working and having a new born

[learningliving]

Hello

I need some advice from parents who are possibly in the same position. I am due a new baby in Feb next year super excited but financially I need a new job my husband isn't earning enough to cover everything although universal credit seems to think he does, i have cut costs as much as I can I still need to work.
I didn't have a stable job before being pregnant so no chance of maternity pay from a company anyway I have seen a job a remote job work from home i was thinking i could do this 3 days a week with baby while my toddler is at pre school all day my son was a really good calm baby and slept on cue and was just fine and was in a routine by 6 months it was a great experience I know the second baby is a different soul and will have different needs but I'm hoping our routine encourages the baby to be calm like my son was. Should i apply for this work from home job earn money for the family and be able to look after a small baby while doing the job? or am i looking at it with rose tinted glasses and wont be able to juggle both?? Is there a mum out there doing the same please share help encourage anything i need money to feed my babies.

Thank you in advance.....

My daughter had severe reflux and allergies. I couldn't have worked during the first 4 months as she screamed all day and was in my arms 23h a day. However, my mum went back to work when my sister was 5 weeks old. My parents couldn't afford child care so my dad worked 7-4 and my mum worked 5-9pm. It was tough but do able. This sister was my mum's "best" baby and much more chill than me and my older sister. She has made up for this as a child and adult! 😂

As much as you want people to say it’s doable it isn’t fair on baby. It isn’t fair on you either.
A lot of jobs will have policies that prohibit working from home whilst taking care of your child too. They will expect you to have childcare in place. WfH should be treated as though you were in the office and you wouldn’t be able to take a baby into work either.
As baby gets mobile you’re not going to be able to give either your full attention.

You don’t know how baby will be either.

Have you actually made a UC application or done a calculator? The UC elements will be higher with another baby

Realistically you’re not going to be able to work whilst looking after your baby. It’s not fair on baby, and can be unsafe, and your work will also suffer. Either put baby in childcare or find a job that works round your husbands hours.

Have you checked to see if you’re eligible for maternity allowance? I know sometimes needs must but that sounds massively stressful because there’s no guarantee that the youngest will be easy as your first! Also any chance you’re misremembering through rose tinted glasses because the newborn sleep a lot phase is quite short lived? What’s the plan for when you have a 6MO on 2 naps a days that wants entertaining? Or a 1YO that’s walking, getting into everything and down to a single nap? Will you be able to afford childcare on what this new job will pay?

I worked from home with my new born daughter, my 2 sons were at school/preschool so just me and baby for school hours.

I managed, it was hard work and I had the sort of job that was set hours a day but not down to times, so if baby needed me I could catch my hours up in the evening when their father was home. It also helped to have a childminder collect from school, just those 30 minutes every day made all the difference and was money well spent.

you just need a routine and stick to it as much as you can.

I couldn’t have done it on my own I needed my partner to take over if needed. It was hard work and long hours.

at 6 months I put my daughter with a minder my 2 sons at school/preschool childminder out of those hours. They hated it and after a few months took them out and carried on managing at home. I got a play pen for baby but that was only good for short spells. I found at about a year old I worked mostly evenings and 3 or 4 hours a day whilst she napped or played on her own.

its not just a newborn you need to think about, it’s harder when they become toddlers.

You’ve already had a lot of answers on your other thread. This is a non starter.

No, you can’t.

Why did you think a baby was a good idea when you didn't have a stable job with maternity pay and a husband in a low paid job.

No you can't look after a baby while you work from home
you are supposed to be working
You don't know if this child will sleep all day. It may even have special needs.

My first baby was super calm, slept for hours every day, etc. DD2 came out screaming and carried on in that vein - had to be constantly held until she could sit herself up, hated the baby rocker, slept intermittently.

I wouldn’t have tried to work with either of them, but with DD2 it would have been simply impossible.

No.

Pretty much every WFH job will have a policy in place which would prevent you from using wfh for childcare. You will still need to organise childcare separately.

But policy aside, it is a terrible idea. Newborns at the best of time are demanding and unpredictable and you will drive yourself crazy trying to manage both and you will neglect both your job and your child by trying.

Explore Maternity Allowance or if your partner is the lower paid worker, could he take over childcare once you have recovered from the birth?

You don't get to choose what sort of baby you get OP. You'd need to get really lucky with sleep to be able to cope with this.

There are hundreds of posts like this and they all get the same response. You cannot wfh with very young children. It is no one else’s fault that you decided to have another child despite the fact you cannot afford it. Why should an employer bend over backwards for you? What will they get in return? Probably not a lot as babies are extremely demanding, which you will already know but still thought you can take advantage.