Any Moms Work at Home without full-time help?

I work at home and have not finalized my childcare situation for when I go back to work. We are planning on having my husband's aunt come over and watch the girls. My preference is to not have her here full-time if I don't have to (I am not super crazy about her) but I don't know what is realistic in terms of still being able to get work done. My job is approximately 40hrs (sometimes more and sometimes less). My job is very flexible in terms of not having to work 8-5, I can work nights and weekends if needed. Any work at home moms out there who do it without childcare help or minimal?

 

I'm looking for something like this and will plan to have help from 11-3 everyday.

What do you do? If you don't mind me asking.

 

It will definitely be hard if you don't have help. When mine were that age it was hard and I didn't work from home. If you can do it, definitely do. You will need the extra hands.

 

QUOTE(girls! @ Feb 5 2008, 10:40 AM) [snapback]606413[/snapback]
I'm looking for something like this and will plan to have help from 11-3 everyday.

What do you do? If you don't mind me asking.



I work as a financial analyst. When I moved out of state my employer allowed me to keep my job and telecommute.

 

You will need help. I was home full time and my husband was trying to work from home (he edits for a sports tv show) and it was AWFUL. I could barely manage the kids so he could work....
Until they are on a schedule and napping for long stretches, I think you will need help. How much depends on you and how many hours you need to work and what happens when your husband comes home.

 

I think you will need help. It all I can do just to take care of them all day. Some days I don't even get a break. I take care of them by myself by the way.

 

QUOTE(ca2pa2005 @ Feb 5 2008, 10:29 AM) [snapback]606393[/snapback]
I work at home and have not finalized my childcare situation for when I go back to work. We are planning on having my husband's aunt come over and watch the girls. My preference is to not have her here full-time if I don't have to (I am not super crazy about her) but I don't know what is realistic in terms of still being able to get work done. My job is approximately 40hrs (sometimes more and sometimes less). My job is very flexible in terms of not having to work 8-5, I can work nights and weekends if needed. Any work at home moms out there who do it without childcare help or minimal?

Hi

I currently do not have help other then my DH. I also work from home about 60-70% of the time and have been back to work for about a month and 1/2 now. I also have the flexibility as you, but I can't do both all day long.

My typical day:
6:00 AM Get up: or stay up if they didn't sleep
7:00 AM Mad dash Shower
7:30 AM Feed the monsters
8:00 am TRY to work
9-5 TRY to work/Entertain the babies/Conferences calls/Bribe the babies not to cry/Bribe the babies to take a nap longer then 10 minutes
5-7PM MELT DOWN TIME FOR BABIES
7:00PM Bath-time
8-10PM Try to get the babies to go to bed
10PM-Midnight: Try to get the babies to go to bed

I realized I need help and the reason, my work is suffering. I don't have enough hours in the day for everything and I am not giving enough attention to anything (babies and work). If the babies are crying or need attention, I can't work, I have to take care of the babies (of course). I work in sales and I can't tell them "Mommy's on a conference call and it doesn't sound professional with babies crying...shhh" because they are babies and babies do what babies want to do.

I realized I am not super mom and I need help, so I hired a part-time nanny. My nanny will work 30 hours a week (M-F) from 10-4pm because I feel that is my "peak" hours and she will be able to help me take care of my little monsters . DH and I converted our basement into a playroom/den where she will be able to take care of them while I work. I will still be at home to help her but I will be able to concentrate on work so Mommy can provide formula for them to eat .

It was tough to admit I needed help and daycare for me was never an option, because I wanted my babies at home.

I've had my mom up here during the week to help out, but to be honest it was hard for me. It started off great, but then she took over (literally on everything). She started telling me how to raise, what I was doing wrong ... and she would interrupt work and want to tell me stuff while I tried to work. So it didn't work out, I think family was hard to work with because it would get personal and we'd go for the jugular when we'd get upset.

Hope this helps

 

I stayed home without working with my girls for nine months and there was not one day that I could imagine also trying to work at the same time. I went back to work last week and thought perhaps I would work from home one day a week and just have the nanny come four days a week. I tried it twice and have already given up. When you're home you want to focus on your kids and work really suffers (the alternative is worse... focus on work and your kids suffer?)

