Anyone work from home and take care of LO?

Icarriedawatermelon · June 2014

Does anyone work from home and take care of LO by yourself while doing so? My husband is fortunate to work from home and is trying to convince me that he could watch LO when I return to work. She will be 10 months old. His job is not a normal 9-5 kind of thing. He works all hours, weekends, is never truly "off." So he thinks he'd be able to do what he can during the day and make up his work once I'm home. Our plan has always been daycare, but the idea of LO being able to stay home with daddy and all the money we'd save is really appealing to me. Does anyone have any experience with this?

Jalee85 · June 2014

I didn't end up getting the job, but that was my plan. As long as his hours aren't fixed. I don't think it would be an issue.

LC122 · June 2014

I would try a practice run of this plan before you give up a daycare slot, if that is your situation. Let him see what a time commitment it would be for him and how that would affect his productivity.

Also consider that if he needs to get work done when you get home, you may be working all day and then taking over childcare with no help and it may leave no room for "couple" time once LO is asleep and DH has to get work done.

[Deleted User] · June 2014

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vargasgurl · June 2014

I tried to do some work w DD in the house and it was difficult. I found myself stopping and starting my project which set me back , because it was trying to take care of her.

Icarriedawatermelon · June 2014

Thanks for the input ladies. I'm nervous about all of the things you all mentioned. A trial run is a good idea. Thanks!

RedZee · June 2014

With DD1 I was job hunting for an academic job which required a lot of writing. With DD2 I started out working from home with hey home and a babysitter but did bunch of days on my own.

I think he'd have to expect that he would mostly not be working during the day. You can get some time over breakfast if you let your kid watch tv and eat cheerios for a while. You can also keep having them take long afternoon naps. But really, you're only getting 4 hours in that time and only 2are truly undisturbed. You might get another hour our so if you can have a really childproof area for the baby to play. If he has a job that includes phone meetings it's very hard. By 10 months you really have to stimulate a baby and at the least watch carefully. So if he plans to have at least a few hours each day where he's playing with the baby and going outside it might work. But it will be tough for you guys in terms of making up hours and stuff.

ashleymarie512 · June 2014

I work from home one day per week and keep LO home with me when I do. Now that she's more into entertaining herself, it's easier than it was when she wanted to be held all the time. I work my tail off when she's napping and then have a little more time to spend with her when she's up and wanting some attention. Since it's only one day per week, it's doable. If I worked full time from home, I wouldn't probably be able to keep her home full time.

kimbo1216 · June 2014

I WAH and have both DD2, and DD1, our 3yo. DD2 will be starting MDO next fall and I can't wait. My work hours are really flexible and actual time spent would be considered part time. But it's still so hard some days.

My advice would be to see about putting her in part time. That way she's getting some attention and stimulation and social interaction while still getting all that quality time with dad.

Sometimes I wish we'd budget in part time dc, but we are too cheap and/or have other monetary priorities. MDO will be our compromise. Eventually I'd like to get DD2 in something as well.

egsquared · June 2014

I'm just going to be starting a part-time WAH position next week. My hours will be somewhat flexible, but there will be times when I need to take/make calls and can't be interrupted. We are hiring a sitter for about half of the hours I will work, and I hope to do the other half after the kids go to bed or while DS naps and DD watches a show or two. This way, we feel we'll be at least saving some money on child care.

Before DS was born, I had a full-time work from home job, and DD went to daycare. There was no way I could work and take care of her - too many work calls and scheduled meetings (conference calls). I couldn't guarantee that she would be napping or quiet, so she had to go to daycare.

tencheer · June 2014

I do. It is getting increasingly difficult as he is more active. My job sounds similar to what you describe his as but waiting for DH to get home to accomplish a lot is rough and eats into our time. We are starting MDO in September and are looking for a mothers helper/ part time nanny now to help.

hlb622 · June 2014

I worked from home on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons until Emerson was 6 months old. I tried to be productive, but it was really difficult. And while I'm salaried, they treat me as though I'm hourly. In other words, I get the work done but if I don't clock the hours, I have to use PTO.

I agree with PPs, it can be done, but I would also recommend a trial run. You'd be surprised how hard it is in reality. Especially long term. And especially full time. I only WAH 8 hours/week and I ended up catching up after DH got home. I couldn't wait to be back in the office full time and feel 100% productive again. I miss LO, but mama needs to bring home the bacoooon.

deedee1017 · June 2014

I don't work at home, but I hope you consider things from your LO's perspective. Not only will your husband have to be able to take care of LO, but dd should also receive stimulation and attention.

I dreaded daycare, but honestly, I see a big difference in DD.

spanx21 · June 2014

I work from home 20 hours a week while keeping LO. He takes at least 2 two hour naps and that's when I get my work done. And if for some reason he wakes early from a nap I just finish my work once DH gets home. If you can make it work that would be awesome! At least give it a whirl

good luck!

Icarriedawatermelon · June 2014

@wedding06‌ I was wondering the same thing.

Herefishy87 · June 2014

@wedding06‌

I googled it, pretty sure it's Mother's Day out.... Maybe??

germanpickle · June 2014

I do not experience with this; however, our neighbors tried it for 6 months. From their experience it did work, as long as the parents rarely planned anything with each other or alone in the evening. Basically, mom would get up, go to work, dad would care for the kid and "work" but not get enough done. Mom would come home from work and take over the kid, dad worked, mom and dad did bedtime together and then either dad worked more and mom crashed OR dad crashed and mom did housework.

tencheer · June 2014

Sorry. MDO is Mother's Day out.

NatesCupcake47 · June 2014

For DD's first 5 months I brought her to work with me one day a week. It was super hard to get anything done. We then switched to me working from home one day a week and MIL came over to watch her while I worked (MIL has a vision issue and can't watch DD without someone there) and that was a lot better. There were a couple days MIL wasn't able to help and I got virtually no work done those days, it was just too hard. But if your DH's employer is all right with him doing his work at off hours I could see how it would work, though it may be stressful for DH. For me I felt like a bad mom when I was trying to take care of DD and work because I wanted to give my all to work, and trying to balance that with DD was just too hard.

Now, we got so busy for the summer season that I had to find daycare for that day so I could be at work so we're not doing the work from home thing anymore.

Icarriedawatermelon · June 2014

Thanks for the input everyone. I value everyone's different perspectives. I do think a trial run is a great idea. Thanks again!

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