Is it possible to work from home and look after a baby?!

[TheArtist]

My DH lost his job March. This give me the opportunity to finally start my own illustration business, a dream I have had for for years as he cared for our 8 month old.

I loved every minute! The creativity, making my website, making the connections, getting mentions on famous blogs etc. its such fun, yet of course a huge amount of work.

DH starts his new job tomorrow. He will be gone 12 hours a day.

Ok I have made no money so far but I have only just started this business, its not even propely launched I dont want to give up but how on earth can I juggle this a very demanding 8 month old?

Does anybody manage or is it impossible? We cannot really afford childcare as our finances took such a whack from 4 months of no income

Have you any family who could help out?

Could you do it on 2 days a week (the weekends) until you start making money at it?

I tried to do a bit of freelance while looking after DS at 5 months. I found it impossible and gave up after a week!

I do know other people who manage it somehow - how I have no idea though!

Maybe it's possible when they're very small and sleeping more than they're awake. If you have tight deadlines you will really struggle to juggle demanding baby and demanding job with deadlines tbh. Well nigh impossible with a demanding 2yo I've found. Although Beebies is a godsend when I'm up against a deadline.

Is it possible to get all your work done during nap times and in the evenings? Presumably if DH has a job your time of not being able to afford childcare has an end in sight- ie when you've go back on track financially. I agree about asking family if they can help out with childcare for a few months. It's not really something you can ask a friend to do unless they are very exceptional friends.

My mum always says she will help, but never atcually does.

I suppose I could consider getting some childcare help asap when things are on a firmer footing

Maybe I need some sort of timetable to the day so I allocate set time to work, baby etc? Though baby may not agree with my timetable!

i suppose I worry about feeling frustrared at my daughter if she wont "let" me work, I dont want to feel resement in anyway or like Im not fully enganging with her as my mind is on work.

I hope Im making sense!

It's hard not to feel torn between the baby and the work, but the best method is what you describe- to block out hours of the day when you focus entirely on her- play with her, laugh with her, sing, do active things. Then the moment she nods off, cup or tea and straight on the puter. It's the times when she doesn't nod off exactly when you expect her to that are going ot be hard. I can tell you from experience that it's soul-destroying to try to do both work and baby-care all the time. It is extremely important however that you build your business and work- both for yourself and for your family finances as well as your personal long-term finances (pension etc)

I don't suppose that you can take her to a childminder for several mornings a week, can you? They're not too expensive (depending on where you are) and that would give you half a day at least uninterrupted, with the hope that she might sleep a bit in the afternoons and let you get some more done. Then maybe complete your day's work in the evenings when she's in bed.

IME it depends a huge amount on how long and hard you need to focus on what you're doing.

I worked from home when DS was a baby, from when he was a few weeks old - but I was seeing therapy clients for 1h at a time and it very quickly became apparent that I could see a maximum of one per half day, and pref one per day. DS was quickly introduced to the video with hour long tapes to keep him entertained (didn't always work) and the clients were all aware that I might have to break off treatment if he got too distressed - it was their choice to still come to see me (DS was mostly fine, I hasten to add!)

However, I also had a job of sub-editing a professional scientific journal - and that was a LOT harder to do while DS was awake, because I needed a fair bit of concentration time to pay attention to what I was reading. Ended up mostly doing that at night while DS slept.

When DS was 20mo and we moved to Australia, I was in the middle of editing a text book - this really needed a lot of concentration and I just couldn't do it with DS around - so he had to go off with DH and MIL for the day to allow me the head space to do it.

Hope that helps in some way!

"IME it depends a huge amount on how long and hard you need to focus on what you're doing."

I'd agree totally. The work I was trying to do involved a lot of concentration in front of the computer, I just couldn't do it while looking after DS.

My friend on the other hand runs an afterschool club with her baby in a sling and that works well.

I do know someone who worked as a freelance graphic designer with a newborn No idea how she did it! I know she didn't have any time to get out and meet other mums. But she had to do it to keep her business going.

You don't need to put your DD in a strict routine - you could work when she sleeps, whenever that is. However I guess that depends on your DP being supportive too, and doing his fair share of housework and - crucially - making sure you get enough sleep. Does your DD still wake a lot at night? You need to make sure you're not exhausted before you start!

You say "We cannot really afford childcare as our finances took such a whack from 4 months of no income".
Is this a temporary situation then? Do you think once your DP has been back at work a while you might be able to afford it?

Could you see a time when you might be able to afford just one or two mornings with a CM? A few precious hours could make a difference.

Or - once your finances are back on track, have you considered an aupair? That could work well for you as you're working from home.

Well this mornings trial run has got my blood pressure up and its only 10am! I love my daughter to bits but she is a real handful.

I just realised though we might be able to get some working tax credit childcare help. I think when baby "lets" me I will call them. I hope we can, it will be a real help. DH had to take a 10k paycut for this job so things are generally tight.

DH is excellent with housework too, though this new job means he might not step through front door until 8pm so realistically he is limited to his contrubution from now on.

Good news though- I woke up this morning to two orders! It has really made my day :)

"I just realised though we might be able to get some working tax credit childcare help."

That could be a brilliant help. When we were eligible for WTC we got 70% off our childcare.

A quick word of advice. Google to find out how many hours you need to be doing to make you eligible, before you confirm an exact number of hours with them. It used to be that one partner had to be working but I think it may be both these days? (I'm very out of touch with this so you'd better check!)

