Working from home with a newborn baby?

[hermitzero]

I worked from home before pandemic so after my baby is born, I will still work from home. He is my first baby. Since my due date is the beginning of August, I need to let my company know that I'm pregnant and the date I want to start my maternity leave. My question is that I have been thinking about how I'm going to work from home with a new born baby. I have no idea if it's even feasible and if so, how. There is no one around me who can help me with baby care. Is there anybody who is in the same shoes as me? What are your plans? Thank you for your advice in advance.

You have to do exactly as you would if you were working in the office.

You cannot work and care for a child full time at the same time, if you have no family support you’ll need to find paid childcare.

My baby is due in July. Im working from home now until end of June.. I plan on taking a full year off. My plans are to return next august time and back into the office by that stage hopefully. We have family to help us and considering putting baby into childcare 1 or 2 days - im also reducing my hours from 5days to 4days when i return

You take maternity leave to allow you to recover from birth and care for the newborn baby.
Then when you return to work you pay for childcare to cover all your working hours just as you would if you worked in an office.

Do people realise that while maternity leave MUST be offered in the UK, that after the first 6 weeks statutory pay is only £600 per month. There is no obligation for an employer to top it up.

Moreover, in the US there is no statutory maternity leave whatsoever.

OP, you haven't said where you live or if you have maternity leave as an option? Unfortunately, this thread is accurate that looking after a newborn while working would be exceptionally difficult. The only real possibility is to work while they sleep, which may be a few hours per day or may be almost never. You will be completely and utterly exhausted though. Do you have online meetings? If so, they would be a nightmare, as babies have in built alarms that wake them up the second you try to do something that requires them to stay asleep.

If this is down to financial constraints then it might be a good idea to speak to Citizens Advice about potential benefits/top ups to the statutory maternity pay. If it is down to your work not offering you leave and you are in the UK then it is a legal requirement. If it is about career progression then my best advice to you is that its not worth it. (I am happy to elaborate on why if that is the case).

Do people realise that while maternity leave MUST be offered in the UK, that after the first 6 weeks statutory pay is only £600 per month. There is no obligation for an employer to top it up.

Don’t most people just get statutory? I thought that was normal.

Once your maternity leave is over, your baby needs to go to child care, just as they would if you were going out of the home to work.

As everyone else said, you’re on maternity leave and then you use childcare.

People who have WFH and looked after children during the pandemic has been about survival and getting by by the skin of your teeth. It’s not a sustainable long term strategy.

What length maternity leave will you be taking? Or non? As you say working from home with a newborn? If you take maternity leave then baby won't be newborn by time you go back to work.

But I'd say that even working from home you will proper childcare in place unless your work and hours are very flexible and you can work at nap times and in the evening.

@daisypond

Do people realise that while maternity leave MUST be offered in the UK, that after the first 6 weeks statutory pay is only £600 per month. There is no obligation for an employer to top it up.

Don’t most people just get statutory? I thought that was normal.

I don't know about most, but my previous two maternity leaves I worked for a massive multi-national company (known for their consideration of employees) and I was on full pay for 6 months and then unpaid after that. My shares continued to vest, bonus was still eligible (not pro-rata'd) etc.

My current employer, a small startup consultancy, have also said they will top up though I don't yet know by how much or for how long.

I think it's fairly standard for large companies to offer an enhanced maternity package.

If you are a single mum then it is beyond me how you are supposed to get by on £600 a month, but very much hope you also become eligible for housing benefit etc.

Do people realise that while maternity leave MUST be offered in the UK, that after the first 6 weeks statutory pay is only £600 per month. There is no obligation for an employer to top it up.

This. And it’s even worse if your only eligible for maternity allowance like myself, because I’m freelance. With my recently born second dc I was supposed to be back at work when he was 2.5 months. Covid has bought us a few extra weeks. My first dc was 3 months when I returned to work. It amazes me the amount of people who are shocked I need to take short maternity leave, when it comes up in conversation.

I had three children and only ever got statutory with each of them. I work for a multinational now, though my children are older. It’s still the same - statutory.

It's your choice to be freelance though. It's one of the 'risks' you take for the flexibility. Similarly sick pay and income being unstable. This is usually reflected in a higher hourly rate than employed people.

I’m afraid these days freelancers earn less than employed staff in my industry. It used to be the other way round but not any more. It’s also not most people’s choice to be freelance. They would much rather have a staff job.

@Muststopeating Six months full pay is very generous and not standard at all. You'd be surprised how many big companies don't offer anything beyond SMP.

These stats are from 2015 so things may have improved since then but they suggest that less than half of employers offer an enhanced package, and most will only offer full pay for around 12 weeks. That's obviously better than nothing but still a struggle for most people:
employeebenefits.co.uk/issues/march-online-2015/less-than-half-of-employers-offer-enhanced-maternity-leave/

I'll be going on mat leave end of July, because I've been at my company just under 6 years I will get 10 weeks full pay and then just statutory for the remainder.
I'm saving as much as I can now so that I will be fine on mat leave. When it goes down to statutory pay I'll be losing atleast £1400 p/m

Six months full pay is a pipe dream for most. I work for a local authority so it’s a “good” scheme but was only 6 weeks on top of the statutory. We had to save like mad to afford the the drop in pay for me to take 10 months off.

@JeanClaudeVanDammit

Six months full pay is a pipe dream for most. I work for a local authority so it’s a “good” scheme but was only 6 weeks on top of the statutory. We had to save like mad to afford the the drop in pay for me to take 10 months off.

I agree. And I think for most people until you experience it or have a ver close friend or relative experience it you don't realise. As most women (and partners) save and go without to be able to have 9 months or a year off. So I think lots of people jus think oh its a year paid time off!

I took 9 months maternity leave and couldn't even manage to cook dinner while I was home with the baby. I sometimes managed a shower and I ate something quick when he napped. DH cooked the dinner when he got home from work. It was only after he was around 1 that whoever was home with him had any chance of preparing an evening meal while he entertained himself a little. Not a chance of working. I did a very small amount of freelance work from when he was 3 months, but that meant sacrificing any family time at the weekends when DH was around, no way would I have managed it without him. Plus, just the sleep deprivation alone was enough to mean there was no way I could focus on work. You truly don't appreciate the mental and physical impact waking up every few hours over night had until you live it.

WFH has advantages such as saving on commute time and costs for you, saving money on office running costs for your employer. But it is not an option for being at home to look after children. You're getting paid a wage by your employer and you need to treat it in exactly the same way as any other job. You juggle your income with childcare costs and make your decisions from there.