Working from home and looking after a baby

[Rubes88]

Hi

I am due to return to work next week and my baby will be nearly 11 months old. I am fortunate to be able to work half my time in the office and half from home. So I will be working 2 days from home.

Has anyone got any tips on how best to ensure I work my 7.5 hours each day whilst still looking after my baby?

My thoughts so far are that I need to:

• work when he sleeps in the day
  
• in the evening
  
• use my friend where I can
  

Any other suggestions? I dont want my baby to feel like im neglecting him but I do need to get my work done!

[bruffin]

I must admit working from home wasn't my idea, it was my managers when I got pregnant DC2. I had only been there 6 months but they were very pleased with me and didn't want to lose me. My manager suggested I started working from home when DD was born. DD was actually born the day I went on maternity leave and I went back to work after 6 weeks and had to catch up all the work for the last 6 weeks. Childcare was never ever discussed about her, but I did have child care for DS who was 2 then.

DD was thankfully a very good baby who loved her naps so she was very easy to work around. I didn't have to talk to anyone outside the organisation very often so that wasn't a problem. As I said above I did do a lot of work late at night. She did go to nursery when she was 2 for a 2 days or 3 days week.

[DilysPrice]

Bruffin clearly had a standalone job which did not require her to be on call during office hours though. I can see that a technical but very well-defined accounts job with llittle or no collaboration could work under those circumstances - you can squeeze 20 hours out of the week if necessary. I've done something similar, and although I had quite a lot of paid childcare I also did some very productive work during evenings, naps and CBeebies.

We never found out the nature of the OP's job.

[EthelredOnAGoodDay]

Afraid I'm going to add to your woes and agree with pretty much everyone else. DD is almost 12 months and there is no way I could WFH effectively with her around. And my manager is fairly flexible but he made it clear when i returned to work that WFH is not an alternative to childcare. I can't see in all honesty how it could work.

Sorry. Hope you get something sorted.

[frgr]

Well, bruffin, when you're trying to negotiate working from home (which is them being flexible - not a right) I do believe that childcare issues are very much their business. They're paying their employees to work their hours - not doing some half arsed job with a lack of ability to take conference calls/concentrate which in my experience is the reality of working from home whilst looking after a child the same age as the OP. And is mirrored by 90% of the posts on this thread. So although it's wonderful that you didn't struggle with some of the common issues voiced here, I genuinely believe that a Manager vetoing a work from home request due the practicalities outlined would be acting reasonable.

[bruffin]

My managers had no say in my childcare( I also worked for the charity sector) , as long as the work was done it was none of their business. I didn't have any childcare until for DD until she 2, DS was 2 when I started and he went to nursery 2 or 3 days a week. I only worked 20 hours doing accounts.

I worked when she was napping during the day and late at night from when she was 6 weeks old. I worked completely from home for 8 years and then did part home and part office for 3 years.

[frgr]

Simbacatlives, those things did crop up during colleages' plans to work from home too.

At my place, my employer bends over backwards to accommodate mums and dads who find juggling childcare difficult (charity sector though, so you'd hope so), BUT none of the senior managers here would ever agree to an employee working several days from home at the same time as being primary carer for a non-school age child.. it's just not professional. The only time I've experienced anyone doing anything similar was at my old workplace where the lady was eventually fired anyway (for something unrelated, but i guess if she hadn't then this would have been brought up as an issue).

[hairyfairylights]

I think it will be absolutely impossible to work and look after your baby simultaneously. You need to find childcare. As a Manager, I would never agree to this!

[EvaLongoria]

I would agree with most posters.
I returned to work full-time when my DD was 6 months old and worked from home.
Luckily my role got changed and I could do just administration from home. Some could be done in the evenings when DD was asleep. Some had to be done before 4pm for post and some befre 8pm when BT limited their systems. At 6 months I could do loads. But as DD got older it became impossible. Not only did i feel guilty for not spending enough time with her but I became stressed about my work as well. In the end I managed to get an Au Pair for 4 months to live in. Please be aware that Au Pairs are not allowed sole care for children under 2. But what I did I worked on the kitchen table and she would keep DD occupied in the lounge. I only allowed her to do this for 3.5 hours a day maximum. But after 6 months of working from home I resigned. Was not worth it.

[plupervert]

I bet you're right, Mspontipine!

[plupervert]

The child is too old for this to work. It is difficult for them to concentrate on playing independently, but not difficult for them to disrupt you (and know when to do so!).

I work intermittently from home, ideally on the days DS (2 and a half) is in nursery, but I recently had a tight deadline which meant turning on CBeebies and turning my back while I worked frantically at the computer. CBeebies is extremely distracting (those tunes are soooo bloody catchy!), and DS was very good (he can concentrate for reasonable periods now, but is much older than 11 months!), but did get fed up, and we ended up arguing. It was stressful and made the work take longer. I made it up to DS with loads of attention and loving spoiling (not bad spoiling!) after my deadline, but you won't have that time to catch up.