But as you work from home and manage your own hours, it'd be a shame if you told them you intended to work too few hours to be eligible.

"Good news though- I woke up this morning to two orders! It has really made my day" woohoo! :)

Thanks mother :)

Going to look into childcare. It seems silly to let this all slide before it even started.

Then why do I feel so guilty at the thought of putting dd into childcare.... Whats wrong with me?!

A note on the hours also - when we did it, the hours were worked out as an average over the year. You need to be doing enough hours on average over the whole year to qualify. (Bummer for people working the correct number of hours most weeks - but term time only).

You feel guilty because we all do! Only you can decide what's right for you and your family.

If you do go for childcare, the most important thing is to find a setting that you're comfortable with.

For me personally, with such a young child, I prefer a childminder for the personal attention. We found our wonderful CM through www.childcare.co.uk and we went and met a few before we chose one. Definitely worth reading their OFSTED reports too, they're quite in depth.

In your situation I'd also seriously consider an au-pair, if you have the space. (DS shared with us until he was 2.5! So we had the space - but we we were working out of the home to CM better for us).

The tax credits thing.....

can you get help with childcare costs if you arent actually making any money? We cant afford childcare as I am not making any money at the moment, although obviously I working towards that!

If H works full time and I work approx 30 hours a week on my business, would I be able to claim and help? the childcare would mean that I could get out and about more which would help with the money making.

I work from home with a 10 month old and basically can only work when she's sleeping, when DH is doing bath time, or if I have childcare. I do answer a fair few quick emails while she's awake but little more - it's too stressful and not fair on DD.

How is she with naps? I work every single morning nap and it allows me to get a fair bit done (cumulatively).

I think evenings and weekends are possibly your best options for now - until you have childcare, I would think. Is there a group that your DH can take your baby to at the weekend? At least you'll know you have a definite couple of hours then. Obviously you don't want to just rely on naps etc to do work as they're not always guaranteed...

Bogey, I think as long as you can document what you are doing for those 30 hours that means you aren't making any money its ok! I keep a log of general things I've done each day, not exact hours, but just so that if any questions arose I could answer them. I have put in my claim but not heard back yet, so fingers crossed that is how it works!

Mother, WRT term time hours, when they ask for your 'normal' working hours they mean an average of most 'normal' weeks. If you don't work during school holidays that's ok and you can just give them the term time hours - they must have changed that part (something which works in our favour?! surely not!).

Do they still pay for some of the childcare then even if you are not making much money?

Does anyone know how many hours you have to work to get that?

I did it op, without any childcare. It was a nightmare. I wasn't well mentally anyway but needed to try to keep clients. It was exhausting, impossible to fit in during the day, made me stressed and my in laws still made sarcastic comments about how i couldn't be bothered to get a job!

I would mostly end up working at night whilst baby was asleep which meant i didn't get much. No one was willing to help because apparently working from home isn't a proper job.

16 hours per week. But if yr self employed you work what suits. So you get two days cover per week which is fab.

You will have to estimate your profit (please get an accoutant sorted first), be careful, you get this wrong then you have to pay back.

With any small business get as much help from free government bodies here in wales we get loads of freebies, get the chamber of commence to recommend you, but get as much free or subsidised as possilbe. I wouldnt start any venture without good accountants advice - even if it costs you a few hundred pound its better to get your facts, ideas & finance correct from the outset.

It entirely depends on the baby, but I think it would be very difficult to do without childcare entirely.

My first child screamed constantly when awake and needed to be held all the time. Even when she was asleep I was a complete wreck and there was no way that I could have worked. My second one was placid enough, but by then of course I also had a 2-yr-old.

My neighbour has a home sewing business and kept right on with it when her first child was very small. I remember her saying "Working at home with a baby was only as hard as YOU make it." . But she got an au pair a few months later, presumably when her little boy needed more attention. She has 3 children now and still has the au pair.

Its so hard working at home with a baby. I have worked in the past both at home and part time in an office. Whilst working at home sounds good, I found going to the office 3 days a week was easier for me as then the time I had at home with my son was time I could spend with him without feeling guilty about getting on with some work!

The thing is, I dont have a few hundred pounds to spend on an accountant, I really dont.

I have ended up with a business by accident and thankfully it isnt one that needed much financial input (think website stuff and business cards!) as otherwise I wouldnt be able to do it.

I dont think I will make any money at all tbh, but obviously i dont want to be in a position where I have to pay anything back. I dont know what to do! Childcare would really help get the business going though......

an accoutant will I think normally not charge in advance - may save you in tax what it costs, and may help with the tax credit situation - although check on entitledto website to see if it a possiblitiy -
some childminders might have spaces say in the morning when a mindee goes to pre school and really not expensive - does your DH get childcare voucher as if tax credits not an option you can used them to pay for childcare effectively tax free

Sorry, I should say that I dont think I will make any money in the first year, most of it will either go into paying me back what i have spent or into buying essential equipment as I currently am in desperate need of new IT equipment.

Is the priority to make money or build a business- a dream? Big difference.

I know people who work from home and did their work in the evenings once the baby was in a routine, and at weekends.

Would it be better to hold off taking orders for a few months and just getting together what you need in order to run the business efficiently once the baby is a little older?