Any Take Your Baby to Work Tips?

[ctrygirlatheart]

I am planning on returning to work on a PT basis with DD tagging along for the ride. I work for a brokerage firm and DD is currently 5 months old. Has anyone done this before and do you have any words of wisdom, great things that you would recommend I bring or any other tips for me? Thanks for your help!

[Comtessa]

Wow, good for you, mama! I recently returned to work P/T, but I work from home and when I have to occasionally go in for a meeting or something, I usually leave DD with my mother. When I do bring DD to work with me, she usually ends up being passed around to folks in the department who are delighted to have a chance to play with a baby for a few minutes. I can often work for an uninterrupted hour while they pass her from hand to hand.

If I wear her, she can often sleep or hang out quietly for long periods of time while I work. She doesn't like to be in the sling while I'm sitting, though, so I've had to figure out how to stay standing while I work. If I put my computer up onto a high surface so that I can stand while I work, then I can wear her in the Ergo or Moby wrap and sway from side to side while I'm working. This can buy a lot of time and quiet baby.

Good luck to you!

[springbride]

I have taken DD to work and the 2 key things for me have been my moby, and a johnny jumper - the kind that hangs from the door frame.

[Angelorum]

Ds has come to work with me since I went back at 6 weeks. I work very part time, and the hours that I come in are very flexible. I try to time my shift for when his afternoon nap is. On good days, we get there and he is sleepy, so I swaddle him up and feed him if he needs it, and then he goes into his vibrating bouncer that I stick by my chair and I rock him with my foot while I work. I felt kind of bad about sticking his chair halfway under my desk so I could rock him, but he can see me and it's the best way to get him to sleep. When he's awake, he plays in his bouncer with a few toys or on a blanket on the floor. I bring my moby wrap in case he gets cranky, but I have a hard time working while wearing him (I do clothing alterations, it makes it hard to see the sewing machine) I was pretty stressed out the first few times he came to work with me, but we've gotten it down now. good luck!

[Raene]

I have been bringing my DD to work with me since she was 6 weeks. I keep her in a Sleepy Wrap...doing this right now...and just walk her around in there when she's fussy. I feed her right when we get here and she often sleeps the whole time. I keep a blanket for her too so she can creep around on the floor when she's a little fussy. She loves tummy time.

Good luck!

[Pogo0685]

I work full time and I began taking my son to work with my when he was about 8 weeks old, hes now 10 months old so he has tons of toys here at work, but I also work for my mother and so does my husband, and my brother, and my Dad drops by every now and then. That said he still drives me crazy some times, I get to leave at least once a day so he goes with me and takes a nap in the car while I do bank deposits, get lunch and stuff like that. I think its hard for them to be at work with you because sometimes he just wont let me get work done, but its so worth it to not miss anything they do. So I guess my only tip is to keep lots of stuff for them to do as they get older so they stay out of things like file cabinets and copy machines, he knows how to turn off the copier and always does right in the middle of a print job.

[annettemarie]

I'm going to move this to our Working Mama forum-- I bet they'll have some awesome advice for you!

[physmom]

Yes, and, um... for me it has NOT been easy. Sorry to be a downer. I think part of the problem is that DD was very physical early on and so I always have to chase after her. I've really struggled to get much of any work done at all with her there. I think it would help, though, if you are in a big, child friendly office where there's lots of people that would be willing to help out for short periods of time.

I don't really have many good suggestions because lots of tosy don't work for us. DD wants met to play with her and while she can entertain herself with an entirely new toy for up to an hour, there's just no way we can keep buying her new ones (toy rotations helps but they're not the same)! I guess, one thing that does help a little is music. DD is a huge veggie tale fan. Also, keep a lot of safe non-toys around. DD liked a bag of coffee for instance (that was sealed) or some of the paper weights. The most important thing is to have lots of patience and maybe try and sweeten up your colleagues a bit with cookies.