy in a sling as long as I didn't attempt to sit down.

I don't think you can 'do' much in particular, I guess it just depends on the baby.

I have a 3 week old, and he so far does nap happily in his carrycot on pram, in sling, or on mine or dh's lap.
I have managed to do some simple work related bits ie emails and some phonecalls due to this (was planning longer wait, but covid has changed plans a bit)

As long as you can be flexible with timings according to how baby is that day. ie for me yesterday was a full write off as baby fed all day long and needed holding, I managed one essential 10 min phonecall with him attached to boob! Today i haven't needed to do anything, but he has napped in pram for 2, 2 hr stints so have been fairly hands free (I took a nap and facetimed family instead though)