If you are a parent that had the opportunity to work from home, or instead of taking full leave you’ve decided to work from home, you might be finding it a little difficult. Managing taking care of your baby, doing work, and looking after yourself can seem overwhelming.
Whatever the reason is for you working at home and taking care of your baby, there has to be a way for you to do both effectively. Well, there are a few things you can try to do to make working from home with a baby a little easier for you.
It is important to remember that these tips can help you but you might have days where things don’t go as planned. This is completely normal when you are juggling so much at once.
So to make things easier when working from home with a baby, here are some tips and tricks you can try.
Work When They Sleep
You might have heard people being told to sleep when their babies sleep. Well, this is great advice if you don’t have to do work at the same time. So instead, work when your baby is asleep.
Babies take multiple naps a day, a few of them might be quite long. This is when you should try and do your main bits of work. You’ll hopefully be interrupted for a short period of time, enough to make a start.
Don’t Be Too Hard On Yourself
Working from home with a baby is hard. Don’t punish yourself for not being able to do as much as you had originally planned. Instead, be prepared to have setbacks in your work. It is normal that you might not complete every task, you have a lot on your plate.
It might seem really difficult to do but try and focus on the achievements that you have. Also, try and find things you can leave for another day. Don’t take on too many tasks at once. Even if it doesn’t feel like it, you are doing the best you can.
Have Your Partner Help
If your partner is also working from home, try and share the responsibilities. When your baby wakes up, take it in turns to watch them. That way one of you is able to get some work done undisturbed, whilst the other looks after the baby.
Switch up feeding the baby for the same reasons. You might find you get more work done, by looking after the baby in shifts.
Talk To Your Colleagues
If you are feeling overwhelmed and stressed then it might be a good idea to let your colleagues know. Talk about your situation with your work and keep them updated on how you are finding it.
This could result in them giving you less work to do whilst you find your feet. Be honest about how you are feeling and how much work you can do. This will help reduce your stress as you are not bottling up your feelings.
Work When The Baby Is Calm
Sometimes you might need to take advantage of working when your baby is awake. The best time to attempt this is when they are calm. Babies are usually their calmest when they have just had some food or right after sleeping.
If your baby is awake but settled, keep working.
Wear Your Baby
This might seem a little strange, especially if you want to be productive at work. However, if you are working from home with a newborn baby, they oftentimes like to be near you.
To keep them settled for long periods of time, it might be best to wear them in a sling.
This way you can work and they can feel safe and secure.
Use A Playpen
If you have an older baby, you might want to get a playpen. This will help to keep your baby contained when they are awake. You can do work without having to worry about stopping your baby from crawling everywhere.
To make full use of the playpen, put some of their toys in it and allow them to explore.
For younger babies, you could put them on a playmat or baby gym in the playpen. This should keep them entertained if they don’t want to go to sleep.
Dress In Work Clothes
Another seemingly strange tip is to dress in your work clothes, or at least the comfortable work clothes you own. Although you might be thinking of the mess your clothes will get on them, dressing in your work clothes could help you to be more productive.
Don’t worry if you don’t feel like doing this every day. Maybe stick to the days where you need that extra bit of motivation.
Make A Realistic Plan
If you have a bunch of things that need to be done, then making a plan can help keep you focused and make it less stressful for you. Although, make sure this is a realistic plan. Set small goals so you don’t feel demotivated if you can’t get everything done.
Get Rid Of Other Distractions
We all know how tempting it is to quickly hop on social media. However, when you have so much to do, this can make you feel overwhelmed later.
Try to delete your social media apps and limit the amount of time you can be on your phone leisurely. This will help to keep you on track as there are fewer distractions to make you fall behind.
Take A Break
The best advice we can give you is to take a break. When working from home with a baby you need to look after yourself. So take a break when you need to. Spend some time bonding with your baby. It is important you get time to enjoy being a parent.
Final Thoughts
We totally understand how working from home with a baby is stressful. Hopefully, these tips will help you find working from home with your baby a little easier.
The most important thing to remember is that you are doing your best. Try not to focus on what you didn’t get done, but rather focus on what you did. Also, take the time to enjoy being at home with your baby.
There might be days where you only get a little bit of work done, and this is completely fine. Prioritize what you need to do and find moments to enjoy being at home with your baby.
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