I'm so sorry you're having to make this decision so early on, but I'd get a nanny. I love daycare, I'm a super enthusiastic proponent of group daycare, but imo 6 weeks is too young for it, so nanny if you can afford it.

Get a nanny.

Anonymous wrote:Baby is 5 weeks and I’ll be returning to work at 6 weeks (company only does 6 weeks of leave…smh). How are you WFM with your infant? DS wants to be held all day. DH also WFH and we both have flexible jobs so we’ll tag team but not sure how realistic we’re being! Any tips are appreciated.

You need childcare. Obviously.

Anonymous wrote:My friend and her DH have had their baby at home since it was born last summer- the difference being once their parental leaves were over the grandmas started helping out part time. I think the grandmas cover about half and then somehow friend and DH trade off and make it work the other half. At this point it’s hard to tell how much concern is covid vs. saving money, because they hope to enroll the child in daycare over the winter once it is 18 months. I think the problem they are going to have is that while many daycares were operating under capacity for a while, they are starting to fill back up and finding an under 2 spot might be more difficult at that point.

This is what we’ve been doing. Baby starts daycare in September. Grandma has stepped up and husband and I split the rest of the time. It’s doable but we are exhausted. I hate the pandemic.

My fulltime childcare fell through to only 2 days a week at 12 weeks for about 2.5 months. My partner isn't dependable on childcare (he's sick). It sucked - but we made it work and I kind of liked the ramp-up. For days that ds was home, I did the following:

(1) Scheduled email/follow-up time during the likely nap windows. (DO NOT DO CALLS DURING THIS WINDOW - YOU WON'T HAVE ADDITIONAL HANDS TO TYPE WHEN DC IS UP)
(2) I had a gym and toys set-up right next to my desk - and made sure I was looking at him and able to interact with him which I was on the phone. My place of work is a bit flexible due to covid.
(3) I scheduled blocks for feeding time and tried to do as many calls during them (he's quiet, likes my voice...etc.)
(4) If something was going to be formal, inflexible, or just required my full concentration, I just had to hire a babysitter for that block of time and just accepted that's what I was going have to do. That's always the block that the DC is going to be off schedule or just needy.
(5) Communicated my non-traditional schedule and best available times to my colleagues and for them to know I would be back online at 7:00pm (or 3am too!)

I am so sorry that you are in this position. I can’t imagine leaving my baby in childcare at 6 weeks though I know plenty of people do it. That really sucks.

I do think that you might be able to manage it for another 5 or 6 weeks through babywearing and tag teaming with DH, but I agree with everyone else that around 12 weeks (max - could be sooner with some babies) you will definitely need and want childcare - for baby and for you. You might be able to manage a nanny share or something that’s more part time. There are tons available right now as kids are graduating to prek or daycare.

As others have said, you may be able to pull this off for a short while when the baby is mostly in eat/sleep mode. During the pandemic shut down, when we had no choice, DH and I woke up at 5am and worked 5am-7am until baby and 4 yo woke up. Then we did shift work. We'd switch off 9-1pm & 1-5pm. Then after we put the kids to bed we would both work 9-11pm. It was tough. Really tough. And it was also hard for colleagues because they only had four hours a day to schedule me for meetings (and my job is very very meeting heavy). They were very understanding at the time, but I think if I pulled something like that now they'd be less understanding because we are out of pandemic lock downs and other parents on the team have figured it out (all have secured childcare). Three months into the pandemic, we asked our nanny if she felt comfortable returning to work and she did and our lives got so much better.

Definitely plan on finding childcare soon. It is the only sane and right option unless you work out part time employment for at least one of you.

Anonymous wrote:You have to line up childcare, unless you’re just looking at getting through the next few weeks. As your baby gets more interactive and increasingly mobile you will not be able to work while watching him.

Yeah I can understand wanting to wait until they’ve had more of their vaccines (6 week maternity leave is ridiculous) but you need to find childcare.

My friend and her DH have had their baby at home since it was born last summer- the difference being once their parental leaves were over the grandmas started helping out part time. I think the grandmas cover about half and then somehow friend and DH trade off and make it work the other half. At this point it’s hard to tell how much concern is covid vs. saving money, because they hope to enroll the child in daycare over the winter once it is 18 months. I think the problem they are going to have is that while many daycares were operating under capacity for a while, they are starting to fill back up and finding an under 2 spot might be more difficult at that point.

Anonymous wrote:You have to line up childcare, unless you’re just looking at getting through the next few weeks. As your baby gets more interactive and increasingly mobile you will not be able to work while watching him.

Yep just like working moms have always had to do.

What!?

You have to line up childcare, unless you’re just looking at getting through the next few weeks. As your baby gets more interactive and increasingly mobile you will not be able to work while watching him.

Most parents do one of the following if they have a full time job:

1. Hire a nanny
2. Send the baby to a group child care setting
3. Rely on a grandparent/ other family member to care for their child
4. Have one parent stay at home to care for the child

WFH means actually working. I can’t watch my baby while I’m working. I send him to daycare. He gets stimulation and interaction and I do my job.

you need childcare. it can get very stressful. Figure out how you can stagger hours and have childcare lined up for the hours when you have to overlap (e.g. 9-3), at the very minimum.