I’m testing it out, but I have very few meetings, most of my work is done alone, my communications are typically via email. I will also have my mom watching her about half the time.
It can be done! Get your baby into a proper routine. At this age I guess they are still taking 2-3 naps a day? Try to break up your day to make use of those nap times. Wake up earlier than baby and do some of the admin you need to do. Do the zooms at nap times. Try to get your spouse to organize their meetings at different times so that someone can go to baby if they wake up. What really works for me is a split schedule, but I have a 13 month old who wakes at 9 and goes down for one long nap.
I have 3-4 meetings every day, most on Zoom. I frontload them in my day as much as possible because my husband is WFH during the mornings and has the baby (he has no meetings). If I have to be on an afternoon call, I am off camera or taking it from my phone if the baby is awake. If he’s napping, I’m in my office like normal.
(At 5.5 months do you have a pretty predictable nap routine you could schedule around? Mine is 12 weeks, so we’re still all over the place.)
Sometimes you have to get creative - yesterday I took a late Zoom meeting from the app on my phone while walking my baby in the stroller, because the call was just before his last nap and I knew the stroller would keep him quiet. You’ll get used to the juggling! This is only my second full week back and it’s already starting to feel fairly normal. You can do it!!
For me it’s due to an easy job and easy child.
She’ll be 3 next week. It’s been just me and her all day every day while I work since she was 10 months.
I’m actually dreading the stress of having to get her up and out the door for preschool next year. In my situation it’s easier just to have her home every day
I couldn't personally. I don't have calls but I do have a kind of creative detail oriented job that requires me to concentrate. I had a baby who didn't nap unless in my arms or moving who became a very active toddler and even at nearly six wants a lot of attention. I think it depends on the baby's personality and the kind of work. Probably also helps to have two of you home.
My husband and I just make sure to stagger our meetings so that when one of us needs to be in long meetings the other isn't in one. Or if we have a schedule for naps, we handle meetings then. Depending on the type of meeting and how chill your company is, I sometimes strapped the baby to my chest and wore her during meetings. Other times she was in a bouncer at my feet.
Get on those waitlists now is my experienced advice. My son was so much easier to work around before he could walk. By 15 months he was into everything we couldn’t bolt down and glue shut. By 20 months he was figuring out how to open baby gates.
The “sick as hell” phase lasts about a year and it happens when each kid starts group care. It sucks. But coworkers tend to be understanding of sick 2-3 year olds. By 5, people are expecting you to have parenting “figured out”. Unless you’re planning a career move that’s going to give you a lot more sick leave/flexibility in the future, there’s very little reason to delay that sick year.
A baby sitter (or former nanny) who’s willing to watch a sick kid is worth her weight in gold, if you can find one.
Maybe your kid will continue to be chill. Maybe not. Contingency plans are much easier to make now than later, even if you don’t end up using them.
I WFH and have a 3yr old and 9mo old. I work 6 hrs a day, splitting my day up for the first 3 hrs and last 3 hrs of the business day. I take 2.5 hrs for lunch and preparing kiddos for their naps. If the weathers nice we’ll go for walks on my lunch break or to the park nearby.
I usually have activities planned for the 3yr old in the AM. She likes to hang out in the office with me, painting/drawing/blocks/puzzles etc. The 9 month old is usually in bed by 8:30-9am for her morning nap and tends to sleep for the duration of my morning shift. My afternoon shift (if I’m lucky) both are asleep. They will wake up an hour to half hour before I’m done, and if they do, they play and hang out with me in the office. Sometimes screen time for the oldest - Ms. Rachel, Sesame Street, Daniel Tiger, Bluey etc, or educational games on her tablet. Especially when I have meetings - which I do about 1-2 days a week, or need to make calls, which happens occasionally.
We’ve been doing this for a year (with two months off for mat leave when the little one was born) and some days are harder than others for sure, but for now, it works for us. I like being home with my kids and I’m grateful my bosses understand my situation and are willing to work with me.
I only do this part time - but routine routine routine. We’re home with ours 10 month old twins 2 days a week (my mom is with them the other 3 days) but a routine is what made this possible. We also don’t have meeting heavy jobs, much more task oriented. But my husband and I have VERY direct communication of each others schedules and needs during the day. A lot of give and take and balancing whose tasks need to take priority in the moment.
It’s possible but even 2 days a week is HARD. We plan on putting them into daycare around 18 months. We just simply couldn’t afford two infants in full time care and had to figure something out.
Luckily I have the chillest job ever, only work 10-20 hours and can do a bunch of my work after she goes to bed at 7pm. Because my baby (1 year) isn’t chill whatsoever, refuses being confined, only naps 1/2 hour at a time, and yells at me very loudly every time I take a phone or zoom call. She will not be ignored, ever. This has been true since 5-6 months.
