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August 2015 Moms
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Anyone work from home?

rcsudsrcsuds member
in August 2015 Moms
I'm 4 weeks pp, and I start back to work at the beginning of October. Actually, it's my first time working from home, so I'm not sure what to expect. Since I have to take calls and type in people's information, I don't think I can breastfeed and do my work at the same time, so I'm trying to figure out how much I should be pumping for a stay at home phone job, or see how other moms have managed it?
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Re: Anyone work from home?

  • Seed0824Seed0824 member
    I worked at home pre-baby and there were times I had to be on the phone for meetings but it wasn't ongoing all day. If the calls happen on and off all day it might be good to have someone there with you the first few days if possible (a friend or relative) because even bottle feeding or diaper changing would be challenging on the phone.
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  • ashmiller001ashmiller001 member
    I wish I could work from home to be with my kiddos! Good luck! I'm sure it'll go better than you think and easier :)
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  • neludeluneludelu member
    I work from home and I'm not allowed to have the baby with me when I am on the clock.
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  • PixelPosyPixelPosy member
    You will want to pump for every bottle feeding. I assume you will take a lunch and get a morning and afternoon break? So you probably could get LO on a schedule to nurse at those times and may be able to avoid the pump all together. Are you allowed to block any of your schedule out to reserve nursing/pumping times? If you're doing the bottle feeding, I'm not sure you're saving yourself any time?

    I work from home a fair bit, but DD1 has always gone to daycare regardless of my work location. I simply don't feel I can care for her and do my full time job in the manner I want to when trying to do both jobs simultaneously. My job is a mix of online meeting facilitation, attending meetings as a participant and quite a bit of heads down work time as well. But even on my no meeting days I still require focus that I can't get while also caring for children. I've made a half days with kids at home work thanks to naps and flexible hours. 

    Every job is different though and I'm sure you'll find your balance. Being able to block time for nursing/feeding will help. Good luck!
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  • rcsudsrcsuds member
    I'm working for Amazon, and get two lunches, as well as two 15 minute breaks. I assume I get a break every two hours essentially,so that's helpful. The only issue with the schedule, is I don't know if I pick when I break, or if it's written in for me.

    I get this month to figure out how I would do this while I'm training, so thank you for the help! Technically, they said no distractions, but we can't afford daycare, and I want getting enough hours at my other job, so I'm hoping that we can make this work. ..
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  • tylerytylery member
    I don't know what your job entails, but if you plan on pumping, there's those hands free bandeaus that you can use to keep your hands free and still get the pumping done! :) i used that on days I had to do work on the computer, and it was helpful
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  • JNOVA2015JNOVA2015 member
    edited September 2015
    rcsuds said:

    I'm working for Amazon, and get two lunches, as well as two 15 minute breaks. I assume I get a break every two hours essentially,so that's helpful. The only issue with the schedule, is I don't know if I pick when I break, or if it's written in for me.

    I get this month to figure out how I would do this while I'm training, so thank you for the help! Technically, they said no distractions, but we can't afford daycare, and I want getting enough hours at my other job, so I'm hoping that we can make this work. ..

    Honestly, I think it will be hard to care for an infant and do a customer service type job without any help watching the baby. This is even assuming Amazon would allow it, which I doubt. Even when they aren't eating, babies need almost constant supervision and attention - much more than you could give in two 30 minutes lunches and two 15 minute breaks. Even if you get to pick when to take your breaks, that isn't enough time to care for a baby who can't self-entertain and isn't in school. You can't just hope the baby will nap when you need to be working.

    When I think about our days home so far, caring for LO is basically a full time job. I had to log on one day to send some info to a colleague about a matter I was working on before I went on leave, and it was a day that DS was fussy and it was really difficult just to log in and send a few emails while he was screaming. No way I could have been on the phone.

    Do you have any other option for child care while you're working? I don't know anyone who works from home and has sole responsibility for a baby at the same time - everyone I know who works from home has a sitter or nanny during the hours that they're working.
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  • WeringWering member
    When I work from home, I am not allowed to have my daughters with me. They are expected to be cared for in a separate spot (meaning elsewhere in my house than my office, a daycare center, or someone else's home). I will confess that when my daughter is sick, I keep her home with me and I work AROUND her - meaning my 8 hour day can sometimes be a 15 hour day from start to finish because of my starts and stops. You should definitely clarify if you are allowed to take care of you child on the clock; I'd be surprised if your company was comfortable with this.
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  • tfdotgovtfdotgov member
    I worked from home for a couple of months before my daughter arrived to make the transition to working from home easier. I fortunately don't take calls, I just manage incoming money and do some billing. I love that my job allows me to care for my daughter.
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  • rcsudsrcsuds member
    I don't really have options for help, except that my husband will get home in the middle of my shifts, and I won't start work until the middle of his. When I spoke to my interviewer, I told him I was having a baby and asked if it would be a problem to have her in the room with me while I'm working and he said no. Their policy is somewhat vague about it as well.
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  • JNOVA2015JNOVA2015 member
    If I were you I'd be working on a contingency and not assuming that this will work out. I just think it will be really hard to do a job that requires you to be on the phone all day while simultaneously caring for an infant.
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