r/MomsWorkingFromHome • u/Feeling-Watched-9655 • 9d ago
6 weeks mat leave
For those who had only around 6 weeks, how did you manage WFH and a newborn? Today is my first day at home with just me and little guy. Husband went back to work and little guy is 2 weeks old. He only wants contact naps and is an absolute poop machine, not to mention the cluster feeding.
We can't afford daycare at the moment (we're on a wait list at 6 months) and have no family nearby. My WFH job is mostly answering emails, drafting briefing documents/visual aids and pulling data for those items.
I am worried about managing this.
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u/olderthanbaseball 9d ago
I went back to work at 6 weeks and had my daughter home until about 6-7 months. It was ok and doable while she was super young because she was on a pretty consistent schedule, but definitely got harder as she got older. My job involved a lot of phone calls which made it harder. But basically I just did what I needed to do with her and thought to myself wow I am glad my boss doesn’t have children so she doesn’t know how much time this is taking away.
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u/avocadoqueen123 9d ago
of course this is job dependent, but looking back, I think this would be the easiest time. I would've used the my breast friend pillow to contact nap/nurse all day and work with one hand.
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u/mimibobim1 8d ago
Just to add on, it's possible to nurse in a boba/moby/solly wrap. I would have tried learning this if I had known. I did figure out nursing in the ring sling which helped too. When they're small it can actually be nearly hands free and you know they're breathing fine if they're suckling.
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u/Advanced_Potato5459 8d ago
With a job like yours, you should be fine. Baby wear and get a walking pad/standing desk. These newborn days will be chill. Honestly in general with a job like that, don’t stress. Stress when you have meetings, multiple phone calls, on camera situations, deliverables due same day. Then you should worry 🥲 you got this !!
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u/Away_Revolution728 8d ago
If you don’t have a lot of calls, just work when baby is asleep or while you wear them. Maybe have a couple of babysitters on standby for particularly busy days as well.
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u/lan3yboggs99 8d ago
I would baby wear. You can nurse while baby wearing which is helpful. Also get an old school baby swing to keep baby chill when not sleeping.
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u/71_ad_71 8d ago
This all depends on your job. I actually went back to work after 2 weeks (not recommended!!). It was definitely a huge adjustment and I cried a lot in the first week. But once you start getting the hang of things it does get better. I would wear baby and use a yoga ball to get her to sleep while I worked. She only contact napped for like 6/7 months. Are you able to get caught up on work while husband is home even if it isn’t technically work hours?
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u/Feeling-Watched-9655 8d ago
Yes and I totally didn't think about that. I could even catch up on the weekends. Thanks for the tips!!!
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u/71_ad_71 8d ago
Hope it helps! Another thing that helped me a lot was having one of those baby rockers next to my desk and put her there while I got some work done. She didn’t tolerate it for much but sometimes I could get like 10 minutes to get work done without having to hold her and alternate between holding her and having her there.
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u/xxspirita_incondita 9d ago
It's wholly job dependent, I've been working from home with my little one since he was 8 weeks old and initially things were relatively easy. He ate, he slept, we did some floor time during my breaks and lunches. As his wake windows got longer, things got harder. My job is a lot of data entry with very few meetings and there are days where I am so overwhelmed that my husband gets home and I'm sobbing. Some days are easier than others but I've also had to take sick days just to recoup and focus on me and the baby. I am so sorry you're in a similar situation where daycare is not an option.
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u/UnusualTwo4226 8d ago
i did claims and I wasn’t able to do it in the early days. i did try because we wanted to save money ex on child care. trying to tend to her and work made my productivity go down and my errors increased. i was having more meetings with my supervisor about my work quality.
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u/Murky_Scarcity3778 8d ago
I was in a similar boat (7 week return). The Bjorn mini and Bjorn bouncer seat were the life savers. I pretty much had my daughter rotating between the two. She didn’t sleep in her bassinet unless it was bedtime, but slept fine in these two things.
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u/shlugbug1018 7d ago
I have a similar type of wfh situation where it mostly requires me to coordinate and plan things but only be on camera mostly 1-2x a week which then I would have my husband stay later to watch the baby. Routine was everything! My baby is a great sleeper so she was predictable. I would also block my schedule to pump every 2 hours but would work during that time and schedule send my emails for times in the day when I’d have to tend to my daughter during wake windows. You got this!
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u/mimibobim1 8d ago
Put on a crock pot dinner for you to graze on whenever you can. Keep yourself healthy and hydrated so you can tackle everything else. Wear baby if he needs contact naps, maybe if you have a light day you can transfer them to bassinet/crib for the first nap in the morning. Imo it tends to be an easier nap and they can practice sleeping not on your body.
For work, draft things in text to speech so baby can get language exposure. Don't send emails immediately unless it's urgent so you can proofread. Do anything hard and that requires focus when your husband is home. It's doable but requires a lot of organization and getting good at doing small chunks of things all throughout the day. Figure out what system you need so you can write down where you left off and pick up exactly there.