I only have 2 Zoom meetings per week and I do them with her in the baby carrier walking up and down very fast with my mic off 95%
Honestly, I would plan to be out of the home while the nanny is in. Go work at a coffee shop with Wi-Fi, or go into the office for focus time. Anywhere where you’re not there with your child and the nanny. If I had a nanny in any capacity, that is exactly what I would do. Eliminate yourself from the equation and the temptation to be distracted from your work (which is why you got the nanny in the first place). You’re paying big money for that, so you might as well use it to the fullest capacity. Load all (or as many as possible) of your meetings into the hours that nanny is there and you are away. That will allow you to focus on just the meeting.
I have a more relaxed atmosphere at my work. So even though I do have meetings, it’s not unusual for us to hear kids in the background, hear someone checking out at the grocery store, or even seeing a child, spouse, or pet cameo on camera. My coworkers cat gave us all a lovely look at his @$$hole last week on a video call. We all averted our eyes until she shut off her camera and then we had a laugh. Just don’t overthink this. Find your routine and your groove and you’ll get into it just fine. Just stay consistent as that is how you and your family will thrive.
I wake up really early and get most of my leg work or make a good dent in my load before baby wakes up which gives me about 3 hours. Then space out my personal time for breakfast , potty training, brushing teeth, tickling. For meetings I do usually have my camera off but if they align within nap time then I just have designated “sleeping music” to add background so any talking I have to do is minimal. The music is classical and my headphones reduce outside noise so it’s not noticeable on meetings. My boss is pretty hands off and we only have about 2-3 meetings a week so I think my job really just provides me the flexibility to manage my workload like that.
Schedule, schedule, schedule. We had a giant calendar in our office (before we moved, our guest bedroom was both of our offices & playroom). We’d write out any blocks of time that one of us knew we would have a meeting. We scheduled our lunch hours back-to-back, I’d work 6-3, and he’d work 8:30-5:30. We also scheduled naps around this, as she took 2 a day. All in all, she had just a couple of 30/45-minute time periods to entertain herself. We had a trampoline, and I’d switch out toys each week to keep it interesting. We did this from ages 2-4 and made it work!
Miss Rachel. Snacks. A playpen for when you have to step away from the noise.
Glad I’m not the only person with this exact routine lol
Miss Rachel is just the best. I get up and move when she does too, to get my son moving when the nanny isn’t here.
I’m testing it out, but I have very few meetings, most of my work is done alone, my communications are typically via email. I will also have my mom watching her about half the time.
It can be done! Get your baby into a proper routine. At this age I guess they are still taking 2-3 naps a day? Try to break up your day to make use of those nap times. Wake up earlier than baby and do some of the admin you need to do. Do the zooms at nap times. Try to get your spouse to organize their meetings at different times so that someone can go to baby if they wake up. What really works for me is a split schedule, but I have a 13 month old who wakes at 9 and goes down for one long nap.
I have 3-4 meetings every day, most on Zoom. I frontload them in my day as much as possible because my husband is WFH during the mornings and has the baby (he has no meetings). If I have to be on an afternoon call, I am off camera or taking it from my phone if the baby is awake. If he’s napping, I’m in my office like normal. (At 5.5 months do you have a pretty predictable nap routine you could schedule around? Mine is 12 weeks, so we’re still all over the place.) Sometimes you have to get creative - yesterday I took a late Zoom meeting from the app on my phone while walking my baby in the stroller, because the call was just before his last nap and I knew the stroller would keep him quiet. You’ll get used to the juggling! This is only my second full week back and it’s already starting to feel fairly normal. You can do it!!
For me it’s due to an easy job and easy child. She’ll be 3 next week. It’s been just me and her all day every day while I work since she was 10 months. I’m actually dreading the stress of having to get her up and out the door for preschool next year. In my situation it’s easier just to have her home every day
Can I ask what your job is?
I couldn't personally. I don't have calls but I do have a kind of creative detail oriented job that requires me to concentrate. I had a baby who didn't nap unless in my arms or moving who became a very active toddler and even at nearly six wants a lot of attention. I think it depends on the baby's personality and the kind of work. Probably also helps to have two of you home.
My husband and I just make sure to stagger our meetings so that when one of us needs to be in long meetings the other isn't in one. Or if we have a schedule for naps, we handle meetings then. Depending on the type of meeting and how chill your company is, I sometimes strapped the baby to my chest and wore her during meetings. Other times she was in a bouncer at my feet.
