WFH with 1 year old?

Is it possible you hire a nanny to look after baby at home?

Get a childminder to come to yours! It will be easier for you and your child will still be around you x

I would say that you wouldn't be able to give either your job nor your child the attention they deserve

Why does the thought of sending him to nursery break your heart? Have you gone to look round any nurseries? My little boy has gone to nursery since he was 11 months and he absolutely loves it. I'd set up a couple of tours with local nurseries because you might feel differently once you've found one you like and can imagine your little one thriving in 😊

You're not allowed to work from home and have your child there your child would still need to be getting cared for by somebody else

By 13 months they are so active/possibly walking and need constant play and attention. They are also able to communicate their needs a lot more. I do understand why at 5 months you could consider it, but I don’t think at 13 months it would be fair to the child unless you were sitting with them all day and bringing your laptop to play alongside them! I have a 1 & 2 year old and even at these ages they will never independent play for more than 30 minutes (if I’m lucky!) x

Are you entitled to KIT days in your company? I’ve used a couple of mine to see what WFH could be like with my 5 month old daughter. Even though I’ve only logged on for a couple of hours each time, I’ve found that I am massively distracted and need to stop what I’m doing constantly to check on or comfort her, and generally she is a really content happy baby. For now I’ve only been completing simple tasks, but something like contributing to a meeting would be impossible. She’s obviously the best thing in the whole world but I’ve realised it won’t be practical having her home with me alone when I go back to work. That said, she’ll be 11 MO by then so it might be easier (or even harder! 😂)

I WFH with my little one being looked after by a family member, however it’s still hard to concentrate at times… mostly because if I hear him cry, my mum mode kicks in! That’s very hard to switch off from.

My LO does go to nursery a few days a week which makes it easier when WFH, having a bit of a rest yourself to properly concentrate.. and honestly, he loves going to nursery! It really does do them the world of good to interact with other babies, children and adults too 🙂

Do what works best for you. I find it can feel more stressful when they’re at home sometimes.

I did this, WFH with my 9 month old full time. I stopped after a couple of months and he went into nursery, it was horrific, wouldn’t recommend it. You can’t perform well at work and can’t give them enough attention

I am planning to do the same. I think we are about to find out 👀

Someone I know very well wanted to do this and work wouldn’t allow it. The odd time she has she struggles to get any work done as her little one wants interaction. xx

My contract won’t allow it but I don’t think I could anyway. I’d be distracted all day and everything would jus pile up haha

I think figuring out some kind of flexibility with work maybe condensing your hours so one of you is always available for you LO would be better. Both of you sticking to a regular full time work schedule and then just squeezing in childcare sounds like a nightmare and for me would make both work and parenting unnecessarily stressful.
If you’re not up for nursery then having someone care for them at home could be a good compromise.

Could you ask work the both of you to maybe do your 5 days of hours over 4 days so you and your partner could have 2 full days covered with little one. I don’t recommend you having little one at home whilst ur both working, it is really stressful! I’ve only done it on occasion when he is sick and I’ve approved it with my boss believe me juggling work and baby at same time is not the one! Deffo get some help in from somebody if you can to come to your house x

I’m planning to do the same but starting when baby is 4 months old. My husband and I will tag team. A few friends of mine from work have done the same and although it has its challenges it works for them. When their husbands were unable to look after the kids they brought in childminders. I think it also depends how intense your job and company are. Mine is very relaxed and we are all trusted to get the work done on our own time management so that definitely helps! But yeah check back with me in 7 months when I’m actually doing it 😂 maybe I’m just pregnant and delulu right now

Personally I did not think it possible. I think you won't be able to give either baby or work enough attention.

You should check your contract too. My employer explicitly stated I had to have childcare in place before returning to work, they wouldn't allow me to work and look after a baby, understandably so.

I think it is possible especially with two parents at home, but it will be difficult.

I went back to my WFH job when my baby was 5m. My mom would come over to watch him for the first 4 hours of the day when I had the most meetings then I would balance work and childcare for the second half.

Once he turned one, it became much harder. It was impacting my mental health that I wasn’t being the best employee I could be. Even though no one mentioned anything negative, I was comparing myself to when I only had work responsibilities and could be very flexible.

I would also feel like a terrible mom having my baby watch me on my computer or phone during our time together. He had my mom’s undivided attention during their time and when dad came home, he got to be just dad. But when it was me and him, I wasn’t as present.

Ultimately, I quit my job. I realize I have a lot of privilege in being able to do this and with my mom’s help. In many situations, families don’t have the option.

My husband and I work full time. Our roles are remote first with occasional events, conferences & in person meetings. I went back to work when the LO was 4 months. It worked very well up until the point she dropped down to 2 naps a day.