I honestly can not imagine how one person can do two jobs (full time job and full time mom). It takes one nanny or one mom just to care for two kids, and it takes one person to do your job... so the math just doesn't add up to do both, in my opinion. I'm sure there are some superwomen out there who can pull it off, but not me!

That said, if your kids are sleeping through the night and you're getting great sleep perhaps you could cram your job into nap time and evenings while your husband is home? It wouldn't work for me because I have conference calls, but perhaps if you don't need to interact with coworkers during the day.

Good luck!

 

I WAH until the girls were about 10 months old. I started back PT when they were 4 weeks old and FT when they were 6 weeks old. I was at home most of the week and in the office one day or two half-days a week. DH stayed with them while I was in the office, but I was in back to back meetings the whole time I was away from home. I never had any help with the girls when i was working at home. I would work during their naps and after they went down for the night. I also claimed an hour when DH got home as his daddy time and my work time. Then we'd start the bed time routine. I had the option of letting the phone go to voice mail and returning calls during naps. I also put on my VM greeting that email was best, because I could do email or get a little work done while they were swinging or in their bouncies. I also did a weekly conference call with my staff whether the girls were up or not. Eventually, that meeting moved to my house so everyone could cuddle with the babies while we had our meeting and so i had motivation to recover the house at least once a week. I wouldn't say it was perfect by any means, but it was doable for me considering the work I had to get done. When I had to choose between work and girls, the girls won every time . When I had to choose between work and a nap for me or work and cleaning up the house, work won every time . The house suffered, but we all made it through.

Now, however, I have the opportunity to take on a couple of PT gigs working at home and I am seriously considering how much of that pay I could spare for a PT helper. The girls are so all consuming of my attention now that they're walking and running and climbing and eating foods I have to cook or prepare etc etc. At this age, I'm not sure how long I'll be able to hang on without help of some kind.

Best of luck finding a solution that works for you! ~ Laura

 

Yeah, it's tough. I had to go back full time in January, but our daycare couldn't take the kids until Feb, so just for one month, I worked from home 2 days a week. I got next to nothing done. I tried to do work while they napped, but then naps were not always long, and they didn't always sleep at the same time. Then I had to take many breaks for feedings, bottles and solids. I don't think there is anyway I could have done that for any longer than a month. Especially as te babies got older ... they are crawling and climbing, and I have to be watching them, not working on my computer. Plus, they see me sitting their on the laptop and crawl over and try to climb up on me, and cry until I pay attention to them. I just don't know if its a viable long term solution. Once your kids get on a schedule and go to bed early, you may find that you have to work then, and you will never get a break. Good luck!

 

I returned to working when the children were 6 weeks old. I worked M-F 9-5 while also caring for my children. A few afternoons a week I did have some help from 3-5. Hours were not flexible and I had no other options. I did it because there was no other choice. It was not impossible. If you know you have a fall back I would give it a shot without help and then see how things progress. Remember, as with anything it takes some time to work into a routine, the first two weeks were borderline torture for all of us but once we got established it worked. I continued to work full time and care for the children for 4 years after which I enrolled them in preschool that was half days a few days a week (the other times they were with me while I worked until they began going to school full time).

 

I worked at home with my other children, I went back to work after I had Tommy my 2 year old now a week after I had him. I worked 30 hours a week, I did it early in the morning before he woke up and during his naps as he got older I just worked. He was a really good baby. I would work 15-20 hours on the weekend while my husband was home. My hours started to decrease by the end of my pregnancy, which was my choice until my job was outsourced one month before the end of my pregnancy. I tell you what though I do think I would still think I could have done it and I would have kept working if my job wasn't outsourced, so I am soooooo glad my job isn't there anymore cause I really think it would have been hard to work 3 little ones. My husband started his business so he is making up my income and then some. Good luck on whatever you do

 

I have not read the pp, but...

I work from home full time (I license drug information databases, mostly computer and telephone work) and have help Tues, Thurs. Fri. from 9am to 3 pm. I actually find that I get more work done when my help is not here because I use the days she is here to run errands, take a walk, or do something for myself ! It is really difficult to get the work done that I need to and I always feel behind and a little guilty. I also find it VERY difficult to be upstairs i my office when our nanny is here. It is like I have nanny envy and just want to grab my babies out of her arms (even thought they love her to death).

Amy