Ideas for helping me manage working from home

[Coco Bean]

Hi all,

My dd is 4 months old and due to financial circumstances I had to return to work - I've managed to swing it so that I can work 2 days in the city and the rest of the week 3 hours per day from home. Sounds really doable right, at least that's what I thought - this is my 2nd week back and I'm finding it such a struggle :banghead: as dd always wants to sleep in my arms and not in her cot and obviously the ideal time to get work done is when she's sleeping.:sleeping:

I was thinking about getting a sling thing to put her in so she can sleep close to me but freeing my hands up to type? Has anyone else had this type of problem??

Look forward to hearing any suggestions!:confused:

[Kooy]

Hi Coco Bean!

When DS was approx 5 months old I started doing some basic work from home for my old employer and it equated to about 15 hours per week.
I found it to be a real struggle most days and my anxiety in turn made DS's sleep habits change... arghhh! So I know exactly where you are coming from.

Do you need to do the work during business hours..? I found that I would get about three hours done uninterrupted from 6-9 in the evening. DH would bath and put DS in bed etc so I could concentrate. Is this an option for you?

If not, I'd try the sling thing.. maybe walk around until bubs is asleep and then get into it...? Or does she sleep in a rocker? Maybe you could try one of those "white noise" CD's. Apparantly they are really good. Have the sound of heartbeats etc for bubs who like to be held...

Hope something in this babble helps you! :ecomcity: Good Luck!

[creativewarrior]

i work from home too and found that your better off planning easy things to do during the day - mindless work tasks that you dont have to think about too much - so if you get dragged away by bubs its not a big or stressful issue. you dont have to start the whole thought process over again and you can quickly pick up from where you left off.

then get a few hours done in the evening when bubs is asleep or hubby takes over. if youve got the luxury of a laptop sitting in front of the tv doing work is a very pleasant way to earn those hard earned dollars :D

[clairelocal]

i have never had the problem of holding sleeping babies as ds, from day 1 never liked to be held and certainly under no circumstances would be held in a lying position! he would only sleep on his own on the lounge or cot etc.
Anway, you should think about trying to wean bub off you and into the bed because at the moment whilst your ds is only a tiny little 4mth old, she isnt heavy and arkward to hold, but before you know it she will be 1 and still sleeping in your arms!! its just how it works, because time goes so quickly. This will be soooooo much harder to control at that age than it will now. A 4mth old doesnt have a very long memory span so it would take only around a wk to get her used to going in her own bed to sleep, itll be a hell of a week but 1 wk of war is better than a yr (or more) of even worse problems. This will also cause problems later as a toddler when she needs to sleep in a bed and can freely get up and down and she pleases.

Hope this helps a little.

Luv claire

[Coco Bean]

Thanks for all your suggestions - I have trialled working a few hours in the evening and i'm finding it much more achievable when she's not sleeping properly during the day. Hubby is unable to help much as he gets home from work at 7.30pm but she's well and truly asleep by then, so that's ok.:D

I suspect her 'unsettledness' during the day is stemming from a) mum's anxiety at returning to work and :eek: b) the stress of starting 2 days a week at daycare.

Since posting my original question, I've started to get my head back into the whole work scene and am finding myself more relaxed about achieving my work goals - reducing the anxiety levels.

The daycare issue will be ongoing for a while until she's used to the situation and starts to settle better into this routine.

Re the sleeping in the cot, no problems there - it's just that when she's unsettled she tends to wake up after 1/2 hour instead of sleeping for the 2 hours straight that she was doing prior to returning to work - hence why I thought I could go back to work in the first place. Certainly will keep trying to get her to remain settled in her cot rather than taking on sleeping in my arms as I don't want more problems later on!!

:) Thanks again for your suggestions - muchly appreciated!!