Do you work 100% remote with an infant?
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Anonymous
| FTM here. I'm just wondering if it can be done? I work from home about 4 hours a day. I am hoping, if my employer is willing, that I can continue to do this once our baby is born - I'm just wondering if it's actually possible? I don't ever have to talk on the phone but I am constantly on the computer monitoring emails - some days I can go 10-20 minutes without any work and some days it's constant. Would a newborn be too needy to pull this off for 4 hours or will it just sleep through the day? |
Anonymous
| This has been discussed many many times on this forum. The only way you could swing any amount of work with a baby is if you could do it whenever you had time, and likely you would be doing a bunch work at night. Your description of sometimes 'constant' work would be impossible to keep up while taking care of a baby. Some babies nap well, some don't, and it is on their terms, not your work schedule's. Plus you will be exhausted and need those breaks to do laundry and eat. If you just needed to get in 20 hours during the week I would say MAYBE if your husband was able to come home and take over while you worked in the evenings. |
Anonymous
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Agree with 10:25. If you need to be definitely available you simply can't promise that with a baby. An easy one will give you the time, but in unpredictable chunks.
And if you have a more difficult baby, then all bets are off. |
Anonymous
| No way would my office allow this. My office won't even allow you to telework if there are children in your home during work hours (even if watched by nanny or if it's a snow day for the kids). |
Anonymous
| It won't work, OP. |
Anonymous
| Op said four hours per day. That could be doable, after about two months, only if you could pick and choose which four hours, and if they didn't have to be consecutive or at the same time each day. And if you have an easy baby and at least some help with household stuff or don't need a ton of sleep. That's a lot of ifs. |
Anonymous
| I did a lot of work at night (freelance) when my baby was very young. I worked from 10pm-2am on projects, and it was sort of enjoyable as a break from caring for a baby. But that isn't sustainable for long. |
Anonymous
| Absolutely doable as long as you have child care coverage during the time you are working. |
Anonymous
| I think it could be workable if you could work 4 hours over an 8 hour period, trying to work the whole time. But when the kid turns about 6 months, it will be absolutely impossible. Get childcare. |
Anonymous
| Yes, you need childcare or else it may be considered fraud.. |
Anonymous
| Teleworking and performing childcare duties at the same time is a fireable offense and criminal if you are billing hours to the government. |
Anonymous
| Will absolutely not work (just wait..), nor is it ethical. |
Anonymous
Yet there are plenty of people who do it. |
Anonymous
Plenty of people do plenty of things. Doesn't make them right. |
Anonymous
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Totally depends on your work and your baby:
If you just have to accomplish 4 hours of work a day, and it doesn't matter when and you don't have to be available to talk on the phone, AND you have a baby that naps then you can probably pull this off. E.g. you are editing an article and you just need pockets of time to get it done. If you actually have to be online and available and working a set 4 hour period each day, no that won't work unless you have child care because there's no way you can guaruntee that you will be free then |