My mum WFH as well and lives about 7 hours away. So she came to help when the LO was about 1, so she’s been around on and off for about 10 months. This way we divided the day between the 3 of us.

A few months before her 2nd birthday my mum couldn’t help anymore so we came up with a set up that works for us. The LO goes nursery for 3 hours a day, then I take my lunch break first to spend time with her, then my husband takes his lunch break (that’s two hours), she then goes for a nap (that is another 2+ hours). Then she wakes up to her second lunch ready, her play stations set up. She knows her routine. She eats her food and plays, draws.. comes up with her own activities. At least one of us is in the room with her but doing our own thing.

It’s healthy for the littles to learn to deal with boredom, come up with their own games, and enjoy ‘independent’ time. Providing there is plenty of variety in the day. It was tough to set this routine but with time everyone adapted and found their feet.

We also have different start/ end time, so that one of us can finish early and take LO park, while the other gets her ready, etc in the morning instead, so finishes later as the result of it.

I am not saying it’s easy but with two wfh parents it’s doable. There are soooo many videos on YouTube if you wish to find various tips. Also, makes you feel empowered coz you see other people do it successfully.

I do feel like if either one of us was fresh in the job, we wouldn’t be able to cope but we’re both set in our roles so I think that plays a huge part. We also both got promoted within the past year, so just shows it’s working fine.
Yet, it does put limitations. For example it’s tough to change jobs, accept certain promotions, etc

I absolutely could not work from home with my 1 year old. She was walking around and exploring and it would not have been safe or fair for her or my workplace as I couldn’t give either anywhere near the amount of attention needed.

My LO goes to nursery and after an initial transition period she absolutely loves it. Her loves her nursery workers and all the friends she’s made, it helped massively with her social development and honestly the best thing we could have done for her.

I will be working from home starting in January with my 15 months old. I gonna have a childminder coming to watch him.
I can't imagine be working with him around

We did try for a couple of months for one day a week and it didn’t go well for us. It will depend of your job, I found very hard to concentrate and go back to a task just after being with my son, or hear him crying because he knew I was upstairs.
I would say give it a try but have some backup plan in case it doesn’t work.

Maybe see if there is a day school/nursery that does flexible schedules. For example, some schools where I am are full time M-F and you pay the same amount whether they come every day or not. Whereas some schools have where you can pick 2-5 days a week and you pay a reduced rate if they are only going part time. My daughter goes 2 days a week from 9-2. It helps me get work done that I have to focus on and then when she’s home on other days I can work some and play some. I also plan meetings around her nap time so I can be on my computer at nap time when she is home. It’s not always easy, but I like it way better than putting her in full time school.

My son just turned two and will start nursery in Jan. I’ve been full time
WFH with him for a few months and it has been both highly challenging and exhausting. I have some degree of flexibility and was able to agree with my manager that I would start work super early (5am) and take a break between 7:30am and 9am to cater to my son on his waking up. I continue working from 9am to 5pm but will be away from my laptop at various times throughout the day. I then go back online from 9pm to 10:30pm. I’ve used the Bubble app to book babysitters for times where I really need to be toddler free which is great, but to be honest the situation isn’t sustainable. I wouldn’t recommend it for an extended length of time, particularly if your job is full on.

My contract specifically states I cannot WFH and care for a child at the same time. That being said so does my friend’s, and she does it anyway. But has to be creative and literally shuts her in her room when she has important calls etc. I personally couldn’t do it, but it’s up to you.

I remember feeling this way with my first, but I had no option but to use childcare, in the end I met a lovely childminder, I went to her home and we got to know each other, I could see how she interacted with my daughter and because it felt like home I felt much happier. X

As someone who has my own business and stays home I’d fire me if I wasn’t my own boss lol I have to set work down sometimes for an entire day when my baby needs me. It’s only possible while he naps. I can’t imagine him being older than 6 months and being on the move too. I wouldn’t do it unfortunately. I also know many people who have tried and it didn’t work.

I’ve been doing this for the last 3 weeks with my 3 month old. However, his dad is at home at least 2 days a week during my working hours and the rest of the time I have help for a few hours a day. I actually work two jobs and it is tiring but so far so good. I had an instance where my childcare fell through last minute and it wasn’t as bad as I thought initially, however, I wouldn’t do it again. You’d probably need to find help at home at least for a few hours and get all the support from work in terms of your schedule/ hours etc

I WFH and take care of my little one by myself. I definitely do everything on a schedule but I ensure my child is taken care of forst and foremost and still manage to put in the time and effort to make good money.

Definitely was very difficult at first.