WFH question

I don't, I have to have childcare in place despite working from home.

My son goes to daycare. I wouldn’t be able to give him enough attention and still do my job proficiently.

When I’m wfh I’m working so same principles apply as to if I were in the office. I’d have to arrange childcare. On the occasion where my child was ill however, my workplace would be supportive of me if I needed to balance my work with a sick child or I’d take off parental leave.

I don’t. My son goes to daycare. If I had him at home with me when I work, both my care for him and my work would be very subpar. On days where daycare is closed or my son is not feeling well, my husband and I modify our schedules so we can split care for our son. There is no way I could successfully handle both, work and my son.

Most of the time my kids are with my MIL but there are occasions when I need to work from home with my kids. Make sure you have different toy options ready to go to keep them happy. If you have playmats and different bouncers or rockers have them all set up in the room. If you have phone calls I would get one of those headsets so you don’t need to hold the phone and not be on speaker phone.

I would find child care even if that’s someone in your home while your home working. Have you asked your employer if it was okay that your babe is there while your are working? Some places don’t want the person on the other end hearing them? I know it’s hard to concentrate on the call if I can hear kids in the background. If that’s not feasible for you, can you maybe set your own schedule? And do the work early before he gets up and nap time and bedtime and that way hopefully she won’t wake up and you can get some work done efficiently :) (I know the times may not sound awesome but it was an example lol)

I am also in the same position. We live in Seattle and it is beyond $ for childcare…. My husband is on leave until June, so we have some time…. But it’s an ongoing stressor for us as well.

Unfortunately it's just my husband and I, we have some family here but they're about a couple hours away. We moved across the country a couple years ago. My work is for the most part pretty accommodating and there's a lot of moms with my company but I do still have numbers to meet each month. Child care isn't an option so I'm hoping for the best and that I'll get to enough of a routine after sometime. I do also have headphones for the calls and the good part is I'm not on the phone all day which is a big help.

You unfortunately need childcare. Even if you can get away with it when they are a baby (by ignoring them or leaving them alone while you work), once you have a toddler you will absolutely not be able to work a job from home and work as a mom at the same time. Toddlers either won't let you work or they'll get into trouble. I quit my full-time job and started freelancing during nights and naps, But that's probably not the answer you were looking for.

I’ve been trying to do this for the past 5 months (I went back to work 2 weeks postpartum, my son is 23 weeks). It is basically impossible, we’re now looking at daycares. I cannot give him the attention he deserves and also do my job.

I appreciate the advice! I'd love to not work but, ya know... 🤣 I wish I had some family that lived closer, it would help big time.

Childcare!

@Lindsay They're ok with it, I'm lucky that most of my department are not only women but moms and my supervisor assured me when I left for maternity leaves they would try to help me out with scheduling calls around naps. Unfortunately I don't have a nap schedule in place but they're not as tough to work with as some other companies might be.

@Shelby that’s good, like actually that’s awesome! That would ease my mind a bit for sure. But if you would feel more comfortable, maybe see if someone you know can come sit with you in case you need the extra help during calls and such.

@Stephanie I hear ya! I haven't bothered looming into childcare because I don't feel comfortable with it. Hope it works out for you!

@Lindsay Yeah, my cousin might be able to here and there if I were to ask but it wouldn't be too often with the drive time for her. My husband is also trying to find a remote job and we're really hoping that will happen so we can both be available to trade on and off depending on shifts, etc

I’m doing it and it’s almost impossible, unfortunately. I end up doing work once my partner gets home and sometimes on the weekends. I am burnt out. 😞

Is your job hiring?! Ive been looking for a wfh job!

I did it with me and my husband but we had flexible jobs and our work hours extended because we had to sometimes get work done outside of hours. My husband is back hybrid and now I have two kids so I hired a nanny.

I WFH and regret not putting my baby in daycare. My daughter is 14 months, watching her and working is almost nonexistent if she's awake. During naps I try to get as much done as possible but my productivity has gone down. It's easy when theyre newborns but when they start crawling and walking...its not easy at all and I don't recommend it

@Lizzie Not that I know of. There's a website called wellfound that has a good amount of remote jobs, that's where mine was listed but I'm going on 3 years so I haven't looked on there for a while.

Tbh I've no idea how you could and i would imagine work will only tolerate it for so long. WFH is supposed to help with reduced costs and more flexibility but you are still doing a full time job and they will expect that work out of you, it's not to eliminate childcare, I imagine you will just end up doing longer hours or quitting eventually if you dont use childcare.

Same boat- wfh full time with baby on the way and childcare is too extremely expensive where I live (So Cal) with no family or friends near by. We live paycheck to paycheck so daycare won’t be an option for maybe the next year and a half. Fortunately my work is marketing and very much my own schedule and we only have about 3 meetings per week which I can do With camera and sound off if needed. But it’s still a terrifying thought how I’m going to juggle it.

I couldn’t work and look after my baby at the same time. Absolutely impossible. She has to go to nursery but at least there she is getting lots of fun and stimulation and I get to be professional and not try and juggle what is essentially two jobs

Even with my partner working from home too it’s just not possible. It would’ve been until he was maybe 6 months, but anything after that, not a chance. And I’m self employed! I’m in awe of mums who make it work though

We have a door bouncer and a ball pit, and my daughter will go in one or the other whilst I try and get some work done. They keep her physically and mentally busy and safe too 🌸

It's is definitely a hard task. Try to schedule your day as much as possible. But unfortunately, the older they get, you'll need to find a daycare even if it is just part-time.