If there’s one good thing the pandemic gave us, it’s the ability to work from home. GAME CHANGER, right?
Working from home comes with so many perks like comfier clothes, increased flexibility, losing less time to travel/commutes, and being able to spend more time with your kids. Remote work is simply a dream come true for working moms.
But, it’s not all sunshine and roses, of course working from home also comes with a set of challenges.
Sure, you’re probably not getting micromanaged, but you’re also probably setting your own schedule, dealing with at-home interruptions, and more.
This can be ESPECIALLY difficult to juggle when you have a baby.
Working your 9-5 AND caring for your child at the same time? It’s no walk in the park, that’s for sure.
We don’t want it to get too overwhelming for you, so today, we’re sharing practical tips on how to effectively and efficiently work from home with a baby.
14 Tips on How to Work From Home With a Baby
Bookend your day with thinking time.
Thinking time is essential to your daily life, whether you’re running around with kids all day or not. But, when you become a parent, that time to yourself to be quiet and simply think becomes all the more important.
Lauryn likes to start with doing the morning pages every day as her thinking time ritual. All you need is a journal, 5-10 minutes of peace, and a prompt you want to journal about. Then, just brain dump all of your thoughts onto the pages. You’ll finish up feeling more confident about what you need to do that day, and have a clearer head for doing it!.
Sort your work tasks.
If you just dive right into work as soon as you get the opportunity, you may not be as productive as you’d hoped. This is especially true if the task you’re diving into isn’t the most important task of the day, or it’s one that will take more time than what you’ve got allotted in that moment. You may be working throughout the day in only short bursts, so you want to divide up your tasks to be as productive as possible.
Instead of jumping in, take a moment after your thinking time to sort your tasks in your TSC Planner. It’s the perfect place to categorize your responsibilities so you know what needs to get done and when it needs to get done.
Some helpful ways to organize your tasks could be ranking by importance, arranging based on time constraints, or grouping tasks based on their similarity (this is called batching we’ll talk more on that later).
Be flexible.
The truth is, work just isn’t going to look the same as it used to before you had your baby. There will be some days that go great, where you can lean into your productivity; while other days you might struggle to get anything done. As a work-from-home parent, your job is to care for baby first and foremost. The rest, you can figure out in between.
Develop a daily routine.
This advice is more for your time with baby than for your work life: understand the importance of a daily routine. Maintaining a consistent routine with the baby will make life so much easier for both of you. Naps, meals and time together will be way better.
When babies sleep at the same time every day, they typically sleep longer and better, and you can use that time for any phone calls or Zoom meetings you may need to attend. Plus, you’ll know when you’re typically NOT available, and you’ll be able to communicate that to your team.
Need some tips on setting your baby’s sleep routine up? Here’s how to get your baby to sleep with Melissa Brown. HOT TIP: Set up your baby’s sleep environment to filter out unwanted noise by using a white noise machine, like this one by Munchkin.
Split the childcare with your partner.
If both you and your partner work from home, there may be some days where you don’t know how to not kill each other. But, your partner can be an important ally when it comes to working from home with a baby. Ideally, you want to split the work of childcare (and it IS work) equally between you and your partner, but it’s probably going to be more of a give and take.
Open up a shared calendar, get your important meetings in there, and figure out who’s going to be caring for the little one at what times. That way, the work can be more evenly divided, and you’re not stressing out about what you’re going to do 30 minutes before your next meeting.
Switch up your hours.
Your working hours may have originally been 9-5, but that might not work so well anymore. Instead, take a few days to figure out what hours work best with your baby’s current schedule, and schedule your work time around that if it’s possible for you.
Minimize distractions.
You’ve already got a big distraction on your hands, so minimizing any other distractions is CRUCIAL. You’re not always going to be able to predict when the baby wakes up early or needs something unexpectedly, but you CAN do your best to reduce other distractions.
Utilize do not disturb/mute functions on your phone and computer, remove or restrict social media apps from your phone, schedule when you’ll check your emails, and keep your workspace neat and organized. This will help you stay on task when you are finally able to work.
Batch your time.
When working from home with a baby, chances are, you won’t have many long stretches of time where you can focus on your work, uninterrupted. This touch-and-go style of working can be difficult, especially if you’re trying to work on several different projects throughout the day. Instead of spending a little time here on project A, and a little time here on project B, batch your time.
Batching your time basically means you’re going to put all similar tasks together so if you’ve got several things to do for one project, work on them all on the same day. Or, if you have to edit projects A, B, and C, and write for projects C and D, schedule editing for one day and writing for another. This way, you won’t lose as much time getting yourself into the headspace of what you’re working on.
Give your team a heads up.
Your work life is going to look much different than it used to, and your team deserves to know that. Obviously, we want as little disruptions to your working day as possible, but sometimes, it’s just not going to happen. Rather than keeping it all in and dropping the ball, communicate truthfully with your team members so they know when your work will be done.
Foster independent play.
Your baby NEEDS you, there’s no denying this. However, your baby doesn’t need your active involvement every second of the day. In fact, it’s good for your baby to have some “alone time.” Obviously, you want to be within earshot so you can help them if they need it, but there’s nothing wrong with allowing them to play by themselves, develop focus and independence, and begin working on their self-soothing skills.
Of course, you’ll want to have a safe space for them to do this. Invest in a pack-n-play or an infant playpen to ensure your baby can’t get into anything you don’t want them getting into.
Wear your baby.
If you haven’t discovered the magic of baby carriers yet, you need to.
Baby carriers allow you to snuggle with your baby and get all those little loves in, while keeping your hands free so you can get work done. This can be a great way to double up on work and caring for your child.
Lauryn recommends this Ergobaby all-positions carrier for all your babywear needs.
Ask for help from friends and family.
If you’re working from home AND taking care of a baby at the same time? You’ve got a lot going on. You DEFINITELY have grounds to ask for help.
Lean on your family and friends during this time. They say “it takes a village,” and they are absolutely right. When you need help, even if it’s just someone to come watch the baby for a couple hours while you knock some work out, ASK! It’s essential to your mental health that you don’t go it alone.
Find flexible work.
If you’re working a job that requires you to be in and out of conference calls all day long, it’s going to be hard to find any time to parent. Instead of doing full time work, you could consider becoming a freelancer. This can give you the flexibility you need to set your own hours and work around your child’s schedule. Plus, it gives you the option to only take on the work you have time for, so you’ll be less stressed about time overall.
Maximize your weekends.
Maybe you use your weekends to catch up on work, maybe you use them to meal prep so you don’t have to cook during the week, maybe you use them to dive deep into some self care so you’re ready for the week ahead. Whatever you do, just make sure you’re using that time, too. We all love our time on Instagram, but the truth is, endless scrolling is NOT going to prepare you for the week to come.
Now that you’ve got these tips on working from home with a baby, we hope life gets a little easier.
Like we said, working from home with a baby is no small feat but it’s doable. For more baby and pregnancy content, check out this section of the blog.
x, The Skinny Confidential team
+ Check out these tips for female entrepreneurs.
++ 7 books successful people read.
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