Working from home WITH baby - possible, or idealistic?

[beccablum]

Hi - I want to go work part time from home, but WITH my baby there with me (i.e. no childcare). I would love advice from people who have tried this way. There's loads on this topic about child care etc, but not much about working at home WITH baby. Am I being totally idealistic, or is it perfectly possible? Most of my work is email and internet based, so I reckon it is do-able, but would like to find out from others who have tried it. Cheers, Becca

Can you compromise with childcare? I'm full time, but work two days a week at home. Those days, DD goes to nursery for the morning while I work furiously. I pick her up at 1pm and we have fun together until DH gets home from work 2:30/3ish to take over. I make up any hours when (if!) she naps and in the evening. Works for us.

also, the benefits of getting out of house, dressing in normal clothes, having coffee with mates in your lunchbreak, adult conversation, feeling like you've achieved something at the end of the day and listening to music on your way to work are not to be underestimated!

As a manager I would not approve a request to work from home unless the employee had suitable childcare arranged. IMO looking after a baby or toddler is a full time job and trying to do this and a job will mean that one will suffer.

Obvioulsy it can be done if you are freelance or self employed or can chose your hours very flexibly ie when dc are in bed or when dp is home.

It's all been said really!! Yes you can, IF:

• you don't mind not having any time to yourself because the minute they go to sleep you rush to the PC
• you can get the baby into a really good routine
• you work a limited number of hours - I'd say max 20 p/w unless you have a very good daytime sleeper I'd be amazed if you could do more than 2 hours a day when they're asleep, and then another 2 in the evening.

However, it's quite possible to do a mixture though - for example I have 2.5 days childcare, and I sometimes have to work outside those times when DD2 is asleep etc, but working with her here (she's 11 months) is a nightmare - she's either crying when I'm on the phone, trying to eat the power cables, emptying the waste paper bin etc etc! I can just about work from home with DD1 here now, and she's just turned 5 - previously it was possible, but difficult.

Impossible and idealistic. I already worked from home when I had my 1st child, and thought I could do it too, and didn't think about childcare until well after the birth - about a month before returning to work. You may be able to do it when she/he sleeps through the night, but only if you're prepared to work through the night!

Hi all - thanks so much for all your great advice, and sorry I have been unable to post up until now... hmmm, thought I was being idealistic.

I will want to do about 17 hours a week (job share with my maternity cover hopefully), and have a supportive mum, and my dh sometimes can get home early. I am used to working evenings as well - if the baby will let me!

I guess I'll have to wait and see how she turns out - only got 9 weeks to go...can't wait!

It's very difficult in the first three months because you're so knackered. Then as soon as she starts crawling (mine at 5.5 months) it's even more exhausting. Now that she's 9 months and crusing "safely" it's easier again. Still, the bulk of my work gets done only at night, from about 9pm, and at her afternoon nap (1-2 hours).
I've been working from home and am comtemplating going back to work part time and put her in nursery... very torn. will probably carry on doing it from home.

Although I don't think you can do it with no childcare, if you are lucky you can mix and match. My DD goes to a childminder two days, and I also work during her naps on the days she is home.

BUT, and its a very big BUT, she is a good napper. If she wasn't I would have to go for another days childcare to get everything done.

not possible - I have tired for short periods. Even if you had child care, my DS wouldn;t want to play with Nanny at hme when mummy is there. POssible when are old enough to understand and occupy themselves, but not under school age I doubt.

I was used to working evenings too but at the moment that hour I get to myself is what keeps me sane.

Going to disagree with people here - I work freelance from home and have two DDs aged 3.5 & 2. Older DD goes to nursery five mornings a week 9-12, but I have D2 with me all the time.
It is quite stressful but I have managed iwthout childcare for a year. However: I only work part-time, I have long deadlines, therefore putting something off for a day normally doesn't matter, I rarely need to make phone calls. I also do a fair amount at night and the weekends, which isn't much fun. I also use a laptop so that I can sit in my DDs' bedroom and work while they play if soemthing is urgent. My DD2 doesn't nap at all now and it is getting harder and harder, especially as I now have to do all that music group stuff etc with her so I now use a nanny one day a week to give me a breathing space. I also do childcare swaps with friends. In fact, have no DDs with me right now so must do some work... best of luck, I think it really depends on your type of work.

you can make it work if self employed I think but at the expense of any time for yourself. i'd be surprised if an employer allowed it. i won't approve working from home for parents without proper childcare arrangements being in place and don't think i'm unusual in this. my sister had the same stipulation - her employer went as far as insisting on having a copy of her childminder's contract to prove the days covered.

I tried this when dd was 9 months old and it was a complete disaster. My female line manager gave me a really hard time all told. The last straw was a telephone conversation with my line manager. On this occasion she said, "is that your daughter crying in the back ground?" Unfortunately this was correct, dd had just woken up. My line manager then went on "you know (my name), it's very unprofessional. This is not the image our organisation wants to portray to potential enquirers and clients. It's just not good enough. I'm afraid you can't work from home anymore. This is simply not working. If you want to remain in your current position, you'll have to come into the centre."

When I asked my line manager what exactly she meant by "This is simply not working. If you want to remain in your current position, you'll have to come into the centre." she replied, "I think you need to consider whether you really want your job."

I could not find a decent nursery in the time I had - four days. It's complicated but in a nutshell I wanted to find a nursery on the way or close to work. I felt under immense pressure from all quarters, and in the end I just said to myself, "f=ck it. Something has to give." After a long discussion with my husband, I decided to tell my line manager where to go and told her that I didn't want the job anymore. I received my P45 a month later.