Work at home mom | Imamother

amother

Coffee

Tue, Nov 22 2016, 6:55 pm

I work from home doing work on the computer. I have a toddler in playgroup and a 4 month old baby who recently became much more demanding of my attention and although he sleeps great at night, he is at the age where he is not sleeping all day anymore and I find that I have no time to do my work-let alone time for myself or anything else. He literally takes up almost my whole day. I am trying to work this out without having to hire a babysitter because that would be too expensive and anyway I am breastfeeding.

When my toddler was around this age I had to hire a babysitter so I could work and was exclusively pumping. but now I am breastfeeding only and it would cost to much for a babysitter.

I ordered a swing, but what else can I do to keep baby occupied so I can work? He keeps complaining if his pacifier falls out, or if he needs help grabbing a toy, also wants to be held a lot.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

amother

Vermilion

Tue, Nov 22 2016, 7:38 pm

I work from home and keep my babies with me till they are 2 - 2.5. I'll tell you what works for me, but it may not work for you - depending on how many hours you need to work, if you can do you work anytime of day, if your dh is helpful or you have any cleaning help and ect....

What works for me is that I keep them on a very strict schedule. I'm always able to get in around 2.5 hours while they nap in the morning. If necessary I keep them up a little late or wake them up early when my first kid has to get up for school so that they will take a long nap later on. I then do about two more hours at night after everyone is asleep. Its not easy but worth it for me since I'm able to be home with them, no traveling time, and lots of flexibility.

My schedule till my older kids come home is usually something like this -

7 - 8:30 get up my 2 older kids and send them off to school, get myself and baby dressed.(I also wake my baby at 7 so he will take a good nap later)
8:30 - 9 - settle baby with a big breakfast and a bottle, and I eat, go online and ect...
9-10 - clean up from the morning, do a load of laundry and ect... baby "helps" me.
10-12:30 baby naps and I work. I leave toys in his crib so if he wakes a little early hes usually happy to play in there
12:30 we both eat lunch
1-3 depending on the day - grocery shopping, mommy and me, other errands...
3 - first ds comes home
I then do around 2 more hours of work at night after I put the kids to bed. I also try to put in some hours motsei Shabbos.

My oldest I sent out at 2 and the next one at 2.5. I don't want to make my kids feel like my work is more important then them so as soon as they stop napping or only take a very short nap, I sent them out. Also one ds was happy playing on his own a little while the other one wanted my attention more, so that also made a difference.

I found the newborn stage hardest since they aren't on a schedule it could take me a 4-5 hours to get 2.5 hours of work done since I'd work half hour, then the baby would wake up, then go to sleep an hour later and ect... when there older they can take a good straight nap, plus depending on the kid, they can play for alittle while if you leave toys in the crib.

amother

Magenta

Tue, Nov 22 2016, 10:05 pm

I worked from home and got the bulk done when the babies napped. Most babies take a long morning nap from around 10:30 -1:00 or even longer. After that morning nap I can't say that a lot got done but I finished up whatever I was doing and by then the older kids were coming home. After bedtime I was back at the computer and did the rest of my work. The truth, my last 2 kids would nap for around 3 hours each morning - even as they got older. But my rule is that as soon as they stop napping, they get sent to playgroup. Usually they are fine at home for the first 2 years. I think you have to feed your baby well, and put him in at the same time time every morning.

sky

Wed, Nov 23 2016, 12:12 am

My 9 month old is still home with me b'h. She is nursing and eating solids.
I work about 7 hours\day + overtime and have other children that come home at different times but are out a solid chunk that give me time to work.
b'h she is a good baby. I find there are harder and easier ages\stages. I found until 6 months she still slept enough that I got solid blocks of time to work. Even now I have her sleeping a lot in the morning and less later in the day when my kids start coming home.
She isn't scheduled but this is an idea of how our day goes:
7:00 - wake, nurse
7:30 - breakfast - baby self feeds cheerios and banana
8:45 - last child leaves to school
8:50 - start work and check e-mails while nursing baby (I'm typing this full speed as I nurse now, you become really good at it)
9:20 - baby goes in for nap.
9:30 - meeting (if baby is up now I just stand through meeting rocking and holding paci in mouth)
11:30 - 12:15 - baby wakes, nurse
Play time. Now she crawls at my feet and plays. Through her stages I've had a swing, jumperoo(you can start at about 4 months), bouncer, walker, and different toys. At 4 months we were doing lots of tummy time with toys. I find if I cycle the toys they are more exciting.
approx 2:15 - second nap - the start time and length of this differs from day to day
etc...

There are definitely easier and hardier periods. I find that when I'm ready to give up things seem to work out. I don't think she gets any less attention than if she was by a babysitter and she definitely gets more love Smile

. I'm not sure how long I can keep it up, its my first time not having a bunch of babies at home, but the longer the better for both of us.

I do agree I have no time for myself. Its get the kids out, work with baby, kids come home, homework, baby, supper, baby, work, baby, bed, baby, sleep, baby, wake... there is no down time.