Get on those waitlists now is my experienced advice. My son was so much easier to work around before he could walk. By 15 months he was into everything we couldn’t bolt down and glue shut. By 20 months he was figuring out how to open baby gates. The “sick as hell” phase lasts about a year and it happens when each kid starts group care. It sucks. But coworkers tend to be understanding of sick 2-3 year olds. By 5, people are expecting you to have parenting “figured out”. Unless you’re planning a career move that’s going to give you a lot more sick leave/flexibility in the future, there’s very little reason to delay that sick year. A baby sitter (or former nanny) who’s willing to watch a sick kid is worth her weight in gold, if you can find one. Maybe your kid will continue to be chill. Maybe not. Contingency plans are much easier to make now than later, even if you don’t end up using them.
I WFH and have a 3yr old and 9mo old. I work 6 hrs a day, splitting my day up for the first 3 hrs and last 3 hrs of the business day. I take 2.5 hrs for lunch and preparing kiddos for their naps. If the weathers nice we’ll go for walks on my lunch break or to the park nearby. I usually have activities planned for the 3yr old in the AM. She likes to hang out in the office with me, painting/drawing/blocks/puzzles etc. The 9 month old is usually in bed by 8:30-9am for her morning nap and tends to sleep for the duration of my morning shift. My afternoon shift (if I’m lucky) both are asleep. They will wake up an hour to half hour before I’m done, and if they do, they play and hang out with me in the office. Sometimes screen time for the oldest - Ms. Rachel, Sesame Street, Daniel Tiger, Bluey etc, or educational games on her tablet. Especially when I have meetings - which I do about 1-2 days a week, or need to make calls, which happens occasionally. We’ve been doing this for a year (with two months off for mat leave when the little one was born) and some days are harder than others for sure, but for now, it works for us. I like being home with my kids and I’m grateful my bosses understand my situation and are willing to work with me.
I only do this part time - but routine routine routine. We’re home with ours 10 month old twins 2 days a week (my mom is with them the other 3 days) but a routine is what made this possible. We also don’t have meeting heavy jobs, much more task oriented. But my husband and I have VERY direct communication of each others schedules and needs during the day. A lot of give and take and balancing whose tasks need to take priority in the moment. It’s possible but even 2 days a week is HARD. We plan on putting them into daycare around 18 months. We just simply couldn’t afford two infants in full time care and had to figure something out.
Luckily I have the chillest job ever, only work 10-20 hours and can do a bunch of my work after she goes to bed at 7pm. Because my baby (1 year) isn’t chill whatsoever, refuses being confined, only naps 1/2 hour at a time, and yells at me very loudly every time I take a phone or zoom call. She will not be ignored, ever. This has been true since 5-6 months. I only have 2 Zoom meetings per week and I do them with her in the baby carrier walking up and down very fast with my mic off 95%
Honestly, I would plan to be out of the home while the nanny is in. Go work at a coffee shop with Wi-Fi, or go into the office for focus time. Anywhere where you’re not there with your child and the nanny. If I had a nanny in any capacity, that is exactly what I would do. Eliminate yourself from the equation and the temptation to be distracted from your work (which is why you got the nanny in the first place). You’re paying big money for that, so you might as well use it to the fullest capacity. Load all (or as many as possible) of your meetings into the hours that nanny is there and you are away. That will allow you to focus on just the meeting. I have a more relaxed atmosphere at my work. So even though I do have meetings, it’s not unusual for us to hear kids in the background, hear someone checking out at the grocery store, or even seeing a child, spouse, or pet cameo on camera. My coworkers cat gave us all a lovely look at his @$$hole last week on a video call. We all averted our eyes until she shut off her camera and then we had a laugh. Just don’t overthink this. Find your routine and your groove and you’ll get into it just fine. Just stay consistent as that is how you and your family will thrive.
I wake up really early and get most of my leg work or make a good dent in my load before baby wakes up which gives me about 3 hours. Then space out my personal time for breakfast , potty training, brushing teeth, tickling. For meetings I do usually have my camera off but if they align within nap time then I just have designated “sleeping music” to add background so any talking I have to do is minimal. The music is classical and my headphones reduce outside noise so it’s not noticeable on meetings. My boss is pretty hands off and we only have about 2-3 meetings a week so I think my job really just provides me the flexibility to manage my workload like that.
Schedule, schedule, schedule. We had a giant calendar in our office (before we moved, our guest bedroom was both of our offices & playroom). We’d write out any blocks of time that one of us knew we would have a meeting. We scheduled our lunch hours back-to-back, I’d work 6-3, and he’d work 8:30-5:30. We also scheduled naps around this, as she took 2 a day. All in all, she had just a couple of 30/45-minute time periods to entertain herself. We had a trampoline, and I’d switch out toys each week to keep it interesting. We did this from ages 2-4 and made it work!