Feasible to work from home alone with 1-year-old baby?

[LadyJ107]

Hi ladies, given the eye-watering cost of nurseries, how feasible would it be to work from home alone when my maternity leave finishes? Would it be too stressful trying to work and look after a baby aged 1? (I'm a business analyst). Does anyone have experience of this?
Thanks in advance!

God no!!

DS is 15 months and we’re currently having to work from home due to the current situation. Thankfully my husband’s job is a bit more flexible but I’m in a similar type of work to you and I absolutely couldn’t do it on my own.

I am at the moment because of corona and I’m at breaking point. It’s utterly impossible.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/3902119-is-it-just-me-or-is-this-working-from-home-with-children-completely-unsustainable

Remember reading a book once where the main character took her baby to her office job and put her under her desk. I had a baby at the time and snorted in derision

No, it's impossible to sustain. Toddlers need near-constant attention - and physical attention, not across the room attention.

Nope! Not unless your work can be done in one hour a day whilst the baby sleeps. My DC are much older than that and I don’t manage more than a few hours’ work at the moment.

COVID aside, most employers specifically prohibit this.

Literally impossible, working from home requires you be able to focus on work during that time, childcare is essential. Even if you wfh whilst baby is in childcare to save the cost over a commute time (I’m planning this one day after my maternity)

And yes you would contractually not be allowed to do this

At one year old my daughter was better at playing independently than most of her peers and was a fairly reliable sleeper.

Realistically though, I could have managed
2 hours in her naptime
2 hours after she went to bed
Anything else would be subject to interruptions every 2 to 15 minutes. Some of them small interruptions. Many of them more disruptive.

During her waking hours telephone calls would have been noisily disrupted, papers sometimes screwed up, torn, or scribbled on, and computer keys pressed.

I think it would be realistic but tiring to work when she's asleep, but that rules out full time. Working when she's awake? Only in exceptional circumstances (like now, when people understand there's no childcare) but not normally.

I remember barely being able to go to the loo in peace let alone think in peace.
I used to do some voluntary accounts work in the evenings, SO hard with a 2 yr old wanting to sit on my lap bashing the keyboard. I vote no.

And yes you would contractually not be allowed to do this

Except for during this pandemic when it’s expected :(

In normal circumstances you cannot work from home and look after a young child. It’s not possible. And unless you work for yourself I can see your employer agreeing to it.
I’m sharing childcare of 2 children including an 18 month old with my husband at the moment and it’s breaking us. The 18 month old needs a lot of attention constantly. You can’t work and look after them.

IMO not feasible. I'm also a BA and currently working with a little one at home due to covid. It's awful. You feel like you're doing badly at work and at parenting. If your role is similar to mine and you need to speak to people and concentrate on your work it's difficult if you have a lot of distractions.

If you are doing a modest amount of hours and your employer is flexible about when you complete them, possibly.

Small children need constant supervision, and they always need something. It’s really not possible to set them up with a box of toys and leave them to it. I’m having to work from home at the moment with my toddlers and it’s impossible. DH and I have to take it in shifts, and work through their nap time and evenings and weekends to try to fit in enough work.

God no!

Next to impossible to get work done and mentally not having the boundaries between work and childcare is horrible.

I tried doing it for 1 day a week when I returned to work when baby was 5 months - I lasted 6 weeks - the minute they start rolling and crawling and your attention is elsewhere accidents can and do happen and I just didn't feel it was safe or fair for my DD to continue

And contractually other posters are right - most employers state in their home working policies that WFH cannot be done in place of childcare

As for the cost element surely you calculated this before getting to this point?? Nurseries are expensive so we moved to a childminder which was almost half the cost.

This isn't a good idea to plan to do on your own; there's a reason that most workplaces specifically don't allow employees to work from home while concurrently looking after children.

If you're a business analyst, I'd imagine you'd need to be quite focussed on working through the requirements of your organisation, possibly thinking about how to weave processes and systems together, writing reports and perhaps a bit of project planning.

All that work needs concentration, which means you'd have to ignore your baby for stretches of time. Most children when ignored cry harder, you'd be unlikely to be able to sustain that for long.

You also need to think about other practicalities; what happens when someone wants a 5 minute catch up in 10 minutes, but baby needs feeding? What happens when you are on a call and baby suddenly starts wailing? For those reasons and many more, you need to arrange proper childcare while working.

My DH and I are working from home during this crisis with DS3.5 and DD2.5 (she also has SEN). The only way we are able to do this is because we arrange our day in shifts, one person working, one person solely looking after the children. When nursery starts up again, they're going back!

HAHAHAHAHA good luck.

People are kind of sort of just about not really managing right now because there is no alternative, but under normal circumstances, it's not only fucking miserable, it's specifically prohibited and grounds for termination.

It's a strong no from me. Me and DH are trying to WFH with a 20 month old. She has screamed during phone calls, needs constant attention and cuddles, has drawn all over my paperwork and the dining table, and TBH I end up sciving off to take her for a walk down the road and back or out in the garden. I am both a shit employee and shit mum on those days getting barely any work done and shoving DD in front of peppa pig with a pile of snacks in the hope I can respond to a couple emails (spoiler alert, that doesn't work for long either). Dont do it to yourself.

I did. Not easy but I ran my own business from home full time from when my youngest was 6 months and eldest was 2yrs. You'll be flamed but it is possible.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 no, impossible

Don't be ridiculous.
If the cost concerns you, remember you are probably entitled to tax free childcare which helps.
And a childminder might be cheaper than nursery.

if the issue is cost, one of the mums at my baby group hired a "mothers helper" (a bit like an au pair I think) who looked after the baby during the day while she worked at home.

If you're working all day and there's no-one else there... What exactly would the baby be doing? How would you stimulate it and keep it happy and busy? One year olds dont just sit and play independently with toys for 7 hours a day I'm afraid, they need a lot of interaction.

No, I have an 18 month old. My husband and I are trying to work from home and we have to tag team so someone is with the baby. Or do it when she sleeps. She's noisy and active and wants lots of attention!