I would not recommend it.

[Mspontipine]

source

[Mspontipine]

Poor OP never returned! Do you think she's still chasing round desperate to sorce childcare after HUGE rethink :)

[flowerybeanbag]

You can't work 7.5 hours a day while simultaneously looking after a 11mo baby. My 1yo sleeps 2 hours a day and that will not increase so you will have less and less time.

If your work is such that your employer will not need to contact you during the day and doesn't care when you do your work - cery output-based for example - you could possibly do a couple of hours a day during nap times and perhaps another two or three hours in an evening. I wouldn't advise it, but you could.

Otherwise you need childcare. Does your employer know you plan to 'work' two full days from home without childcare?

[Menagerie]

If you have someone in the house with you who's never left on their own with the baby, it doesn't have to be a registered child-minder or nanny. It can be a mother's help. Less expensive and less experienced, but they are often keen, lovely people studying for childcare qualifications, who need to get experience. Might be worth looking into if other options are too expensive.

[staranise]

TBH I always worked a fair amount from home when the DCs were very small but (a) I'm s-e (b) I don't have phone calls/meetings (c) once the DCs were moving around eg crawling/walking, it becomes much more difficult.

Work from home to save on the commute etc but I would still use childcare otherwise it's not fair on your employer or your child - a one year old likes to be out and about, not at home all day with a mother who's trying to get work done (believe me, I've been that mother...).

[AnyFuleKno]

I have worked the occasional day from home with a 2 year old. I would start early e.g. 7am and work through till lunch. Bearing in mind a couple of breaks to set up breakfast and dress dd, then set up activities, she would play or watch morning cartoons. I would then take her out for the afternoon and bring her back for a nap around 3, do a couple of hours more work, do dinner and then finish off when she went to bed, so I was able to get in a good 7 - 8 hours of work. I really enjoyed it and found it nice and relaxed to not have to commute on those days.

[Simbacatlives]

There may also be health and safety and/or Insurance issues for your employer as well.

We have to complete 6 monthly declarations about a whole range of things related to working from home. These include listing everyone who will be in the home during working hours etc.

[lowrib]

We found both our brilliant CMs through //www.childcare.co.uk in case it helps.

[EssieW]

I managed to work one day a week (7 hours equivalent) at home whilst looking after child but it was crucially split over 2 days (so 3ish hours a day). This was the max I could have coped with and it was really hard. It also relied upon DS being a really good napper. It wouldn't work so well with DD who doesn't have long naps.

I had to be really strict about not doing other little jobs - eg clearing up. It was straight to work as soon as he was asleep. I could sometimes do the odd 30 minutes of emails when he was awake. I did have to finish off in the evenings and sometimes weekends (though I was also trying to do a 5 day a week in 4. 3 days in office and 1 at home). Did do a few phone conferences with DS around which I would describe as 'stressful'.

In short, I don't think what you're proposing is possible. Maybe less hours a day for less days would be OK.

[MaudOHara]

You could probably manage working from home without childcare when you have school age children as they are out of the house for a large chunk of the day and during the holidays can be bribed to be quiet / occupy themselves better, but really with a baby its pretty impossible.

[Bobbyd]

I know it sounds really negative but when I have tried to do even the smallest amount of work when my 11 month old naps and just as i have an important email or phone call to write/make you can be sure it will be the moment when DS decides to wake from a nap. I have found it impossible so have resorted to 2 days a week in nursery. If I so much as even take my laptop out my DS goes straight for it!

[choufleur]

You need to sort childcare out. It's just not possible to work 7.5 hours a day and look after a child. Unless you are going to work for long periods in the evening when your DP (if you have one and they are they to look after DC) can free you up. And as your DC gets older they will sleep less.

[violethill]

If your child is 11 months old, and you are returning to work in one week's time, working half at the office and half at home, then presumably you have organised proper childcare for the days you're in the office?

How on earth did it pass you by that you would also need childcare for the other days you work?

Something about your post doesn't add up. Surely you can't have got yourself organised enough to book a nursery/cm for your office days but totally failed to organise your home working days?

[wingandprayer]

Sorry to add to all the negative responses but I am self employed and tried to work at home with a baby and it is very hard work indeed for all the reasons stated. Yes, it can be done, but not for any extended period of time unless you like being exhausted

I hope you can find a more workable suggestion - I used a nursery for first child then a childminder for second. CM has been particularly brilliant as they more flexible. Your family services department at local
Council should have a list of all the registered ones in your area.