It’s true that working outside an office allows you to spend more time with your loved ones; but how can you manage two different roles at the same time? If you’re a Mom working from home with an infant, we’ve got suggestions to help you to succeed in this mission!
Common Challenges for Parents Working from Home
Your routine might be unstable
Let’s face it: children are full of surprises. All can be good in one second, and they might find themselves crying scared in the next.
They might get hungry at the most inconvenient of times.
They might feel bored with the toy they’ve been playing with.
It’s just part of life! So figuring out strategies to entertain your child is definitely worth it.
You have to have a plan B, C, D (and the alphabet goes on!)
As we’ll see throughout this list, planning your day is essential to get a little peaceful and productive moments while working from home.
You might come up with a whole plan to keep your child busy and make the most of your “free” time without the baby; and then everything goes down the drain.
Be prepared for unpredicted eventualities and have backup plans to refer to if your original intentions didn’t go as expected.
Not much silence around the house
This is especially challenging if you hop on calls during the day and have to connect with other people in meetings.
Your background noise can be a mix of baby TV programs or musical toys that help your Little One get distracted. Yep, that happens to us all!
You have to do a lot at once
Yes, multitasking might be a reality when you’re working from home with children.
You may find yourself typing and putting a presentation together while using a baby carrier or during a milk pump session.
Tips for Working From Home With Infant
OK, so let’s be honest. Keeping your productivity and normal routine while having an infant as a sort of coworker can be challenging.
Accepting this fact is the first step to coming up with solutions.
Share the situation with your leadership
After covid, so many companies and employees had to learn how to manage their lives away from the office.
So chances are that your boss already has experience managing people working remotely and won’t be surprised with the conflicts it brings!
Let your manager know that you have an infant at home and that you’re willing to make adaptations to accommodate your new routine with the work you have to get done.
As you try to settle everything in, have honest conversations with the leadership on challenges you’ve been having and ask them if there are adaptations they’d be willing to do to help you.
This could mean changing your meeting block hours, adapting your deadlines for a little after work hours, or whatever fits into your specific needs at that time.
Have a specific work setting
Preferably, a separate space in the house where you can immerse yourself in work in specific focused moments.
Younger children, such as infants, might struggle with recognizing the difference between spaces in the house. But as they grow and develop, having a specific office space allows you to teach them that they’re not allowed in your office while you’re working.
Or, if you don’t want to be too strict as to not allow them in, you two can come up agreements on how the child should approach you while working (knocking on the door, asking if they can come in, recognizing the signals when you ask them to come back later etc.).
Map and analyze what a typical day looks like
Before adapting your work routine to life with an infant, do a little scrutiny on how most of your days look like.
Map out the times of the day your baby sleeps and for how long. Take notes on when they’re hungry and how many times a day. Observe what types of toys they’re more interested in. Play different music (suited for infants, of course) and see which one gets them calmer.
All these observations will be helpful so you can move over to the next step.
Create work schedules adapted to your usual routine
After you’ve mapped your routine with an infant, you can create your work schedule accordingly.
Try to have meetings or deeply focused immersions during your Little One’s naptime.
Accommodate more operational work (that requires attention, but you’re not fully absorbed on) when they’re awake, but distracted with toys or music.
Invest in helpful equipment
This means investing in objects that are ultimately helpful for your work hours, but are also useful for the baby.
If you have people at home helping to watch for the baby, consider noise canceling headphones. Naturally, refrain from using them if you’re home alone with the Little One because you need to listen if they are crying and need you around.
Consider other investments like baby carriers, bouncers or bassinets to keep your Little One around while you’re working and they need your presence.
All should be age appropriate, naturally.
Be kind to yourself
It’s ok to be tired, to have bad days, to have to reschedule everything you had anticipated. You won’t do yourself any favor by blaming yourself for not accomplishing your daily goals.
Go back to them the next day after you’ve decompressed.
Ask for help
If the load of working and taking care of the baby simultaneously gets too heavy, consider hiring a nanny a few times a week, or specific dates when you have to be fully invested in work.
You can also have family or trustful friends around – which is also great because it helps your infant getting accustomed to different people around.
Consider daycare
Enrolling your children in daycare is a valid strategy when you’re in need of some quiet time working from home. At AEA, we have Little Explorers as young as 6 weeks old!
Children in daycare not only grant you a likely more productive day at work, but also help the infant with their social and cognitive skills.
You now have a hands-on guide for working from home with an infant. Take it to make the best of your time and adjust your routine!
Feel like knowing more about the benefits of children in daycare? Here’s our list of how to prepare your Little One for the first day at daycare!
